Aztec ‘human sacrifice’ skull wall found in Mexico

The platform was dug up behind the capital´s colonial-era cathedral near Templo Mayor -the largest and most important temple of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, used for human sacrifices-, and was likely built between 1485 and 1502 to inspire fear and awe.

The majority of the skulls belonged to young adult men, but some women and children were also involved in the rituals. Buddies and even enemies have been invited into the town, exactly to be cowed by the in numerous levels of decomposition. The newest find about the Aztecs by archaeologists is a human skull rack. But institute archaeologists said the newest discovery was different.

The skulls have all been arranged to look inwards toward the centre of the circle, but scientists do not know what was positioned at the centre.

Descriptions of tzompantli have been found in many historical documents from the early days of the colonial period in Mexico.

Eduardo Matos, an archaeologist at the National Institute of Anthropology and History, suggested the skull rack in Mexico City was “a show of might” by the Aztecs. They say part of the platform on which the skull rack was displayed was made with rows of skulls mortared together to form a rough circle, with all the skulls facing toward the center. “As we continue to dig the number is going to rise a lot”, he continues. Archaeologist Susan Gillespie from the University of Florida told the Associated Press this is the first instance of skulls being used as a building material for an Aztec structure that she has ever heard of. “This find both confirms long-held suspicions about the sacrificial landscape of the ceremonial precinct, that there must have been a much bigger tzompantli to curate the many heads of sacrificial victims as a kind of public record or accounting of sacrifices”.

The discover was made between February and June on the western aspect of what was as soon as the.

In its heyday, the rack likely stretched 40 feet in length and stood over 100 feet tall.

View of the Templo Mayor and the surrounding buildings in 2013. During the reconsecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs boasted that they had slaughtered 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days, although this is believed to be an exaggeration.

Next you’ll see a map of Mexico showing where the Museo del Templo Mayor (Museum dedicated to the Aztecs) is located.