Remains of sacrificed child discovered at foot of Templo Mayor in Mexico City

A child sacrifice site at the foot of an ancient temple in a lost Aztec city has been unearthed by archaeologists. The discovery was made at the foot of the ancient Templo Mayor temple, which was found in the heart of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.

The skull of the young boy [Credit: Mirsa Islands/Proyecto Templo Mayor, INAH]

The young child is believed to have been sacrificed for the Aztec god of war Huitzilopochtli during the late fifteenth century. Child sacrifice seems to have been a relatively common occurrence in the cultures of ancient south and central America. Aztecs undertook human sacrifices, including children, as they believed this would bring the rains their crops needed to grow.

The discovery comes 12 years after the location of the first child sacrifice site at the archaeological site, now in the centre of the Mexican capital, Mexico City. The child’s bones were reportedly found along with body adornments and symbols characteristic of Huitzilopochtli.

The cylindrical shape of the box is unique to the area [Credit: Mirsa Islands/
Proyecto Templo Mayor, INAH]

The remains, named ‘Offering 176’, were found under the floor of a square to the west of the Templo Mayor, which was the centre of the ancient city. The Aztecs had to raise a series of stone slabs from the floor to make way for the body, archaeologists point out. They then dug a pit in the ground and built a cylindrical box in which the child was placed with volcanic rocks, stuck together with stucco.

One expert told reporters: ‘Then they filled the square with soil brought from the banks of the old lake to build another square on top of it.’

The young child was believed to have been sacrificed in the late 15th century
[Credit: Mirsa Islands/Proyecto Templo Mayor, INAH]

A team made up of the archaeologists Rodolfo Aguilar Tapia, Mary Laidy Hernández Ramírez and Karina López Hernández, together with the physical anthropologist Jacqueline Castro Irineo, had the mission to excavate the find of the Offering 176. Since its initial discovery, at the end of October 2017, each of the human bones and the numerous objects made with different raw materials have been carefully excavated, cleaned and registered.

The discovery comes after hundreds of skulls were recently found in Tenochtitlan that are believed to have been placed on public display in ritual sacrifices.

Author: Tim Collins | Source: Daily Mail [July 24, 2018] 

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