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500 years since the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan: a look at Huey Tzompantli

2021-08-07T00:03:45.127Z


At the 500th anniversary of the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, an in-depth look at the Huey Tzompantli tower of skulls.


Look at the tower of human skulls under the soil of Mexico 4:01

(CNN Spanish) -

The sacred Huey Tzompantli temple, built by the Mexica in the greater Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was not a place of death but of life, according to the experienced Mexican archaeologist Raúl Barrera.

It is a theory that he reaffirmed after studying a famous Aztec tower of human skulls that belonged to the ceremonial center and that was recently discovered.

"The Huey Tzompantli, more than, we can say, a temple dedicated to death, is a temple of life," says Barrera, who has carried out multiple archaeological excavations in different parts of the country.

"What they were doing was regenerating life, they are generating new individuals, new warriors, because there was this belief in their worldview that the gods could die. So they had to be fed so that the cycle of life continued and the universe continued to exist" .

CNN had an in-depth and detailed access to the site of the discovery, considered one of the most shocking in recent years, according to a bulletin from the Mexican Ministry of Culture.

"The skulls may have belonged to individuals of the male sex, but there are women and also children's skulls, although in a smaller percentage", comments the archaeologist Barrera, who points out that it is still to be determined whether the vast majority of the skulls belonged to prisoners of war that were sacrificed in the Templo Mayor, dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, god of war.

Skulls found would belong to slaughtered humans 1:17

The column of human skulls was discovered in 2015 in the basement of an old house under renovation, located in the historic center of the Mexican capital.

Since then, the team of archaeologists and physical anthropologists who work in the enclosure have continued excavating until reaching the most impressive part of the tower, its outer facade, the same one that some conquerors described in their chronicles about the moments of the fall of the Great Tenochtitlan. 500 years ago.

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The reaction of the Spanish

"This building is seen by the Spaniards and it is that representation, it is like a physical synthesis of a belief system that was totally alien to theirs and they are shocked. They are shocked, and they cannot understand it," archaeologist Lorena tells us. Vázquez, who considers that there are some similarities between the two cultures that clashed during the conquest.

"The Spaniards may not realize at that time that what impressed them is as similar as everything they did. In other words, it is the product of a whole religious system, but also economic, political and social, like the wars that they had, like the same conquest that they were undertaking, "adds Vázquez.

Can another tower of skulls be found?

The archaeologist Raúl Barrera supposes that another tower of skulls could be found very close to the find that, possibly, was placed at the other end of the Huey Tzompantli temple and that could be below the Metropolitan Cathedral, according to historical documents that describe the place.

Anthropologist explains discovery of 119 Aztec skulls 3:00

"We suppose that there is another tower because by the references of historical documents, especially of a conqueror named Andrés de Tapia, who came with Hernán Cortés, then they made a description of what they saw, the buildings and everything they did. Then, Andrés de Tapia, he mentions two towers of human skulls associated with the Huey Tzompantli. For this reason, we believe that there is another tower and we hope to detect it in the future. "

However, Barrera says that he is not entirely sure of being able to find it after future excavations, since most of the ceremonial precincts of Greater Tenochtitlan were razed by the Spanish conquerors after their fall on August 13, 1521.

"The sacred space was destroyed, it was razed as a result of that conquest and with those same stones they are going to build the new buildings, the new houses. The new Christian temples were built with the same materials and surely with the same indigenous hands that were forced to do this, "says Barrera.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-08-07

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