In Mexico city found the Aztec “tower of skulls”
In the center of Mexico city found “tower of skulls”, according to Reuters.
Scientists have found 676 more or less the whole of human skulls and thousands of fragments immured in the walls of the cylindrical structure. Archaeologists believe that the discovery is part of the “great wall of skulls”, where the Aztecs placed the skulls of prisoners of war, sacrificed to the gods.
Written sources of Mesoamerican Indians and the conquistadors and the subsequent missionary monks mention “tzompantli” — “racks” or “wall of skulls”. They were a wooden frame with transverse beams, on which were impaled the skull. Tzompantli was created to showcase the skulls of sacrificed enemy warriors. After the “demonstration” they were walled up in a stone structure. Also the “wall of skulls” were built near the sites for the ritual ball game played by two teams. According to various sources, after the game was sacrificed to either the losing or winning team, and their skulls were placed in tzompantli. Similar structures were found in the cities of the Toltecs, Maya and Aztecs.
In the Aztec capital of tenochtitlán (after the conquest of the Empire the city was destroyed, and in its place built a new — Mexico) was built the “Great wall of skulls”. According to the testimony of the Spaniards who saw it, it was a massive platform, with a length of 60 and 30 meters wide. The Conquistador andrés de Tapia (Andrés de Tapia) who was instructed to count the skulls, estimated their number at more than a hundred thousand. Modern researchers believe that the figure was a more modest, but also impressive — about 60 thousand skulls. Head to “fill” the walls were mined in the ritual “flower wars” which the Aztecs waged since 1450 years until the Spanish conquest. Opponents were periodically recorded in advance certain day at an appointed place and carried the fight. His goal was not conquest of territory, training soldiers and prisoners of war, which was subsequently sacrificed to the gods.
In 2015, the archaeologists from the National Institute of anthropology and history found in Mexico city near the largest religious complex of the Aztecs, Templo Mayor (Great Temple), the remains of a platform approximately 13 metres long, six metres wide and 45 inches tall. Judging from the constructive peculiarities of construction and materials used in the construction, it was created in the late XV-early XVI centuries, shortly before the arrival of the conquistadors. The platform was walled up 35 skulls and fragments of jaws and bones of the skull. According to the researchers, in addition to men’s skulls (which probably belonged to prisoners of war), they found the skulls of women and children.
A new discovery archaeologists have become a cylindrical building with a diameter of about six meters, is also located near the Templo Mayor. The researchers counted until 676 skulls and numerous bone fragments immured in the tower. The base of the structure has not yet cleared, so scientists believe that the skulls will be more. According to archaeologists, the tower refers to the “great wall of skulls” referred to the Spaniards.
According to participating in the excavations of archaeologist Raul Barrera (Barrera Raul) skull was immured in the tower after they showed the audience and they some time stood in the wooden tzompantli. As in the structure, was found two years ago, the tower was walled up not only the skull of the young men, but women and children skulls. The appearance of male skulls may be explained by victories in the ritual of the “flower” wars, but as the wall fell women’s and children’s skull, researchers still can not explain.
Less than a month ago the Mexican archaeologists have announced another important discovery. In the center of Mexico city was found the great temple of the Aztec God of the wind, and with it a platform for a ritual ball game.
Ekaterina Rusakova