Aztec Tower of Human Skulls

On early July 2017, a tower of human skulls unearthed beneath the heart of Mexico City has raised new questions about the culture of sacrifice in the Aztec Empire after crania of women and children surfaced among the hundreds embedded in the forbidding structure. Archaeologists have found more than 650 skulls caked in lime and thousands of fragments in the cylindrical edifice near the site of the Templo Mayor, one of the main temples in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, which later became Mexico City.

Tales of the tower of skulls which struck fear into the hearts of Spanish conquistadors have been passed down through the generations in Mexico.

The structure is believed to be part of the Huey Tzompantli, a rack of bones which became the stuff of legend among Spanish conquistadores as they colonised Mexico. Their writings mentioned a tower of skulls.

 

For the next 500 years, the skulls lay undisturbed underneath what was once the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, but is now Mexico City. Until, a group of archaeologists began the painstaking work of uncovering their secrets two years ago.

What they found has shocked them, because in among the skulls of the young men are those of women and children - bringing into question everything historians thought they knew.

Andres de Tapia, a Spanish soldier who fought with Cortes in the 1521 conquest of Mexico, almost certainly recorded the structure, archaeologist Raul Barrera told Reuters. De Tapia wrote that there were thousands of skulls, and researchers believe they will find more as the excavation continues.

Its base has yet to be uncovered, and it is thought many more skulls will be found.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40473547

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world-0/tower-human-skulls-found-archaeologists-mexico-aztec-history-doubt-a7818841.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-archaeology-skulls-idUSKBN19M3Q6

Pic Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world-0/tower-human-skulls-found-archaeologists-mexico-aztec-history-doubt-a7818841.html