Tenochtitlan (Other Keyword)
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The anahuatl pectoral is one of the shell ornaments that have been found in the offerings of the great temple of Tenochtitlan. In paintings and sculptures, it is worn by Tezcatlipoca and deities that are stars and warriors, as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli and Mixcoatl. Inside the offerings, the anahuatl are associated to items related to the underworld, sacrifice and war. This has led to propose that these pectorals represented the stars, which were the warriors during the night. The presence of the...
Copal Offering Objects: Manufactured in Tenochtitlan (2015)
In our days, is a general known the amazing offering ritual made by the mexica people in the late Posclassic period. The studies show a high diversity of organic and inorganic material, some local, some brought from foreign lands, like the resin of copal case, as was verified by historical documents and ethnographic studies, so, the copal resin was imported as crude feedstock. The resin was brought to Tenochtitlan where it was transformed into different objects like bars, spheres,...
The Ometochtli Complex and its Presence in the Offerings of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (2017)
In 1971, H.B. Nicholson classified the Mesoamerican pantheon of god’s by their symbolic elements and functions. One of the most important groups of this classification is the "Ometochtli Complex", which is exclusively constituted of gods related to the most significant alcoholic beverage in pre-Hispanic México, the octli or pulque. This drink is created through the fermentation of the agave juice. Thus, pulque gods are easily identifiable due to key elements present in their attire. At the...
Representations of fauna in mural paintings of Tenochtitlan (2017)
The accelerated process of deterioration of the murals from the religious buildings of Tenochtitlan has threatened their long-term conservation. This has impulsed different activities including the creation of the project for the graphic documentation of the polychromy in the Mexica capital. It was specifically developed to recover and store, as an accurate witness, all the motives of the paintings, as well as its architectural context. Over the course of twenty years, the development of this...
The roseate spoonbills of Tenochtitlan’s Great Temple and their relation to deceased warriors, nobles, and kings (2015)
During recent excavations conducted in the Urban Archaeology Program (PAU) and the Templo Mayor Project of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), six offerings containing roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) skeletal remains were found at the foot of Tenochtitlan’s main pyramid. A careful analysis of these bones reveals that the Mexica buried not only complete individual birds in this important ritual scenario, but also their multicolor feathered skins. Although the...
Starfish in the offerings of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (2017)
Recent excavations carried out by the Templo Mayor Project in Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct uncovered a significant number of calcium carbonate plates, which, in spite of their advanced degree of deterioration, can be identified as consisting of the endoskeletons of sea stars. These organisms belong to the Asteroidea (from the Greek aster: "star" and eidos: "in the shape of") class, most of which exhibit radial symmetry and have thin, discernibly pentagonal bodies. Sea stars inhabit marine...
Templo Mayor’s Gold (2015)
Mexico is a not a country rich in native gold deposits, especially compared to Colombia, Peru, or Bolivia. This would explain why the precious metal was always used rather sparingly in Mesoamerican civilizations. A good example is Tenochtitlan (1325–1521 AD): after thirty-seven years of archaeological exploration in the city’s sacred precinct, the Templo Mayor Project (1978-2015) has recovered only a meager set of gold artifacts, in contrast to the tens of thousands of metamorphic greenstone,...
TEMPLO Y PALACIO, LO HUMANO Y LO DIVINO EN LA PRODUCCIÓN DE TENOCHTITLAN (2015)
Las últimas investigaciones acerca de diversos materiales en la esfera de producción de Tenochtitlan, apuntan hacia la presencia y vínculos existentes entre la elaboración de objetos y el principal templo mexica. No solo se trata de materiales como concha, cobre, turquesa y otros más, sino que también se ha podido ver en las ofrendas del Templo Mayor y adoratorios aledaños la presencia de una fauna abundante que, al parecer, procedía del zoológico del palacio real. Todo lo anterior revela la...
Tenochtitlan: A Cultural History of Water (2017)
Located today in Chicago’s Newberry Library, the 1524 Nuremberg Map, representing the pre-Hispanic city of Tenochtitlan on the eve of its conquest to Hernán Cortés, is an ink-and-watercolor image on paper, measuring 47.30 x 30.16 cm. Produced by an anonymous author in an unknown workshop in the German city of Nuremberg, it first appeared in the Latin edition of Cortés’ Second Letter to the Spanish monarch Charles V. It is the earliest printed map of a New World city and although it is a highly...
Wooden scepters in the offerings of Tenochtitlan’s Great Temple: A symbolic interpretation (2015)
The excavation of the Great Temple, one of the most important precincts in Mexica society, began more than thirty years ago. Since then, the examination of thousands of artifacts and organic materials has greatly increased our knowledge about Mexica cosmovision. During its seventh field season, the Templo Mayor Project has excavated thirty-six offerings. The flooded context of these oblatory deposits enabled the conservation of various organic materials that commonly degrade with the passage of...