The roseate spoonbills of Tenochtitlan’s Great Temple and their relation to deceased warriors, nobles, and kings

Summary

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 roseate spoonbills may have come to the ancient city through usual the commercial or tributary channels, it is also possible that they came from the famous Totocalli (House of Birds) located in Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin’s palace. The comparative study of the archaeological contexts, native pictorial manuscripts, and colonial alphabetic sources indicates that these birds were symbolically associated with the souls of deceased warriors, nobles, and kings. Their location at the foot of the great twin-temple structure, specifically on the side dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, would confirm historical data that maintain that the cremated cadavers of Mexica sovereigns were interred there.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• The Seventh Field Season of the Proyecto Templo Mayor: Recent Investigations on the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan

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