1,000-year-old altar and human sacrifices from Toltec Empire discovered in Mexico

0 0 2 minutes read

1,000-year-old altar and human sacrifices from Toltec Empire discovered in Mexico

https://www.profitableratecpm.com/f4ffsdxe?key=39b1ebce72f3758345b2155c98e6709c

Mexican archaeologists have unearthed a square stone altar used for human sacrifices during the Toltec Empire more than 1,000 years ago.

The altar, human bones, obsidian knives and ceramic vessels were discovered during excavations for a transportation project near the Tula archaeological site, about 88 kilometers north of Mexico City.

In a translated version statement Published Tuesday March 24 by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), archaeologists described the altar – also called momeztli in Nahuatl – as a three-layered construction of stones measuring approximately 10 square feet (1 square meter). Four human skulls and several human leg bones were found on three sides of the altar, probably those of sacrificed people.

Article continues below

“We know that these are offerings because they are located specifically in certain sections of the element, but we do not know if there are other underground remains that cannot be physically seen,” said Víctor Francisco Heredia Guillén, the archaeologist who coordinates the project, in a translated translation. video.

Archaeologists discovered the remains of walls around the altar, suggesting it stood in a courtyard. Additional rooms flanked the courtyard and were perhaps part of a palace or other residential structure housing the elite of ancient Tula, Heredia said.

Between the fall of Teotihuacan around 550 AD and the rise of Tenochtitlán In 1325, Tula was an important Mesoamerican urban center and the capital of the Toltec Empirewhich lasted from 950 to 1150. Located in the state of Hidalgo in Mexico, Tula was contemporary with the Mayan site of Chichen Itza in the Yucatán Peninsula. Tula has a large pyramid dedicated to the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, topped by four massive statues of Toltec warriors.

close-up of a stone altar and human skulls

Skulls and other human body parts were discovered around the ancient altar. (Image credit: Gerardo Peña/INAH)

The newly discovered altar probably dates from the imperial period of Tula’s occupation, according to archaeologists. By this time, the Toltecs had gained a reputation as fierce warriors, and human sacrifices may have been offered to enemies after their defeat.

One of the skulls still appears attached to part of the spine, suggesting that the decapitation was part of the sacrificial ritual.

“In this case, even though the metal was already worked in the Postclassic period, we know that decapitations were still carried out here with obsidian or flint knives, and that they left cut marks on the bones,” explained Heredia.

But more research will be needed to learn more about sacrificial victims. Anthropological analysis should reveal whether the bones came from men or women, and chemical analysis could show whether the victims were local or came from far away in Tula, Heredia said.

“Each discovery like this expands our knowledge of one of the great civilizations of Mesoamerica,” Claudia Curiel de IcazaMexico’s Secretary of Culture said in the statement.