The Skull Tower

5/15/2024

Archaeologists had previously found a few hundred skulls in the the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan the site of present day Mexico City, however ongoing research has found this was only the tip of the iceberg and the human sacrifices numbered in the thousands.

Tzompantli at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City

Archaeologists were aware the Aztec performed human sacrifices, but the truth of how many were killed in the most horrific fashion became undeniable in 2015. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found what was known as a "trophy rack" near the the site of the Templo Mayor, which is present day Mexico City.

The display known as Huey Tzompantli (Huēyi Teōcalli) was about the size of a basketball court. It measured 115 feet long, 45 feet wide and 16 feet in height.

Research has found that captives were sacrificed at the great temple. First they were taken to the top where four priests would hold them prostrate over a stone slab. Their abdomen would be sliced opened by a fifth priest, using a flint knife that split open the chest. Then their still-beating hearts were removed. The organ would be placed in a bowl held by the statue of the god being honored. The body would be hurled down the temple stairs to land at the bottom of the pyramid. Decapitation followed, then the head was skinned and the muscles removed. Holes were carved into the sides of the skull so they could be threaded onto a wooden pole. Marks on the bones testify that they were defleshed.

The Aztec also shot their victims full of arrow, clawed, sliced, stoned, crushed, skinned and buried them alive in their ritual sacrifices. Despite the belief that captive warriors were the frequent offering, children seen as pure and unspoiled were killed to appease the gods. The choice of victims was dictated by the calendar and to which deity the sacrifice was being made.

In 2002, government archeologist Juan Alberto Roman Berrelleza announced the results of forensic testing on the bones of 42 children, mostly boys around age 6, sacrificed at Mexico City’s Templo Mayor, the Aztecs’ main religious site, during a drought.
All shared one feature: serious cavities, abscesses or bone infections painful enough to make them cry.

'It was considered a good omen if they cried a lot at the time of sacrifice,' which was probably done by slitting their throats, Roman Berrelleza said.

The Aztec victimized nearby tribes who turned against them when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived

The skull rack was built in front of the Templo Mayor which consisted of a pyramid with two temples on top. The skulls all faced inward, toward the tzompantli's hollow center.

Once the skulls deteriorated perhaps after months or years in the elements, the priests would make a mask out of it and use it as an offering dish, or add it to the towers of skulls that flanked the rack.

The Spanish conquistadors upon setting eyes on the trophy rack estimated it contained about 130,000 skulls. Andres de Tapia a soldier who traveled with Cortes in 1521, said he counted tens of thousands of skulls. Many claimed the conquistadores had exaggerated the number, but with this discovery it turns out they were accurate in what they described.

The Aztec who had never seen horses until the arrival of the Spaniards, went on to place horse heads on the skull racks.

However this was not the only animal that was sacrificed by the Aztec. In 2013, when excavations were taking place for a subway extension a dog's skull with holes in it was found. It indicated it was displayed on a rack, along with a woman's skull and two men's skulls which were found nearby. They were dated to between 1350 and 1521. A dog's skull had never been found before.

Three quarters of the skulls belong to men between the age of 20 and 35, 20 percent are women and the rest were children.

Those sacrificed did not appear to be slaves or captives, since they were in relatively good health.

Ironically the Metropolitan Cathedral was built over the temple.

Disk depicting a dismembered Coyolxauhqui which was found during construction in 1978

The Aztec settled in what is now Mexico City around 1325. In 1978, workers at a place known as the "island of the dogs" about seven feet down struck a massive stone disk that measured close to 11 feet in diameter, and a foot in thickness. It weighed 8 tons. The relief carved on it was Coyolxauhqui and dated to the end of the 15th century.

Thirteen buildings were demolished some dating back to the 19th century in order to continue excavating the area. More than 7,000 objects were unearthed, including skeletons of turtles, frogs, crocodiles and fish. There was also pottery, figurines, decorated human skulls and knives of obsidian and flint which were the type used to sacrifice victims.

As of 2020 over 600 skulls have been unearthed that were displayed on racks. It's believed the tower was constructed between 1486 and 1502, and this skull pyramid was just one of seven that stood there.

There were two types of skull pyramids. One displayed carved stone skulls, and the other made of wood displayed real human skulls.

Lopez Lujan who worked at the Templo Mayor site described where chemical tests on the stucco floors of Aztec temples, were found to have been soaked with iron, albumen and genetic material consistent with human blood.

There has been speculation that some of the human sacrifices were a form of population control disguised as honoring gods that never seemed to be fulfilled.

However many that found themselves under the priest's sharp knife came from further afield. With the use of DNA tests, scientists have examined genetic markers from the remains found in the Templo Mayor revealing that some came from across southern Mexico, or perhaps they were traders or travelers who were at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

The Maya who predated the Aztec by about 400 years, also sacrificed humans. Their carvings and mural paintings are similar to the Aztec, including a "Maya ceremony in which a costumed priest is shown pulling the entrails from a bound and apparently living sacrificial victim."

In a 2011 article written for History Today magazine, historian Tim Stanley wrote:

[The Aztecs were] a culture obsessed with death: they believed that human sacrifice was the highest form of karmic healing. When the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan was consecrated in 1487 the Aztecs recorded that 84,000 people were slaughtered in four days. Self-sacrifice was common and individuals would pierce their ears, tongues and genitals to nourish the floors of temples with their blood. Unsurprisingly, there is evidence that Mexico was already suffering from a demographic crisis before the Spanish arrived.