The bones were discovered at a depth of 2 m. This article is taken from the monthly Sciences et Avenir n°824, dated October 2015, currently on sale. Its special file is devoted to cardiac pathologies. You will find a link to get it at the bottom of this article.
VICTIMS. Thirty-five human skulls taken in a lime mortar, like a bas-relief... This is the vision that researchers from the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (Inah ) by digging under one of the streets adjacent to the cathedral in Mexico City. At a depth of two meters, a platform 13 meters long by 6 wide formed a "skull rack", a tzompantli used by the Aztecs (1200-1521) to expose the heads of sacrificed victims. "Originally, these heads were literally 'threaded' at the level of the temporal bones, on transverse wooden poles “, explains Grégory Pereira, director of the CNRS Laboratory of Archeology of the Americas. A sight that had horrified the Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagun in the 16th century. In his General History of New Spain, he describes the pestilence that emanated from these structures, without forgetting the blood and the flies swirling around...
An "abacus" made of human skulls
These macabre "abacus" were made up of the skulls of captives sacrificed in honor of the Sun God. After removing the heart, the Aztecs cut off the head and then fleshed it to expose the skull. "Skin and muscles were removed to leave only the temporomandibular joint , says the archaeologist. In Aztec symbolic geography, tzompantli were considered “skull trees”. In the underworld of the Aztecs and the Mayans, there was indeed a tree linked to fertility whose fruits were skulls" . According to Grégory Pereira, a myth known in Guatemala evokes the daughter of the god of the Dead who would have received a "substance" from these skulls which allowed her to give birth to the Sun and the Moon. "Even if it is difficult to conceive today, these structures were not intended to terrify but were part of a ceremonial whole “, notes the archaeologist. A good part of the rites, even the most cruel, were intended to promote prosperity and ensure the survival of society. The sacrifices thus made by the Aztecs were supposed to nourish the Sun so that it continues to be reborn every day. In Mexico City, teams of researchers will resume excavations on this tzompantli, the largest ever found in Mexico City. "Hundreds of skulls undoubtedly remain to be discovered ", predicts Grégory Pereira.