On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec Empire, the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) reveals the results of several decades of excavations in the city of Zultépec-Tecoaque , in the center of the country. It was here, in 1521, that the conquistador Hernán Cortés avenged several hundred Spaniards captured and devoured by its inhabitants eight months earlier.
View of one of the city's wells, 22 of which have been explored to date.
Warning, this article relays information that may offend the sensibilities of some of our readers.
One evening in January or February 1521. The Acolhua of Zultepec, an indigenous people allied with the Aztecs, perform their rituals in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli, the god of fire and time. They know that this celebration is probably the last. Before long, the vengeance of the Spaniards will fall on them. Revenge ? About a year before, the Acolhua captured a Spanish detachment, part of the expedition of the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez. Dozens of soldiers, women and children from Europe, but also hundreds of indigenous allies, such as the Tainos of the West Indies, the Tlaxcaltecs, the Totonacos, the Mayas, the mestizos, the mulattoes or the Zambos. During eight long months of imprisonment and agony, they offered them as an offering to the pre-Hispanic deities of the site… and ate them. That evening, therefore, they know that the troops of another conquistador, Hernán Cortés, are approaching for a new massacre, their own.
This terrible story is told by archeology. Monday, January 18, 2020, the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) published the results of thirty years of work in Zultépec, now known as Tecoaque, which means in the Aztec Nahuatl language "the 'place where they ate them'. The INAH had already lifted the veil on its discoveries in 2015, but the excavations carried out in the meantime have made it possible to obtain more material evidence on this bloody episode. Among them, the bones of members of the caravan which, found in deep wells, indicate that the Acolhua sought to erase the traces of their hasty sacrifices. Archaeologists have also discovered traces of traps and primitive defensive works erected along the main road of the city. Vain installations, since none worked when Gonzalo de Sandoval, ally of Cortés, and his punitive expedition arrived.
Women and children executed while fleeing
Destroy the city. Kill anything that moves. Punish these cannibals. These are the orders received by de Sandoval, who finally landed in Tecoaque at the beginning of March 1521.
Warning, this article relays information that may offend the sensibilities of some of our readers.
One evening in January or February 1521. The Acolhua of Zultepec, an indigenous people allied with the Aztecs, perform their rituals in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli, the god of fire and time. They know that this celebration is probably the last. Before long, the vengeance of the Spaniards will fall on them. Revenge ? About a year before, the Acolhua captured a Spanish detachment, part of the expedition of the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez. Dozens of soldiers, women and children from Europe, but also hundreds of indigenous allies, such as the Tainos of the West Indies, the Tlaxcaltecs, the Totonacos, the Mayas, the mestizos, the mulattoes or the Zambos. During eight long months of imprisonment and agony, they offered them as an offering to the pre-Hispanic deities of the site… and ate them. That evening, therefore, they know that the troops of another conquistador, Hernán Cortés, are approaching for a new massacre, their own.
This terrible story is told by archeology. Monday, January 18, 2020, the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) published the results of thirty years of work in Zultépec, now known as Tecoaque, which means in the Aztec Nahuatl language "the 'place where they ate them'. The INAH had already lifted the veil on its discoveries in 2015, but the excavations carried out in the meantime have made it possible to obtain more material evidence on this bloody episode. Among them, the bones of members of the caravan which, found in deep wells, indicate that the Acolhua sought to erase the traces of their hasty sacrifices. Archaeologists have also discovered traces of traps and primitive defensive works erected along the main road of the city. Vain installations, since none worked when Gonzalo de Sandoval, ally of Cortés, and his punitive expedition arrived.
Women and children executed while fleeing
Destroy the city. Kill anything that moves. Punish these cannibals. These are the orders received by de Sandoval, who finally landed in Tecoaque at the beginning of March 1521. At that time, it is possible that the city had up to 5,000 inhabitants, according to researchers. "Some of the city's warriors managed to escape, but the women and children who remained were the main victims" , the INHA said in a statement. "We were able to demonstrate this over a distance of 120 meters along the main road, where the skeletons of a dozen women were found. They appeared to be 'protecting' the bones of ten children between the ages of five and six. year."
On the photos of the excavations, we can indeed see the skulls or the bones of the arms of the women turned towards those, smaller, of the young people. "The location of the graves suggests that these people fled, were hastily massacred and buried. The women and children sheltering inside the buildings were mutilated, as evidenced by the discovery of bones slashed to the ground. Temples were burned and statues decapitated."
Consumed "offerings"
But between 1520 and 1521 in Zultepec-Tecoaque, violence struck from all sides. The Acolhua gradually sacrificed their prisoners, no doubt held in conditions of extreme cruelty, and consumed them (their bones bore cut marks indicating that the meat had been removed). The heads of captive Spanish women hung on skull racks alongside those of men. A bone analysis revealed that these same women were pregnant. Another sacrificial offering included a female body cut in half near the remains of a dismembered child, only three or four years old. Finally, a Spanish man had been dismembered and burned in a ceremony linked to a myth known as "El Quinto Sol", or "Fifth Sun".
Enrique Martínez Vargas, the current archaeological director of the site, believes that Zultépec-Tecoaque played a dual role in the history of Mexico:first as a point of resistance to the Spanish advance and its native allies, it was the following year the starting point of the conquest of the powerful Aztec empire whose capital, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, fell precisely in 1521, just 500 years ago. The publication of such results, which differ little from those made public six years ago, is therefore above all a means of commemorating this significant event.