Science: Poetry, Serpents and Sacrifice

• Share

A long-forgotten Aztec temple is unearthed in Mexico City

For almost two centuries, the Aztecs dominated central Mexico. Striking out from their capital, Mexico-Tenoch-titlán, site of present-day Mexico City, their soldiers waged war with the efficiency of Roman legions. Decked in feathery plumage to simulate serpents and other fearsome creatures, they terrorized their neighbors, bringing back captives and exacting tribute of food, blankets, precious metals and cacao beans (for use as money). In a bloody annual ritual known as the Raising of Banners, they appeased their chief deity Huitzilopochtli, the war god, by killing their prisoners as well as slaves especially purchased for sacrifice by Aztec merchants. In one recorded debauch, some 20,000 victims were allegedly delivered to the god. Without such human offerings, the Aztecs were convinced, the world would end.

When Cortés and his fellow conquistadors first glimpsed Tenochtitlán, they had every reason to be astonished. Built on an island in Lake Texcoco, it was a thriving metropolis with a population of perhaps 200,000, larger than any European city at the time. It was divided into quadrants, each symbolizing a corner of the world. In the center of this cosmos was a complex of temples, the heart and soul of Aztec life. The largest, some 15 stories high, as tall as many European cathedrals, was a stepped pyramid topped by two shrines—one dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc, the other to Huitzilopochtli. This Great Temple, or El Templo Mayor, as the Spaniards called it, was the site of human sacrifice. Victims ascended the stairs, priests tore out then" hearts and the eviscerated bodies were tossed back down. As part of the rite, the Aztecs consumed some of the flesh.

Now, after what some scholars regard as the most important dig in New World archaeology, this hub of Aztec civilization has again become the subject of intense interest. Excavating in the very heart of bustling Mexico City, archaeologists have succeeded not only in unearthing the battered remains of the Great Temple but also in recovering some 6,000 objects: statues, wall carvings, pottery and jewelry as well as human and animal sacrificial remains. Some 100 choice examples from the dig have gone on exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York until Oct. 6.

Many of the artifacts are little short of spectacular: exquisitely carved horned gods, plumed serpents, giant sea shells and grotesquely decorated skulls. Not only do they show the skill, imagination and intellect of their Indian craftsmen, but, more important, they offer a revealing perspective on Aztec life. For all their obsession with killing and conquest, the Aztecs (a name given them by 19th century writers from the word Aztlan, their mythic home in the north) were capable of building aqueducts to bring fresh water to the capital, were skilled agriculturalists, wrote lyrical poetry, admired and preserved the artistry of earlier Mesoamerican civilizations and even kept a zoo.

All of this came to an abrupt end in 1521 when the conquistadors and their Indian allies conquered the Aztecs. The Spaniards leveled the temple, destroyed much of the statuary and parceled out the land among themselves.