The skull tower was unearthed in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and current Mexico City. The photo is Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city located northeast of Mexico City. [Courtesy of Pixabay]
There was a story of the Aztec skull tower that was passed down for hundreds of years in Mexico. The Tzompantli or skull tower was said to be the ceremonial display of defeated warriors. It brought fears among Spanish invaders and motivated them to conquer Mexico to not have their heads on the skull tower as the war trophies.
A team of archeologists started to dig in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and current Mexico City, hoping to unearth the secrets of the skull tower two years ago.
As of July 4, 2017, the team dug up 676 skulls and countless skull and bone fragments. The dig site is next to the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was built on top of the ruins of
As the archeologists started studying their finds, they were shocked to discover that the skulls from the Tzompantli consist not only the male warriors as the old tales said but also have women and children. This finding will overturn what the historians have believed for centuries and may be able to give new insights to what the skull towers were for actually back in the time of the Aztec reign.
The base of this tower is not yet uncovered, so there are many more skulls to be unearthed and studied. The tower is believed to be part of the altar of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of the sun, war, and human sacrifice.
The team is certain that this is the skull tower that was discovered and documented by Spanish soldier Andres de Tapia and Bernal Diaz del Castillo who accompanied Hernan Cortes in 1521 to seize Mexico. According to the historical documentation, they claimed that the skull tower had over 100,000 skulls. However, the modern-day scholars believe this claim is exaggerated and think that the structure may have contained up to 60,000 skulls.
Kwak, Min Jung = abiel@ajunews.com
reporter
KwakMin-jung
abiel@ajunews.com
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