Indian stone chest found by archaeologists contained ritual figures

Scientists have made an important discovery in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan

Archaeologists have unearthed a stone chest in Mexico, which turned out to be a ritual repository of 15 anthropomorphic figures.

A stone chest containing a ritual vault of 15 anthropomorphic figurines that were placed as votive offerings at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan in Mexico City has been found by archaeologists.

According to Arkeonews websitea stone chest was discovered under the platform of the rear facade of the temple in a layer dating back to the reign of the supreme ruler of the Aztecs and King of Tenochtitlan, Montezuma I (1440-1469 AD).

The stone chest, known in Nahuatl as Tepetlacalli, contains 15 anthropomorphic figurines and numerous green stone beads, two rattlesnake earrings, snails, shells and sea corals. Fourteen of the artifacts depict men, while the smallest of the group depicts a woman.

The anthropomorphic figures are in the style of Mescal, a Mesoamerican culture that emerged in the middle and late preclassic period within the Mesoamerican chronology (700-200 BC). Archaeologists believe that the Aztecs prized mezcal objects and dug them up from sites related to the Mezcal culture in Guerrero, the southwestern state of Mexico, to use as ritual offerings.

“This means that when the Mexicans (Aztecs) subjugated these peoples, the figurines were already real relics, some of them over 1,000 years old,” archaeologist Leonardo López Luján, director of the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) project, said in a statement. “Supposedly, they served as iconic images that they appropriated as war booty.”

Carved from green metamorphic stones, the largest of these statues is 30 centimeters high, while the smallest figure is 3 centimeters. On one of the figurines were found the remains of facial paint depicting the Mexican rain god Tlaloc. Researchers believe this was part of a reassessment of the religious significance of ancient cult figurines.

The stone chest was found in the context of Phase IV of the Great Temple, which dates from the reign of Montezuma Ilhuicamine between 1440 and 1469 AD.

“In their homes, the people of Mexico used to keep their most valuable possessions in palm leaf chests, such as fine feathers, jewelry or cotton clothing,” López Luján said in a statement. “We can imagine how the priests kept in these “stone boxes” the quintessence of symbols of water and fertility: sculptures of rain gods, green stone beads, shells and snails.”

Sand and shells were delivered from the Atlantic coast, the territory conquered by the Aztecs of the Triple Alliance (the combined forces of the three city-states of Mexico – Tenochtitlan, Tezcoco and Tlacopan) under Montezuma I.

In Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, the Great Temple served as the center of a larger temple complex. The temple was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, god of war, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture.