Poetry, Serpents and Sacrifice

By Frederic Golden

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-titlan, 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 Cortes and his fellow conquistadors first glimpsed Tenochtitlan, 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.

Though Cortes and other Spaniards -- in particular, priest scholars -- sent home vivid, sometimes exaggerated descriptions and drawings of the Great Temple, it soon became little more than a fading memory. Over the ruins of the Aztec capital, modern Mexico City began to grow. Above the sacred precincts rose such major buildings as the National Cathedral, the National Palace and the Supreme Court of Justice. Except for an occasional reminder of its presence with the discovery of a stray Aztec artifact, the Great Temple was virtually forgotten. Even its precise location was not known.

The door on the Aztec past was opened quite accidentally before dawn on Feb. 21, 1978. While workers for the Mexico City Light and Power Co. were digging a hole heart the intersection of Argentina and Guatemala streets, they discovered an oval stone eleven feet in diameter, covered with carvings. Archaeologists quickly identified the relief as a representation of an important Aztec myth. The central image on the stone was the dismembered torso of Huitzilopochtli's evil sister, Coyolxauhqui. According to legend, she had plotted with her many brothers to kill their mother just as she was about to give birth to Huitzilopochtli. Instead, Huitzilopochtli sprang from the womb fully grown and armed, decapitated his matricidal sister and chased off his brothers. Some anthropologists read the myth as a cosmic drama in which Huitzilopochtli represents the sun, who must each day slay his sister (the moon) and disperse his brothers (the stars) in order to sustain his mother (the earth).

The stone, in almost perfect condition, created a sensation. A rumor spread through Mexico City that the workers had found the long-lost treasure of Moctezuma II, the ill-fated Aztec Emperor who was imprisoned by Cortees. But the find turned out to be even more important. Spurred by concerned archaeologists, the Mexican government authorized a systematic excavation of the old temple. During 4 1/2 years of methodical work under the direction of Archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma (no kin), the diggers uncovered all four of the Great Temple's sides, discovering that it was a far more complex structure than early chronicles had suggested. Begun in 1325, it was constructed in successive stages, each Aztec Emperor making his own contribution by building a new temple on top of his predecessor's. So far the archaeologists have sliced into seven major levels, plus several minor ones. The best-preserved is the second, completed in 1390, a date derived from a plaque inscribed with carvings from the 52-year Aztec calendar. Even the bases of the shrines to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc remain intact, including a strikingly modern motif of parallel lines that may represent rain. By contrast, the large Coyolxauhqui stone was made about a century later, during the reign of Moctezuma I, grandfather of Cortes' victim.

The uncovering of this major Aztec monument in the very center of their capital has stirred a wave of national pride among Mexicans. During the excavation Archaeologist Matos Moctezuma appeared so often on television he became something of a national celebrity. Colleagues jokingly took to calling the regally bearded scholar Moctezuma III. The excavation itself is scheduled to be opened to tourists later this year.

Thanks to Matos Moctezuma and his diggers, it should take visitors only a small leap of the imagination to recreate, at least in their mind's eye, the imposing edifice that the Aztecs erected to their gods.

--By Frederic Golden. Reported by William Orme Jr./ Mexico City

With reporting by William Orme Jr./Mexico City

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