Aztec Wood

Mexico City is built upon the site of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.  Just steps away from the Metropolitan Cathedral is the archaeological excavation of the "Templo Mayor", the main Aztec temple.  The temple was torn down by the Spanish when they conquered Mexico.  However, in 1978 the foundations of the pyramid were discovered quite by accident when a crew of utility workers were digging under a downtown street.  Thus, a full-scale excavation by archaeologists was begun.  Thirteen buildings were eventually torn down to uncover the Aztec remains that had been hidden beneath Mexico City for over four centuries.

The excavations also revealed thousands of objects that had been buried at the temple as offerings to their gods.  So, adjacent to the site, a new museum, "el Museo del Templo Mayor", was built to house those discoveries.

Last Saturday, Alejandro and I went to the Templo Mayor Museum to see a special exhibit entitled, "Insignias of the Gods, Wood in the Main Temple".

Archaeological work continues at the site to this day, and new discoveries are constantly being made.  In 2022 archaeologists found more than 2500 wooden objects that were left at the temple base as an offering.  It seems counter-intuitive, but these objects survived the centuries because they were submerged in water. (The Aztec city was built upon a lake.) Normally, these offerings would have crumbled into dust when removed, but archaeologists have developed a way to preserve them.  They are placed in an artificial sugar solution that shuts down the process of decomposition, and then they are slowly dried out in a heat chamber.  The process takes about a year.

This exhibition displays some of the wooden objects that were discovered and preserved.  Here are just a few photos...

The Aztec gods were portrayed carrying scepters, and these miniature wooden scepters were dedicated to various deities.

Wooden masks representing the rain good Tlaloc

Wooden jars representing Tlaloc.

Amazingly, some of the original paint is still visible.

Miniature canoes

A wooden mask attached to a flint knife

This spectacular Aztec war drum is not one of the discoveries from the Templo Mayor, but is on loan from a museum in Toluca, Mexico.  It has survived thanks to the fact that up until the 19th century the residents of a town in the State of Mexico continued using it in ceremonies.  The extraordinary carvings include eagles and jaguars, animals sacred to Aztec warriors.