The Skull Rack

 Just beyond the "Zócalo", Mexico City's main plaza, and the Metropolitan Cathedral, is an archaeological site where the foundations of the main temple of the Aztecs were uncovered.

The excavations began in 1978 when utility workers digging under the streets came upon a large Aztec circular carving.  The government authorized continued excavation, and thirteen buildings were torn down to reveal the Aztec ruins below.

A copy of the circular carving rests in the spot where the original was found.

The original is now in the adjacent museum which you can see in the background to the left.

The archaeological site and the museum are currently closed... originally because of the pandemic, but then because a metal roof which protected a portion of the excavations collapsed during a heavy hail storm last April.  Fortunately the ruins beneath the roof suffered only minor damage.

The walkway above the archaeological site is open and along it there is a photographic display on the latest discoveries that have been made.

In 2015 work was being done on an old house behind the Cathedral and just steps away from the archaeological site.  Beneath the house archaeologists discovered the remains of the "Huei Tzompantli", the Aztec skull rack.  Work on that excavation is still underway.

When the Spanish came to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan they were horrified by the sight of the skull rack in the center of the city.  They reported that the skulls of ten of thousands of sacrificial victims were suspended from wooden beams.  But until the recent discoveries there was no archaeological evidence of the skull rack.

On a platform paved with stucco, archaeologists found the postholes from the posts which supported the crossbeams from which the skulls were hung.

  

They also discovered a circular wall composed of human skulls held together with mortar made of lime and clay.

This circular wall or tower of was built in four successive stages.  It grew in size with each addition until it reached a diameter of over 15 feet.

Some of the skulls were removed for laboratory analysis.  The majority of the skulls were of young men as was to be expected since the sacrificial victims were often prisoners of war.  But the scientists were surprised by the number of skulls which were of women and children.

Based on the excavations, this artist's conception of what the skull rack looked like was created.  Archaeologists suspect that there was another tower of skulls at the other end of the rack.

I wonder if after archaeologists have completed their work here, the excavations might be opened to the public.  On an earlier trip I wrote about the discovery of the foundations of the school for the children of nobles beneath another building in the center of the city.  You are now able to go down into a subterranean level and see that excavation.  Surely beneath every building you would find more more remains of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan!