Archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, left, stands over a newly discovered platform .
Archaeologists found a round Aztec ceremonial platform studded with stone carvings of serpent heads at Mexico City’s Templo Mayor ruin, raising hopes in the search for an emperor’s tomb, authorities said Thursday.
No Aztec ruler’s tomb has ever been located and researchers have been on a five-year quest to find a royal tomb in the area of the Templo Mayor, a complex of two huge pyramids and numerous smaller structures that contained the ceremonial and spiritual heart of the pre-Hispanic Aztec empire.
Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology said the stone platform is about 15 yards (meters) in diameter and probably built around A.D. 1469. The site lies in downtown Mexico City, which was built by Spanish conquerors atop the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
“The historical records say that the rulers were cremated at the foot of the Templo Mayor, and it is believed to be on this same structure — the ‘cuauhxicalco’ — that the rulers were cremated,” said archaeologist Raul Barrera.
“That is what the historical sources say,” he said, referring to accounts written by Roman Catholic priests who accompanied the Spanish soldiers in the 1521 conquest. “Of course, now we have to find archaeological evidence to corroborate that.”
He said the platform, which is still being unearthed, was gradually uncovered over the preceding months. It is covered with at least 19 serpent heads, each about a half-yard (meter) long.
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Article by: Mark Stevenson, AP
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