Aztec Emperor Ahuizotl Tomb Found
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Using ground-penetrating radar, archeologists have uncovered underground chambers beneath the Tlaltecuhtli monolith in Mexico that they believe contains the remains of Emperor Ahuizotl, who ruled the Aztecs when Columbus landed in America. If findings prove to be true, it would be the first tomb of an Aztec ruler ever found. Photo Tlaltecuhtli stone monolith – AP Eduardo Verdugo
The finding could prove insight into Aztec civilization at its peak. Ahuizotl’s reach as an Aztec empire-builder was as faraway as Guatemala. He was the last emperor to complete his rule before the Spanish Conquest.
Spanish priest’s writings indicate that the Aztecs used the area to cremate and bury their rulers. No Aztec ruler’s tombs have ever been found, partly because the Spanish conquerors built their city on top of the Aztec’s ceremonial center. The regal structures are too historically important to remove for excavation.
One structure was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1985 and had to be torn down. The remains provided an opportunity for archaeologists to examine the site off Mexico City’s Zocalo plaza, between the Metropolitan Cathedral and the ruins of the Templo Mayor pyramid, reports Physorg.
Archaeologists told The Associated Press that they have located what appears to be a 6-foot-by-6-foot entryway into the tomb about 15 feet below ground, filled with water, rocks and mud. Workers are forced to dig while suspended from slings while pumps are used to keep the water level down.
“We are doing it very, very slowly because the responsibility is very great and we want to register everything.” said Leonardo Lopez Lujan, the lead government archaeologist on the project. “It’s a totally new situation for us, and we don’t know exactly what it will be like down there.”
Entrance to the inner chambers should be as early as fall where they hope to discover the ashes of Ahuizotl, where he was likely cremated on a funeral pyre in 1502.
Columbus had already landed in America in 1502, but the Aztecs’ first contact with Europeans didn’t happen for another 17 years in 1519. Hernan Cortes and his conquistadors stormed the Mexico Valley and took Ahuizotl’s nephew Montezuma hostage — his successor.
Ahuizotl’s son Cuauhtémoc took over from Montezuma, leading the last resistance to the Spaniards in the battle for Mexico City in 1521. He was later taken prisoner and killed. Both Montezuma and Cuauhtémoc’s burial sites remain unknown.
Petroglyphs on the top of the Tepozteco Temple, commemorating Ahuizotl. Photos Erasmo Perez
Archaeologists are literally digging into the unknown. Radar indicates the tomb has up to four chambers, and scientists believe they’ll find a collection of elaborate offerings to the gods on the floor.
“He must have been buried with solemn ceremony and rich offerings, like vases, ornaments and certainly some objects he personally used.” said Luis Alberto Martos, director of archaeological studies at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.
Although the water is a major hindrance it may also be a saving grace. Lopez Lujan said the constant temperature of the pH-neutral water in the flooded chambers, together with the lack of oxygen, discourages decomposition of materials like wood and bone that have been found at other digs around the pyramid, which was all but destroyed in the Conquest.
“This would be quite an important find for Aztec archaeology. It would be tremendously important because it would be direct information about kingship, burial and the empire that is difficult to come by otherwise.” said Michael Smith, an archaeologist at Arizona State University.
All signs so far point to Ahuizotl. The site lies directly beneath a large, recently discovered stone monolith carved with a representation of Tlaltecuhtli the Aztec god of the earth.
The monolith portrays a woman with huge claws and a stream of blood flowing into her mouth as she squats to give birth. Tlaltecuhtli was believed to devour the dead and then give them new life. The god was so fearsome that Aztecs buried her depictions face down in the earth, but this one is face-up.
The god holds a rabbit and 10 dots in the claw of her right foot, indicating the date ‘10 Rabbit’ – 1502, the year of Ahuizotl’s death.
“Our hypothesis is precisely that this is probably the tomb of Ahuizotl.” Lopez Lujan said.
Mexico has unsuccessfully sought to recover Aztec artifacts like the feather-adorned ’shield of Ahuizotl’ and the ‘Montezuma headdress’ from the Ethnology Museum in Vienna, Austria. Any artifacts linked to Ahuizotl would be a huge boon for the country.
“Imagine it — this wasn’t just any high-ranking man. The Aztecs were the most powerful society of their time before the arrival of the Spaniards.” Martos said. “That’s why Ahuizotl’s tomb down there is so important.”
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