[Discover] In the late 1850s, a farm worker in southern Veracruz, Mexico, was clearing woodland to make way for a cornfield. As he hacked his way through branches and shrubs, he came across a large stone structure that was partially buried...
Continue reading "The 3,400-Year-Old Olmec Colossal Heads Origins"
[Smithsonian] Archaeologists conducting excavations at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City have found more than 160 starfish deposited as part of an offering to the Aztec war god Huītzilōpōchtli some 700 years ago, reports Kiona N. Smith for Ars Technica. Per a statement from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the echinoderms are members of the Nidorellia armata species, which is known as the chocolate chip starfish due to its brown and beige coloring...
Continue reading "Trove of Starfish Deposited as Offering to Aztec War God Found in Mexico City"
[kitcn] In Mexico, out of the approximately 23,000 plant varieties, about 500 of them are delicious and nutritious young, tender plants known as quelites. Quelites are some of the most ancestral and endemic bedrock ingredients of Mesoamerica cuisine and are even referenced in the 16th century Florentine Codex...
Continue reading "All About Quelites — A Flavorful and Nutritious Cornerstone of Mexican Cuisine"
[Ancient Origins] Archaeologists in Mexico have unearthed one of the largest and most impressive collections of Aztec artifacts ever found, just northeast of the central plaza of Mexico City. This incredible Aztec artifact treasure trove includes more than 2,500 wooden items of all shapes, sizes, and uses, plus many other artifacts that were left behind by residents of the Aztec Empire’s capital city of Tenochtitlan...
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[The Nibble] Salsa, which has been America’s favorite condiment since 2000—supplanting ketchup—actually has been a favorite condiment for thousands of years. The chile has been domesticated since about 5200 B.C.E., and tomatoes by 3000 B.C.E. both in Central America. The two were combined into a condiment, which the Conquistadors named “salsa,” or sauce. The spicy sauce gave name to a hot and spicy late 20th century dance related to the mambo...but that’s just the tail end of the story...
[Live Science] Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a dwelling that was built up to 800 years ago during the Aztec Empire in the Centro neighborhood of Mexico City, Mexico, during works to modernize the area...
Continue reading "Remains of Aztec dwelling and floating gardens unearthed in Mexico City"
[Reuters] Sometime after Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in modern-day Mexico City in 1521, an indigenous household that survived the bloody Spanish invasion arranged an altar including incense and a pot with human ashes...
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[Yucatán Magazine] A new line of comics titled “Aztec Empire” brings to the page in stunning color an account of the fall of this great civilization...
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[Electrum Magazine] Chocolate is perhaps one of the most intriguing foods in history, prized for thousands of years and now a global passion. Possibly originating in the understory Amazon rain forest, the small tree sought out by monkeys and other animals has produced a substance that has become a staple of civilization worldwide. Ethnobotanists since Linnaeus – obviously an enthusiast – identify this plant as Theobroma cacao, “food of the gods” and the product is otherwise known as chocolate; even this word causes a psychological craving among chocoholics much as cacao has for at least 4,000 years...
Continue reading "Maya and Aztec Chocolate History and Antecedents"
[Travel Off Path] Mexico City is the main political, economic, cultural, and educational center in the country. It has experienced hundreds of historical events and is a tourist destination visited by travelers worldwide...
[History] The Aztec Empire was a shifting and fragile alliance of three principle city-states. The largest and most powerful among the three was Tenochtitlán, the island city built by the Mexica people, also known as the Aztecs. The Aztec Triple Alliance exerted tremendous power over a wide swath of central Mexico for just shy of 100 years (1420s to 1521) before falling to Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés...
Continue reading "How the Aztec Empire Was Forged Through a Triple Alliance"
A new book representing a lifetime of research. In The Aztecs, Frances F. Berdan connects history with the Aztec culture which still survives - and you'll learn that tepozmecaixtlatiltlahcuilloli is the word for email in Nahautl...
[Smithsonian Magazine] The eagle—carved out of tezontle, a reddish volcanic rock commonly used in both pre-Hispanic and modern Mexico—measures 41.7 by 27.6 inches, making it the largest bas-relief (or low relief) work found at the pyramid-shaped temple to date...
Continue reading "Archaeologists Unearth 600-Year-Old Golden Eagle Sculpture at Aztec Temple"
[History] The Aztec Empire was a shifting and fragile alliance of three principle city-states. The largest and most powerful among the three was Tenochtitlán, the island city built by the Mexica people, also known as the Aztecs. The Aztec Triple Alliance exerted tremendous power over a wide swath of central Mexico for just shy of 100 years (1420s to 1521) before falling to Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés...
Continue reading "How the Aztec Empire Was Forged Through a Triple Alliance"
[The Sopris Sun] The Aztecs had a long literary tradition, with poetic works long before England had its Shakespeare or Spain its Cervantes. From the little that was saved from the destruction, we know of poets like Tlaltecatzin, Cuacuauhtzin, Nezahualpilli, Cacamatzin, and Nezahualcóyotl...
[History Extra] Views of the indigenous people of central Mexico have long been shaped by accounts written by Spanish invaders and colonial settlers – but, as Camilla Townsend explains, if we focus instead on the Aztecs’ own records, a very different picture emerges...
[Associated Press] Mexico sent in 250 National Guard troops and 60 police officers Monday to seize land next to the pre-Hispanic ruins of Teotihuacán where authorities have said bulldozers were destroying outlying parts of the archeological site...
Continue reading "Mexico raids building project next to Teotihuacán pyramids"
[Atlas Oscura] You can explore the halls of tombs in the abandoned former capital of the Zapotecs...
[NewScientist] The trade in bunnies helped power an ancient economy. Teotihuacan, an ancient city in central Mexico, was an advanced metropolis where most people lived in apartment complexes. The city reached its peak between the first century and 550 AD. With about 100,000 residents, it was the largest urban area in the Americas at the time, of a similar scale and sophistication as other ancient centres like Alexandria and Rome...
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[Daily Beast] In the city of Cholula in central Mexico there stands a hill with a giant church on top which hides a manmade pyramid filled with secrets...
Continue reading "Mexico is Hiding The World’s Largest Pyramid"
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Archeologists have discovered a large palace likely used by the Mayan elite more than 1,000 years ago in the ancient city of Kuluba, near the modern day tourist hot spot of Cancun in eastern Mexico, Mexican anthropology officials said...
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[AFP] Five centuries ago, newly arrived in what is now Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors banned an indigenous game involving a heavy ball, circular stone goals and human sacrifice.
Now, a group of young players are bringing the game back to life for the first time in Mexico City -- without the human sacrifice -- at the site of an old garbage dump.
Continue reading "Aztec ballgame returns to Mexico City after 500 years"
[Atlas Obscura] Take a close look at the stones of the Temple of Santiago Tlatelolco, and you’ll notice they reveal episodes from Mexico’s past. The 16th-century church was constructed with material from the destroyed pyramids of Tlatelolco. The pilfered stones were not randomly placed...
[Yucatan Times] An ancient Native Aztec sauna, dating back to the 14th Century, has been uncovered by archaeologists in Mexico City.
Central components of the sweat lodge where the tub or steam bath pool was located are still intact, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History...
Continue reading "Ancient Aztec Temazcal uncovered by archaeologists in Mexico City’s La Merced"
Really? "Associate professor of anthropology Charles Golden and his colleagues have found the long-lost capital of an ancient Maya kingdom in the backyard of a Mexican cattle rancher." by Lawrence Goodman, Brandeis University
Continue reading "Ancient Maya kingdom unearthed in a backyard in Mexico"
As Mexico News Daily put it, this book is "a treasure chest full of wonderful places to visit". As a scholarly work it isn't cheap, but for those interested in Mexican history, it's a resource to check out!
[Mexico News Daily] A new book — written in excellent English — presents the first study of the archaeology of the whole of western Mexico, from the earliest to the latest cultural periods, by a single author.
It is also unique in that it is far more than a simple compendium of excavations and artifacts. Guadalajara-born archaeologist Eduardo Williams, who is now a professor at the Colegio de Michocán, tells us this up front in the book’s title: Ancient West Mexico in the Mesoamerican Ecumene...
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[Desert Sun] The Aztecs called it the blood of trees, the exuding resin of a species taxonomists classified as Protium copal. Spanish friar Bernardino de Sahagun wrote that the Aztecs used tree gum mixed with calcium phosphate to glue gems to their teeth. But this gum, known as copal, was far more valuable than just a glue. This was the sacred incense of the Maya and Aztec civilizations — quantities of it discovered sequestered within the Great Temple at Tenochtitlan preserved as lumps and bars...
[Reuters] Archeologists have discovered a large palace likely used by the Mayan elite more than 1,000 years ago in the ancient city of Kuluba, near the modern day tourist hot spot of Cancun in eastern Mexico, Mexican anthropology officials said...
Continue reading "Archeologists discover ancient Mayan palace in eastern Mexico"
[Smithsonian] It’s a stroke of luck that Pinto decided not to remove the artifacts from the cave all those years ago. The untouched state of the cave system gives researchers a chance to investigate how much cultural exchange took place between the Maya civilization and other Central American cultures, and perhaps learn more about the Maya before Chichén Itzá went into decline. Cutting edge 3-D mapping, paleobotany and other recent techniques will all aid in the research effort....
Continue reading "Cave Full of Untouched Maya Artifacts Found at Chichén Itzá"