Mexican Archaeologists Discovered Four Aztec Child Burials in Mexico City

Mexican archaeologists unearthed four Aztec child burials in downtown Mexico City, with the children laid to rest some five centuries ago.

According to Reuters, the burials were in the heart of the city's bustling historic center. National Institute of Anthropology and History's archaeologists discovered the skeletons inside what they believe was a traditional four-room Aztec home from between 1521 and 1620.

The diggings also uncovered pre-Hispanic objects largely intact centuries later. According to the institute, it includes clay vases, ceramic pots, and a stone figure of a woman holding a child.

Researchers said on Monday that the Aztec children were found to have died from natural causes and were buried in a traditional pre-Hispanic style.

Juan Carlos Campos, the archaeologist who led the excavation, noted that indigenous people experienced harsh living conditions and were not able to flee after the Spanish conquistadors took the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, which became Mexico City.

Aztec Child Burials in Mexico

The discovered buried children range from a newborn to a girl aged between six and eight. According to a Washington Post, the youngest, a newborn, was buried inside a pot with other pots around it. The bulbous shape of the pot was believed to imitate the form of a uterus.

It was unclear if the child died before or after birth.

On the other hand, the older girl was buried with a large clay Aztec-style figurine depicting a female figure holding a child.

Her skull showed signs of possible anemia, malnutrition, or infection, which suggested that life was hard for the Indigenous population in the years after the Conquest.

Last December, archaeologists announced they had discovered another house site on the outskirts of the city's center, where 13 large clay ceremonial Aztec incense burners had been carefully buried after the Conquest.

The incense burners had been buried in a pattern that may refer to the Aztec calendar. They were also covered with adobe bricks, likely to hide them.

Aztec Beliefs and Religion in Mexico

Aztec religion absorbed elements from many other Mesoamerican cultures. It shared many of the cosmological beliefs of earlier peoples, including the Maya.

The belief also includes that the present earth was the last in a series of creations, and it occupied a position between systems of 13 heavens and nine underworlds.

Human sacrifice was commonly practiced, as was bloodletting. According to Britannica, it was a practice that offered a victim's heart to Tonatiuh, who was the god of the sun.

The Aztec calendar was also one common denominator in much of Mesoamerica. It consisted of a solar year of 365 days and a sacred year of 260 days.

The two-yearly cycles run in parallel produced a larger cycle of 52 years. The Aztecs also had four mythological eras. First was the Water Sun, which was destroyed by a flood.

Next was the Sun of the Earth, which was destroyed by an earthquake. It was followed by Wind Sun, which was destroyed by a giant feathered serpent, prophesizing the destruction of the Earth by wind and the evolution of humans into monkeys. The last mythological era was the Sun Fire, which will end in a general conflagration.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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