MEXICO CITY.- In Guatemala Street, in the Historical Center in Mexico City, archaeologists have found at two meters deep a rectangular platform with an estimated length of 34 meters in which there existed, in it’s nucleus, a circular element elaborated with human craniums united with lime mortar, sand and tezontle gravel, which has been identified as the great Tzompantli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

The discovery was made known by archaeologists Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, emeritus investigator of INAH; Pedro Francisco Sánchez Nava, national coordinator of Archaeology, and Raul Barrera director of the Urban Archaeology program, at a press conference detailing the works made at this site, which started on the 9th of February and concluded in June.

Raul Barrera detailed that, as a result of the excavations in Guatemala Street number 24, they found a section with a platform of about 45 centimeters in height, and at least 13 meters long and 6 meters wide.

“It’s a tezontle wall with a stucco covering and sandstone floor, positioned from north to south, it had associated mandibles and skull fragments dispersed on the platform and a circular element elaborated with human craniums united with mortar, from which you can preliminarily observe 35, but we consider there are many more”.

Most of the skulls –some with orifices in the parietal bone but others without this characteristic– belong to young male adults, but there are also some women and children. “Until now we have found 35 skulls, but there must be dozens of them associated with this space”.

The INAH specialist added that many of these skulls were removed and altered during the Conquest, with the destruction of the city of Tenochtitlan and the Sacred Place.

“The most important thing is that we now have the precise location of the Ehecatl Temple, the Ball Game and in particular, the Tzompantli, cited in historical sources by the conquerors, like Hernan Cortes, Bernal Diaz del Castillo and Andres Tapia, as well as friars and chroniclers such as Bernardino de Sahagun, Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Jose de Acosta y Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, among others, because they are showing us the tight relationships between these buildings and the Great Temple”.

Eduardo Matos Moctezuma pointed out that Bernardino de Sahagun had mentioned the existence of various tzompantlis and two ball games and the association of these elements. “Judging by their location, we think this structure is Huey Tzompantly, meaning the greatest Tzompantli of Tenochtitlan. This structure had a specific symbolism and many of the skulls could be from captured enemies of the Mexicas, whom most likely where sacrificed and decapitated, as a warning to others”.