Archaeologists working at the Templo Mayor, or Great Temple, in Mexico City (formerly the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán) have uncovered a 600-year-old golden eagle sculpture, according to CNN en Espaol's ngela Reyes.
Researchers from the Templo Mayor Project, led by Rodolfo Aguilar Tapia of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), found the sculpture in February. The eagle is the largest bas-relief (or low relief) work found at the pyramid-shaped temple to date, measuring 41.7 by 27.6 inches and carved out of tezontle, a reddish volcanic rock often employed in both pre-Hispanic and modern Mexico.
In a statement translated by Live Science's Harry Baker, Mexican Cultural Minister Alejandra Frausto Guerrero states, "It is a very beautiful piece that exposes the enormous secrets that the Templo Mayor of Mexico Tenochtitlán has yet to reveal to us." "We may continue to rediscover our history and memories thanks to [archaeologists'] effort and dedication."
The artwork was carved into the floor on the center axis of a chapel dedicated to sun and war deity Huitzilopochtli and a monument commemorating moon goddess Coyolxauhqui, according to Ashley Cowie of Ancient Origins. The etching was created in the mid-15th century, during the reign of Moctezuma I (1440–1469), according to researchers.
"For the Aztecs, the Templo Mayor stood at the core of the physical, mythical, and spiritual universes," Caroline Dodds Pennock, an Aztec Mexican historian at the University of Sheffield who wasn't involved in the research, tells Live Science.
Construction workers covered the eagle sculpture with a second storey built on top of the existing temple during Ahutzotl's reign.
According to Google Translate, Aguilar Tapia says in the statement, "That is why it is so well kept." "It's an element that the Spaniards have never seen before."
The golden eagle, also known as itzcuauhtli (obsidian eagle) in Indigenous Nahuatl, is a symbol-rich creature. The Codex Borgia, a 16th-century painted manuscript with calendars that purported to predict the success of marriages, military campaigns, and other endeavors, contains a similar image of a golden eagle whose sharp-edged feathers mimic the knives used in ritual sacrifices, according to the statement.
"In Aztec philosophy, the eagle was a sacred species, believed to have been there at the birth of the sun (thus the blackened'singed' wing tips), and was the symbol of one of the top warrior groups in Aztec society," Pennock tells Live Science.
According to the local daily El Comentario, the recently discovered carving was one of 67 discovered on the temple's south side, which houses relics related with the god Huitzilopochtli. Tlaloc, the god of rain, water, lightning, and agriculture, is honored in etchings on the temple's north wall, according to the statement.
Legend has it that Huitzilopochtli instructed the Aztecs to build their kingdom where they observed an eagle perched on a cactus eating a serpent. The immigrants saw this vista when they arrived on an island in Lake Texcoco, and it inspired them to found Tenochtitlan.
A golden eagle appears on the Mexican flag today, and numerous depictions of the eagle may be found throughout Mexican folklore. Researchers may be able to obtain a better understanding of the eagle's significance in Aztec civilization as a result of this new discovery.
The relief will be temporarily removed as researchers explore the location, but it will be returned to the temple after the investigation is complete.
Pennock writes, "The Templo Mayor Project continues to offer unique insights on Aztec culture." "This eagle offers another another dimension to our understanding of how the Aztecs viewed mythological past as central to their belief and ritual."
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