Severed heads of 119 Aztec women, children and warriors ‘sacrificed to the gods’ found under Mexico City
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have unearthed the remains of dozens more Aztec men, women and children at a chilling "tower of skulls" in Mexico,
The country's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said a further 119 severed heads had been found at the grisly 15th century shrine.
The five-metre tower was discovered during the restoration of a building in Mexico City and is believed to be part of a "skull rack" from the temple to the Aztec god of the sun, war and human sacrifice.
The gruesome new discovery is thought to form part of the Huei Tzompantli - an array of skulls that once struck fear into the Spanish conquistadores when they captured the city .
According to experts the remains are most likely to belong to captured warriors while others could have been killed in ritual sacrifices to appease the gods.
Archaeologist Barrera Rodriguez said: "Although we cannot determine how many of these individuals were warriors, perhaps some were captives set aside for sacrificial ceremonies."
More than 650 skulls have now been found at the chilling site which is now being described as "one of the country's most important archaeological discoveries in years."
It is located in the area of the Templo Mayor, one of the main temples of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in the historic district of modern-day Mexico City.
"At every step, the Templo Mayor continues to surprise us," Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto said in a statement.
"The Huei Tzompantli is, without a doubt, one of the most impressive archaeological finds in our country in recent years."
The statement noted that in Mesoamerica human sacrifice was seen as a way of ensuring the continued existence of the universe.
For that reason, experts consider the tower to be "a building of life rather than death," it said.
The Aztecs and other Mesoamerican peoples performed ritualistic human sacrifices as offerings to the sun.
Archaeologists have identified three construction phases of the tower, which dates back to between 1486 and 1502.
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