In the spirit of the aphorism “a picture is worth a thousand words,” I recommend stopping by the British Museum’s Aztec collection online. They have available 27 photographs (well, 26 if you ignore the crystal skull that’s been proven to be a hoax) of beautiful Aztec and Mixtec artifacts. Among them are statues of Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Mictlantecuhtli, Tlazolteotl, Tlaloc, Xochipilli, and Xipe Totec, as well as a rare mosaic ceremonial shield, a turquoise serpent pectoral, and a sacrificial knife. The images are thought-provoking and intense, as these objects speak wordlessly the vision of the Nahua peoples without Colonial censorship.
Click HERE to visit the British Museum’s Aztec Highlights.
As a bonus, I located an excellent photograph of a jade mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, God of Time and Fire, which is a part of the British Museum’s collection but is not on their website. Thank you Z-m-k for putting your fine photography skills to work on this worthy subject material and for your kindness in sharing it under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 License.
Jade Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli
October 4, 2008 | Categories: Arts & Sciences, Culture, Media, Photo, Religion, Things | Tags: adorar, antes de la conquista, atl-atl, atlatl, Aztec, Aztec religion, Azteca, ética, belief, British Museum, cache, ceremonial shield, ceremony, Chalchiuhtlicue, Chalco, Colonial, costumbre, creencia, crystal skull hoax, cultura, culture, dios, dioses, drum, Eagle Warrior, ethics, faith, fe, filosofía, flayed, god, goddess, gods, gold, Grand Temple, House of the Bows and Bells, Huey Teocalli, idea, image, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, itzpatl, jade, jewelry, knife, la religión de los aztecas, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexicayotl, Mexico, Mexico City, Mictlantecuhtli, Mictlanteuctli, mirror, Mixtec, Mixteca, Moctezuma, Montezuma, moral, morality, mosaic, Motecuhzoma, Nahua, obsidian, pectoral, perforator, philosophy, photo, picture, pottery, pre-Columbian, pre-Conquest, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, preconquest, Prehispanic, Quetzalcoatl, reflexión, religion, sacrifice, serpent, statue, stone, tecpatl, Templo Mayor, teología, Teotl, tepetlacalli, teponaztli, Tezcatlipoca, theology, thought, Tlaloc, Tlaxcala, Tlazolteotl, tradicional, traditional, turquoise, worship, Xipe Totec, xiuhcoatl, Xiuhtecuhtli, Xiuhteuctli, Xochipilli | 3 Comments
A quick update today — I came across a link to an interesting little website devoted to the study of the Aztec sword-club, the macuahuitl (also spelled maquahuitl). They even have a new forum for people to discuss traditional Mesoamerican weapons. Cool. Click to visit Maquahuitl, and tell ’em Cehualli sent you. <g>
- Aztec Warriors With Macuahuitl
September 26, 2008 | Categories: Culture, Things | Tags: arte, Aztec, Azteca, contemporary, contemporáneo, crafts, cultura, culture, experimental archaeology, flint, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, knapped, knapping, knife, macuahuitl, maquahuitl, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexico, Mexico City, Nahua, Nahuatl, obsidian, soldier, sword, sword-club, technology, tecnología, tecpatl, tradicional, traditional, war, warrior, weapon | 3 Comments
Shock kindly shared the link to this story with me recently, and I thought I would highlight it here as an interesting archaeological discovery. I look forward to when they publish their full findings.
Most Important Offering in Past 30 Years Discovered in Great Temple
Presidencia de la República
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Mexico City – President Felipe Calderón toured the House of the Bows and Bells of the Great Temple Archaeological Zone, where the largest, most important offerings recorded in 30 years of excavations in this zone were recently discovered…
(Click here for the full story in English)
June 29, 2008 | Categories: Culture, Indigenous News & Issues, News, Places, Religion, Things | Tags: adorar, Ahuizotl, antes de la conquista, Aztec, Aztec religion, Azteca, ética, belief, cache, ceremony, conch, costumbre, creencia, cultura, culture, dios, dioses, ethics, faith, fe, filosofía, god, goddess, gods, Grand Temple, House of the Bows and Bells, Huey Teocalli, idea, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, knife, la religión de los aztecas, Leonardo López Luján, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexicayotl, Mexico, Mexico City, moral, morality, Nahua, obsidian, Offering #126, philosophy, pre-Columbian, pre-Conquest, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, preconquest, Prehispanic, reflexión, religion, sacrifice, tecpatl, Templo Mayor, teología, Teotl, theology, thought, Tlaltecuhtli, Tlalteuctli, tomb, tradicional, traditional, worship | 6 Comments
Tlacatecco 