Archeologists discovered centuries-old remains on a side street behind a Roman Catholic cathedral near the Zocalo plaza in Mexico City, a city built on Aztec ruins. The discovered ruins showed a massive circular temple and a smaller ritual ball court. The head of Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Diego Prieto, told Reuters that finds like this help figure out actual locations and the positioning and dimensions of structures. The temple was probably built during Emperor Ahuizotl’s reign, which lasted from 1486 to 1502. Archaeologists also found the severed male neck vertebrae that were discovered in a pile just off the court, and archaeologist Raul Barrera thinks it was associated with the ball game. “It was an offering associated with the ball game, just off the stairway,” he said. “The vertebrae, or necks, surely came from victims who were sacrificed or decapitated.”
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
