About 1,800 years ago, a group of people migrating from an unknown northern location began to settle in what is now called the Valley of Mexico. They are called Aztec, a name derived from the word...
Few festivals of the ancient world are as strikingly eerie and gruesome as the Aztecs' Tlacaxipehualiztli. Held annually during the second month of the Aztec calendar, Tlacaxipehualiztli was a...
In the history of the Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs occupy a major position. A lot of their history is known to us, mostly because of their contact with the Spanish conquistadors. But we...
In September 2022, beneath the surface of Mexico City and amidst the tremors of an earthquake, a massive stone-carved snake head emerged, believed to hail from the ancient Tenochtitlan era. Over a...
Thanks to their penchant for human sacrifice the Aztecs have a rather gruesome reputation, but what was their hygiene like? As it turns out, they upheld remarkable standards of hygiene. Their...
Various spiritual traditions hold different views of how the Earth and humankind came to exist. There is the Christian view, mentioned in the Bible, Gospels not included in the Bible, and other...
Researchers conducting excavations in Mexico City found a series of boxes containing Aztec treasures. Inside they discovered a cache of Aztec ritual offerings, including child remains, precious...
The Aztecs emerged in central Mexico around 1300 AD, coming to dominate the surrounding area from their capital city Tenochtitlan , now Mexico City. Stretching across highlands, coastal plains,...
The Aztecs were a native Mesoamerican culture that thrived in the forests, jungles, and plains of Central Mexico from 1300 until 1521, when their capital Tenochtitlan was seized by Hernán Cortés and...
Magic mushrooms, Shrooms, and the ever-famous Liberty Cap are all familiar terms for the same groovy fungus. Popularized in the western world in the late 50s, psychedelic mushrooms have been used for...
Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found the largest ever Aztec starfish altar offering site at Templo Mayor, the largest Aztec temple. Templo Mayor...
Archaeologists in Mexico have excavated a 16th-century Aztec altar surrounded by sacred artifacts. While abstract trinkets and incense burners reflected the structure of the cosmos, a giant clay jar...
Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who lived between the 15th and 16th centuries AD. He is best remembered for his expedition against the Aztec Empire centered in Mexico. This was part of the...
The Spider Woman of Teotihuacan continues to be one of the most mysterious figures of ancient Mexican culture. She is also known as the Great Goddess, but since 1983 Spider Woman has become the most...
Mexico is perhaps most well-known, archaeologically speaking, as the home of the Aztec civilization. Yet, before the arrival of the Aztecs, another sophisticated civilization, the Olmecs , ruled the...
In Mexico , two ancient ball courts have been found in a remote highland area. This is forcing experts to rethink how an important ballgame and cultural practice emerged in ancient Mexico. The...
In 1891, the American geologist and antiquarian William Niven set off on a journey of discovery and exploration through the Mexican state of Guerrero. What he found would change the course of his...
The Aztec Empire was the largest and most successful Mesoamerican empire in terms of size and demographics. It stretched across highlands, coastal plains, valleys, and forests. It is not surprising,...
Monarchs have always played a very important role in how their subjects form their cultural identity. Egypt, China, and the Sumerian city-states are examples of some of the oldest monarchies. The...
The Aztec or Mexica calendar wheels have been a source of fascination for centuries. It was not just a way to keep time - it was a complete philosophy of time in which every day had a religious...
The oldest Nahua legends speak of a mythical place called Tamoanchan , considered to be the cradle of all Mesoamerican civilizations and a sort of terrestrial paradise from which the ancestors of the...
New research indicates that the death toll of the indigenous population of the Americas during and after European colonization was so high that it changed the environment around the globe and led to...
For much of human history, pregnancy and childbirth was an extremely dangerous period in a woman’s life. It was often believed that the expectant mother and her baby were vulnerable to malevolent...
New research published in the journal Science Advances overturns more than a century of thought about the source of turquoise used by ancient civilizations in Mesoamerica, the vast region that...