Unprecedented burial site of a young woman surrounded by piles of human bones was found in Mexico City's Templo Mayor.
It is the most sacred site of the one-time Aztec capital.
The pile consists of 1,789 human bones including several skulls, femurs and ribs and is believed to be transferred from previous burials to be reburied with the young woman. In charge of the excavation was Perla Ruiz, physical anthropologist.
Members of the ruling class were cremated in the Aztec society, and archeologists rarely find any human remains of this kind. The burial ground dates back to the late 15th century and was found next to the discovered remains of a sacred oak tree at the Templo Mayor plaza.
"Aztec" means in Nahuatl "people from Aztlan", a place who some alternative researchers refer to mythical Atlantis. Their empire, based at Tenochtitlan (now in Mexico City), dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to 16th centuries. The empire under the rule of Moctezuma II (Montezuma), had been invaded by Spaniards, led by Hernándo Cortés in 1519. Later outbreaks of smallpox and typhus were decisive to the fall of Aztec civilizations.
Source:
www.guardian.co.uk
