Jewel-covered bones of a child sacrifice victim discovered
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found the bones of a child sacrifice victim at the foot of an ancient Aztec temple in Mexico.
The remains were found adorned with body jewels in Tenochtitlan, which is now the centre of the Mexican capital, Mexico City.
Named “Offering 176”, the bones belong to a young boy, who is believed to have been slaughtered for the Mexican God of war Huitzilopochtli.
It’s understood he was sacrificed in the late 15th century and comes 12 years after the location of the first child sacrifice site at the archaeological site.
Symbols characteristic of Huitzilopochtli were also found next to the skeleton, which was found under the floor of a square to the west of the Templo Mayor.
The archaeologists said that in order to offer the remains of the child, the Aztecs had to raise a series of stone slabs from the floor and dig a pit in the ground.
They then had to build the cylindrical box in which the child was placed with volcanic stones, stuck together with stucco.
One expert told reporters: "Then they filled the square with soil brought from the banks of the old lake to build another square on top of it."
The discovery comes after hundreds of skulls were recently found in Tenochtitlan believed to have been placed on public display in ritual sacrifices.
Tenochtitlan was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico.
The city was the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the 15th century until it was captured by the Spanish in 1521.
At its peak, it was the largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas.
Last month the Sun Online told how archaeologists found the remains of what they believe could be the largest single mass child sacrifice event in human history.
More than 140 children – aged between five and 14 – were killed at the same time in Peru’s northern coastal region about 550 years ago.
The children’s ruptured remains contained cuts to their breastbones, which are believed to have been made by a ceremonial knife.
