And it’s not a result of drug-cartel violence for once. The discovery is of 50 skulls placed at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City (Tenochtitlan). Five of the skulls were placed under a sacred stone (the other 45 were above the stone). Below is a photo of one of the skulls, showing the large holes in the sides of the skull so they could be placed on a skull rack (tzompantli).
(tzompantli)
A copy of the news story is here (but available at many other news sites). Among other aspects of this find being discussed is that it flies in the face of common beliefs that Aztec sacrifice necessarily means removing a heart from a body — this find indicates sacrifice by decapitation. Many different forms of sacrifice were used, depending on the purpose. For example, the god of spring, who is also the flayed skin god and the god of goldsmiths (Xipe Totec) required sacrifice by flaying the skin from an individual, which was then worn by the priest. We have various accounts and depictions of this type of sacrifice, such as these sculptures:
