Following the conquest of Tenochtitlán in 1521, the Spaniards began building directly on the ruins of the city, wiping out Aztec traditions. New findings indicate that some of these customs continued for decades to come.
A time of crisis
The National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico announced the discovery of the tombs of four Aztec children dating from 1521 to 1620, all buried according to pre-Hispanic practices. If the exact causes of their death remain at this stage rather obscure, they would not have been victims of ritual sacrifices.
Less than a year old, the youngest had been placed in a pot in the shape of a womb (part of an Aztec custom seeking to symbolically bring the child back into the womb of its mother) and buried with different objects, including a figurine representing a woman holding a little girl on her lap (visible in the tweet below).
The oldest, who was between six and eight years old, presented clear signs of malnutrition and infectionhighlighting the particularly difficult living conditions of the natives during the years following the fall of the Aztec Empire.
The twilight of the Aztec civilization
When the Spanish conquistadors and their allies arrived in Tenochtitlan in 1519, the city was one of the most important in the world. With lush gardens and imposing temples and palaces, it was one of the main trading hubs of the empire.
the Siege of Tenochtitlán lasted 93 days. The Aztecs could not match the armament of the Europeans, and many of those who did not die during the battle were decimated by disease: the conquistadors introduced smallpox to the latter, and the ensuing epidemic eventually wiped out half of the city’s inhabitants.
After conquering the city, the Spaniards pushed the indigenous population back to the outskirts of the city, reserving its center only for the conquistadors. While most pre-Hispanic religious ceremonies and practices were quickly banned, newly discovered burials indicate that some of them persisted for some time.
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