---
title: Aztec Turquoise Shield
author: The British Museum
source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16217/aztec-turquoise-shield/
format: machine-readable-alternate
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
updated: 2024-10-08
---
# Aztec Turquoise Shield
_Authored by The British Museum_
## Image File
[](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/16217.png)
## Image Caption
An [Aztec](https://www.worldhistory.org/Aztec_Civilization/) (Mexica) shield of wood covered in turquoise and shell [mosaic](https://www.worldhistory.org/Mosaic/). Likely used only as a ceremonial shield. The design shows solar disks and a long, winding snake crisscrossing the shield horizontally. The shield was dedicated to the rain [god](https://www.worldhistory.org/God/) [Tlaloc](https://www.worldhistory.org/Tlaloc/) and buried beneath the [Templo Mayor](https://www.worldhistory.org/Templo_Mayor/) at [Tenochtitlan](https://www.worldhistory.org/Tenochtitlan/), Mexico, 1400-1521.
The British Museum, London.
## Cite This Work
### APA
Museum, T. B. (2022, July 29). Aztec Turquoise Shield. *World History Encyclopedia*.
### Chicago
Museum, The British. "Aztec Turquoise Shield." *World History Encyclopedia*, July 29, 2022. .
### MLA
Museum, The British. "Aztec Turquoise Shield." *World History Encyclopedia*, 29 Jul 2022, .
## License & Copyright
The British Museum has released this image under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International ([CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)) license. You can read more about the British Museum and Creative Commons [here](https://www.britishmuseum.org/about_this_site/terms_of_use/copyright_and_permissions.aspx). [Original image](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am-St-397-a) by [**The British Museum**](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am-St-397-a). Submitted by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/ "User Page: Mark Cartwright"), published on 29 July 2022. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.