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Aztec Ceremonial Knife
An Aztec ceremonial knife with a cedarwood handle and flint blade. The figure of the handle is covered in turquoise and shell mosiac and represents an Aztec Eagle knight. 1400-1521 CE. (British Museum, London)
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Coyolxauhqui
The 3.2m diameter stone disk which depicts the decapitated and dismembered corpse of Coyolxauhqui. According to Aztec mythology the war god Huitzilopochtli chopped up the goddess when she tried to lead a rebellion against the gods. Her head...
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The Maya Calendar and the End of the World: Why the one does not substantiate the other
The Popol Vuh recounts the story of twins who journeyed to Xibalba. For the Maya, their round of adventures serves as a metaphor for timeless, repeating cycles and for the regeneration of earth and all living things. – Gene S. Stuart, Mayanist...
Definition
Kukulcan
Kukulcan (pron. Koo-kool-kan) is the name of a feathered serpent god in the mythology and religion of Mesoamerica, in particular, the Yucatec Maya. He is also identified as the feathered serpent god Quetzalcóatl by the Toltecs and Aztecs...
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Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan, located in the Basin of Central Mexico, was the largest, most influential, and most revered city in the history of the New World. It flourished in Mesoamerica's Golden Age, the Classic Period of the first millennium CE. Dominated...
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History of the Aztec Civilization, a Mesoamerican Empire
The Aztec civilisation spanned from around 1300 CE until 1521, and at its greatest extent, the empire covered most of Northern Mesoamerica. Although we refer to these peoples as ‘Aztecs,’ that is not what they called themselves. They were...
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Mixcoatl
Mixcoatl, 'Cloud Serpent,' was a Mesoamerican god identified with hunting, the Milky Way and the stars and heavens in general. The god may originally have derived from a deified hunter and warrior-leader of the Toltec-Chichimec peoples of...
Definition
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, 'Dawn Lord,' was a Mesoamerican god who represented a menacing aspect of Venus, the morning star, and was one of the four gods which held up the sky. The people of the ancient Americas believed his rays could damage...
Definition
Xochicalco
Xochicalco in central Mexico was an important hilltop centre from the 8th century CE and was a rival and successor of Teotihuacán. Architecture at the site is closely connected to that of the Classic Maya, Teotihuacan, and Veracruz...
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Aztec Skulls, Templo Mayor
Stone skulls from the Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. They represent the tzompantli or skull racks where the heads of sacrificial victims were placed.