Human sacrifice was a common practice in many parts of Mesoamerica. The rite was not new to the Aztecs when they arrived at the Valley of Mexico, nor was it something unique to pre-Columbian Mexico. O
Human sacrifice as shown in the Codex Magliabechiano, Folio 70. Heart-extraction was viewed as a means of liberating the Istli and reuniting it with the sun: the victim's transformed heart flies to the sun on a trail of blood.
A jaguar-shaped cuauhxicalli in the National Museum of Anthropology. This altar-like stone vessel was used to hold the hearts of sacrificial victims. See also chacmool.
A tzompantli, or skull rack, as shown in the post-Conquest Codex Tovar
Decapitated ball player
Tzompantli
Videos
A tzompantli or skull rack was a type of wooden rack or palisade documented in several Mesoamerican civilizations, which was used for the public display of human skulls, typically those of war captive
Human sacrifice in Aztec culture
…sites, have provided physical evidence of human sacrifice among the Mesoamerican peoples. As of 2020, archaeologists have found 603 human skulls at the Hueyi Tzompantli in the archeological zone of the Templo Mayor. A wide variety of interpretations of the Aztec practice of human sacrifice have been proposed by modern…
A tzompantli, illustrated in the 16th-century Aztec manuscript, the Durán Codex
Chichén Itzá tzompantli
Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza