Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The Templo Mayor continues to provide valuable insights into the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico City, serving as a significant testament to the grandeur of ancient Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Recently, archaeologists uncovered a remarkable new find: an extensive offering attributed to Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, which includes numerous seashells and figurines.
Detail of Level 2-A of the Offering 189 excavation. Photograph by Mirsa Islas, Courtesy of the Templo Mayor Project. Credit: Mirsa Islas, PTM-INAH.
Who Was Moteuczomatzin Ilhuicamina?
Moctezuma I (c. 1398–1469), also known as Montezuma I, Moteuczomatzin Ilhuicamina, or Huehuemoteuczoma, was the second emperor of the Aztecs and the fifth king of Tenochtitlan. His reign marked a significant period in Aztec history, characterized by major territorial expansion and the consolidation of power. Under Moctezuma I’s leadership, Tenochtitlan emerged as the dominant force within the Aztec Triple Alliance.
Serpentine sculpture in situ before the excavation process. South facade of the Templo Mayor in Stage IV-b. Credit: Mirsa Islas, PTM-INAH.
Often confused with his more widely known descendant Moctezuma II, Moctezuma I played a crucial role in shaping the Aztec Empire prior to Spanish contact. He ruled from 1440 to 1453 during a time of relative peace and implemented important social, economic, and political reforms that strengthened both Aztec rule and Tenochtitlan’s influence over neighboring cities.
Moctezuma I was born to Emperor Huitzilihuitl (whose name means “Hummingbird Feather”) and Queen Miahuaxihuitl. He was part of a prominent royal lineage that included his brothers Chimalpopoca, Tlacaelel I, and Huehue Zaca. As the grandson of Tenochtitlan’s first ruler, he inherited a legacy which he expanded significantly. The name “Moctezuma” translates to “he is angry like a lord,” reflecting both his noble status (from teuc-, meaning ‘lord’) and an assertive disposition (from mo/zoma ‘becomes angry’).
Spectacular Ceremony With Precious Gifts
Three years ago, specialists from the Templo Mayor Project (PTM) announced the discovery of a tepetlacalli, a stone chest in Nahuatl, containing 15 Mezcala-style figurines. Building on this research and with the identification of two additional ritual deposits sharing similar features, experts now believe they have found what could be the largest offering ever made by Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, who served as huei tlatoani (ruler) of Tenochtitlan.
Snake-shaped pendants. Credit: Gerardo Peña, INAH.
“Imagine how spectacular that ceremony was: dozens of priests and thousands of faithful surrounded the Main Temple, simultaneously placing sculptural relics, snails, shells, seeds, sawfish faces, copal, tar, and other gifts,” Leonardo López Luján, director of of the Templo Mayor Project (PTM) and researcher of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), an agency of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico said in a press release.
In total, 43 sculptures were located in 2023 within offerings 186, 187, and 189 of the Templo Mayor. Credit: Gerardo Peña, INAH.
The INAH team recently shared new findings from their work at the Huei Teocalli, highlighting the identification of offerings 186, 187, and 189. These discoveries have enabled researchers to reconstruct a large-scale ritual scene from ancient Tenochtitlan. According to the scientists, uncovering three offerings containing over 83 figurines not only demonstrates the power and influence of Tenochtitlan but also helps confirm a hypothesis first proposed in the 1970s.
The newly analyzed offerings show notable similarities in both timing and content with others discovered decades earlier. This pattern has led specialists to conclude that these deposits were part of a collective ceremonial act. For the first time, archaeologists have successfully “closed a circle” of ritual deposits around the Templo Mayor—an idea suggested since the late seventies and now validated by recent discoveries in both eastern and southern sectors of this main pyramid.
These findings are significant due to their unique content and historical context. The six offerings, dated between 1440 and 1469 during Phase IV of Templo Mayor’s construction, correspond to Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina’s reign—a period when he extended his authority beyond the Valley of Mexico. The collection includes an unprecedented set of 83 Mezcala-style figurines placed in stone chests, marking an important milestone in our understanding of archaeological history at this iconic site.
“These three offerings belong to stage IVa of the Templo Mayor – dated between 1440 and 1469, the period of rule of the one also called Ilhuicamina (‘The Archer of the Sky’) – so we suspected that there were three more to the east and south of the enormous pyramid,” Alejandra Aguirre Molina PTM field chief, said.
“What is interesting about stage IVa,” Marín Calvo explained, “is that it is the only one of the seven construction phases in which the platform surrounding the pyramidal base was preserved almost intact, featuring architectural decoration of serpent heads flanked by braziers on each side.” With the six tepetlacalli already located, specialists have determined that this multiple offering must have required colossal logistics just to move, using ropes, levers, and wooden rollers, sculptures weighing between 600 and 1,000 kilograms, and to arrange 83 anthropomorphic figurines carved in greenstone.
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“At this level of abundance, the Mezcala figurines do not appear before or after in the Templo Mayor. What we see is the first huei tlatoani who conquered territories outside the Valley of Mexico, Motecuhzoma, consecrating the war spoils brought from Tlaxco and Tlaxmalac, lordships he would have subdued between 1447 and 1450, in what is now the northern territory of Guerrero,” López Luján pointed out.
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer