Found under the streets in Central Mexico, this statue of Aztec god of the dead, Mictlantechultli was found marking the entrance of The House Of Eagles.
1994, Leonardo López Luján and his team were excavating under the streets when they found two of these large figures. Each figure is approx. 176cm tall and was made from fired clay sections in circa. 1480. Today this statue can be found in the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City. Each statue has large claws for hands and is stripped of half its flesh, exposing the organs inside. The liver (home of the spirit) is found hanging out of the body and the head had holes in it where black, curly human hair was once placed. This curly hair was similar of all depictions of the Aztec gods. The statue itself is made from five separate pieces of clay fired at a low heat. This artefact is different from many others found in other places of the world becaue it is one of the few artefacts that there was no debate over who should keep it. Mexico are the rightful owners of this piece and it can be found in a Mexican museum today. The statue was flown to the British museum in 2003 but was returned to the care of the Templo Mayor Museum where it remains today. There were other statues made that depicted this god but none of them were as impressive as this one. The others were usually carved out of sandstone and were more appropriate to placing in a house rather than being used to guard a temple. The main difference of this statue compared to other statues of this God is its stature, it is huge. Usually this God is depicted as a blood-splattered god wearing a toothy skull, this is another difference. This statue is removed of half it's flesh and has the liver coming out form underneath the rib cage. The way the Aztecs were though to have worshipped this god was through ritual cannibilisom, and this is represented quite well in this statue. Espcially with they way the innards are shown on the outside. There is a distinct lack of historical issues associated with this artefact, which is atypical compared to other artefacts of this time period, but in a way typical of artrfactas fropm the aztec culture. Many artefacts from this culture remained the rightful property of Mexico. |