DISCOVERY! Aztec altar with human ashes uncovered in Mexico City

 Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered an altar dating back to the 16th Century near Plaza Garibaldi, the square in Mexico City, and it contains human ashes. 

(photo: MAURICIO MARAT/INAH

Image caption,

The altar was found underneath a modern home near Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City. BBC NEWS)

 Aztec altar with human ashes uncovered in Mexico City 

BBC NEWS:  Dec. 1, 2021

 Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered an altar dating back to the 16th Century near Plaza Garibaldi, the square in Mexico CityThe altar dates back to the time after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán.

Experts say it was located in a courtyard inside a home of an Aztec family, who would have used it to honour their dead. It contains a pot with human ashes.

A pot with human ashes, part of an altar unearthed by archaeologists at a plot near Plaza Garibaldi in downtown Mexico City, is seen

The original discovery was made in August but only announced by Mexico's National Institute for Anthropology and History (Inah) on Tuesday, after archaeologists had spent three months studying the site.

The altar dates is thought to date back to the period between 1521, when Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés defeated the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlán, and 1610.

The battle of Tenochtitlán is seen as the beginning of the end of the Aztec empire, which in its heyday ruled over the central Mexican highlands.

The archaeologists behind the discovery say that the inhabitants of the house would have held a ritual "to bear witness to the ending of a cycle of their lives and of their civilisation" at the altar.