Aztec remains found in Mexico City
The skull of an Aztec child, recovered during the construction of a new metro line in Mexico City
Recent excavations in southern Mexico City have unveiled skeletal remains of about 50 children, once members of the ancient Aztec civilization.
"In total, there are 60 graves, 10 adults and around 50 children of different ages, some two or three years old," archeologist Maria de Jesus Sanchez told Reuters.
The 500-year-old skeletons, some of which stuffed into ceramic jars for burial, were found along the 24 km subway line, due to open in 2012.
The new subway line links several suburbs of the Mexico City that were built on top of Aztec towns.
Archeologists from Mexico's National Institute for Anthropology and History also found hundreds of small figurines, pots and plates dating from 1100 to 1500 C.E., and foundations of Aztec homes.
The graves show burial practices of the Aztecs, who often buried their dead underneath their homes and placed deceased children in earthen vessels. They believed that the jar would hold the bodies just like the mother's womb.
Archeologists have also discovered a 50-cm stone figure of a woman, pottery shards and 2,000-year-old facial stone carvings during excavations at Aztec sites.
Aztecs were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, or the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.
TE/JM/HRF
