A team of archaeologists unearthed a massive rack of human skulls from what was an Aztec Temple in present day Mexico City.
According to the Associated Press, the skulls likely belonged to human sacrifices and the rack, known as a "tzompantli," was used to display them. Eduardo Matos, an archaeologist at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (NIAH), suggested the skulls were put on display to intimidate anyone who might visit the city, friend or foe.
Raul Barrera, the lead archaeologist on the dig at the NIAH, told reporters the rack could have been as long 112 feet and been as wide as 40 feet, Reuters reported. He also estimated it was built some time between 1485 and 1502.
"The tzompantli had a very specific symbolism," Barrera told reporters. "With more study, we expect to learn that many of these skulls belong to [Aztec] enemies, who were captured, sacrificed and decapitated in order to be displayed there."
Susan Gillespie, an archaeologist at the University of Florida, was not involved in the project, but wrote an analysis of the findings in Mexico City, The AP noted.
"I do not personally know of other instances of literal skulls becoming architectural material to be mortared together to make a structure," she wrote. "They've been looking for the big one for some time, and this one does seem much bigger than the already excavated one.
"This find both confirms long-held suspicions about the sacrificial landscape of the ceremonial precinct, that there must have been a much bigger tzompantli to curate the many heads of sacrificial victims."
