The Great Temple of the Aztecs: Treasures of Tenochtitlan

by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma

The Aztecs have fascinated and horrified Westerners for centuries. After Cortes' extraordinary conquest of the New World's most powerful civilization in 1521, the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was levelled and its Great Temple demolished. Soon even the location of the old cult centre was lost - until 1978, when tunnelling for Mexico City's subway system unearthed clues that led to the rediscovery of the Great Temple and the most spectacular series of excavations ever conducted in Mexico. Professor Matos presents his personal account of his triumphant researches on the Great a giant pyramidal structure that had been rebuilt at least six times. The excavators discovered deposits associated with each phase containing offerings from all over the Aztec jaguar skeletons, jade masks, obsidian knives, stone sculptures, effigy vessels.

Genres: History

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Eduardo Matos Moctezuma (Ciudad de México, 11 de diciembre de 1940) es un arqueólogo y antropólogo mexicano.

Durante su carrera ha publicado unos 500 trabajos de investigación y de divulgación. Sus obras incluyen reportes arqueológicos, trabajos de interpretación, estudios sobre la historia de la arqueología, catálogos, artículos, capítulos, notas y folletos. Además ha sido director de importantes departamentos asociados al Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). Ha logrado como pocos comprender la cosmovisión mexica a través de sus trabajos de campo, exposiciones y publicaciones.

Fuente: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Gary Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for the imagery, and four stars for the prose. Eduardo Matos Moctezuma’s name is, of course, a hallmark of credibility. He does an excellent job seeking to connect Aztec religion with archaeological findings.

As an aside, historically, and not central to this work, I believe the author adheres to the long-held inaccuracy that Cortés scuttled his ships to prevent his men from returning to the port of Santiago de Cuba. More recently, scholars say that the eleven ships were beached mainly for practical reasons—they needed repairs.

This volume was written when the excavation of the Templo Mayor was still fresh, around the 1980s. Since then, other books have been published. Even so, this one remains a fine read, and as noted, the reproductions are magnificent.

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Popular treatment of the Great Temple to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc in Tenochtitlan, written by one of the excavators. The first and last sections give general information about Aztec history and culture, and the middle chapters describe the different stages of the temple and what the archaeologists found in it and try to interpret their significance in terms of the pre-Hispanic Aztec worldview. Written while the study was still in progress, so I have to assume it's out of date now.