Michael Wood brings to life online...

...the clash of two worlds

Download free learning resource

Full colour illustrations of Aztec calendar signs or ‘fates’

A mysterious turquoise skull mask

featured at Expo 67 in Montreal...

Did the Aztecs force you

to be who you were?

Our Mexican piñatas

are the real enchilada...

Glad Rags

with a Mexican flavour

A unique

image source

Authentic Mexican food

Not Tex-Mex!

Learn from a mistake...

Can you read her name?

Test your knowledge of the Aztecs

with our latest online quiz

Mesoamericans

run rings round us

Discover a musical instrument

that imitates a jaguar’s growl!

Aztec herbal medicine

was highly effective

Tiahue...!’

“Let’s go...!’ - Get involved with Mexicolore...

Is there a name for

the Aztec speech glyph?

Proverbs

and Pronunciations

Mexican heritage here in the UK...

... all on a single beautifully produced DVD-ROM

Tec ANIMATES A PAGE

from the Codex Mendoza!

Music song and dance among the Aztecs

- a short introduction

To the Aztecs numbers were sacred

and really did COUNT in life...

How did Moctezuma die?

How did he WANT to die?

Plants and animals had a strong cosmomagical

meaning in the lives of the Mexica/Aztecs

Is it a spaceman? Is it a WW1 airman?

No, it’s just good old Goggle Man...

Most recommended book

for learning Náhuatl...

Take part in an attitude survey

on the Aztecs...

Winner takes all in

the Mexica straw poll game!

Every 52 years the Mexica feared

the end of the world...

Health profiles compared:-

Aztec warrior v Spanish conquistador

A gallery of portraits

of leading Mexica deities

The ‘Manuscript of a Dogging’ is a lasting memorial

of the violence of spiritual as well as military conquest...

Welcome to a new Maya calendar cycle

- ‘Bak’tun the future...’!

We reckon this is the best ‘Aztec’

alternate history novel written so far

Aztec borders -

new downloadable resources...

See and Be Seen - the meaning of

‘smoking’ obsidian mirrors

Watch a delightful animation

on the Aztec life cycle...

A copy of the Tizoc Stone -

- in Haslemere Museum!

INTERACTIVE CHALLENGES,

PUZZLES and a LOT of info...

A world expert reveals how Aztec medicines

come to be at the heart of modern research

A ‘tail’ of the unexpected -

- a bit hard to (de)SCRIBE...

Aztec society was rigidly structured

- but you could move up and down...

For the Aztecs the eagle hunts like a sunbeam,

and leads the sun across the sky...

One Spanish chronicler claimed the Aztecs had

2,000 gods! We name the key ones...

The ‘personified knives’ from Ofrenda 125

of the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan

For the Mexica, heavens and ring

of celestial water meet on the horizon

Aztec place names give us insight

into the Mexica people and their lives...

Did any pre-Columbian dances

survive the Spanish Conquest?

How Mexican students developed interactive museum materials

using Mexicolore’s Sunstone resource...

A young novelist from Taiwan

consults Mexicolore about his Aztec story...

Don your masks for ‘Trick or Treat?’

- the Mexica version...

The classic story

of the origin of people...

The story of how an Italian artist

created a beautiful model of the Sunstone

Mexico was a latecomer

to the copper industry...

Deep in rural West Sussex there’s...

... a rare 18th. century Mexican embroidered ‘rebozo’

Most Mexica deities were broadly linked

to specific cities, towns, or neighbourhoods

The Discovery of Corn -

- and the role of brave little ants!

INTERACTIVE MUSIC

‘Az Tec plays it’

Ancient two finger gesture -

Aggression? No: agreement!

East west...

Home’s best!

Náhuatl has always been a language

rich in colour...

The V&A Museum has, stored away, a mysterious

‘monster’ metate which we’ve been allowed to see

Cacti have been a source of food

and medicine for millennia

How to make a simple Aztec

‘quechquémitl’ (girl’s neck-cape)

Did blood coursing in Mexica veins

match the coursing of stars above?

Follow the road taken by Cortés

to reach Tenochtitlan in 1519...

Famine drove the Mexica

to sell themselves to feed their families...

Shakespeare’s dramatisation of English history

inspires a new play on the rise of the Aztecs

12-year-old Alex Cottriall acts

in ‘A Soldier in Every Son’...

Linear time has a beginning and end -

Cyclical time just keeps going round...

Lightning and rain are associated

with ancient beliefs in Mesoamerica

Children keep sitting on my head

Read about Tlaloc’s journey to Mexico City.

The priceless Codex Fejérváry-Mayer...

... lives in Liverpool

Marigolds - developed by the Aztecs

as sacred herbal medicines

How has today’s Náhuatl changed

from Classical Náhuatl?

The ultimate sound bites

Tec’s latest challenges!

Is this Aztec officer sporting his medals?

No! It’s his ‘bloody’ title

What happened to Aztec/Mexica gods

after the Spanish Conquest? (1)

1st ‘month’ in the Aztec solar calendar

was called the ‘Ceasing of water’

‘The view from the metate’ -

women and the Aztec world

In ancient Mexico the oldest clay stamps

were hand modelled...

See the famous ‘step-fret’ geometric pattern

on a codex page, on a temple wall...

The career of dog breeder must have

been a lucrative one in pre-Hispanic Mexico

The Aztecs wouldn’t ‘rat’ on you

but you could get ‘moused’...!

Hear Professor Davíd Carrasco explain for us

how the Aztecs viewed the Spanish invaders

The Sun Stone: ‘perhaps the most famous sculpture

made in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans...’

A Mexica had to be brave...

... to go to the loo at night!

Basic Aztec facts:

AZTEC WEAPONS

The pioneering work of H B ‘Nick’ Nicholson -

‘grandfather’ of Aztecs studies...

Yes there’s an annual Chilli Fiesta...

... near Chichester!

Popo and Iztac

The classic legend of the two volcanoes

WANTED - ALIVE: a captive warrior

REWARD: a beautiful cape!

After the Conquest the Mexica

called horses ‘super-deer’...

Gain valuable experience

working with Mexicolore in schools

How can we find out

if Aztec herbal medicines still work?

Atrial crosses bear witness

to Mexico’s pre-Hispanic past

Isabel de Moctezuma - trying to reconstruct

the biography of ‘the last Mexica princess’

The famous atlatl dart-thrower

was a truly ancient hunting weapon

A Nahua folk tale to coincide

with the Day of the Dead...

Aztec/Mexica parents taught and

‘grew’ their children a bit like plants...

Are the Virgin of Guadalupe

and Tonanztin the same?

Doña Marina -

a study in survival...

Grasshoppers

had a Jekyll & Hyde nature - so very Aztec!

Each of the twenty calendar day signs

has its own particular qualities

Basic Aztec facts:

AZTEC SCHOOLS

Games and other amusements

of the ancient Mesoamericans...

Spot the Mexican

in the Coat of Arms of Lord Cowdray (of Cowdray Park in Sussex)

A daughter’s love for her mother

expressed in a Náhuatl poem

Get interactive

with our new Sunstone experience!

The Aztec wind god was so aerodynamic

he just blew your mind...

The Aztecs took ‘double-entendre’

to a whole new level of meaning...

Medicinal plants continue to be of great importance

to the present-day Nahua

Every Mexica family owned something ceramic

- what a lotta pottery!

There was a close personal bond

between Aztec captor and captive...

Day of the Dead activities

using teacher-tested ideas...

Doña Marina -

a study in survival - Conclusion

The astonishing Axayacatl

nourished the growing Aztec empire

Flowers played an important role

in individual Mexica lives...

Basic Aztec facts:

AZTEC FOODS

Birds have been important in art, ritual, and folklore

in the Americas for more than three millennia...

Not-to-be-missed Aztec treasures

viewable every day in central London

A rabbit?

In the Moon?

The Natural Look: Beauty Tips

For the Aztec Girl...

The Terrible Tzitizimime

Monsters of the Celestial Vault

Las enfermedades mentales

son enfermedades del corazón

Rulers were said to carry

a heavy LOAD of responsibility...

Leonardo López Luján brings us up-to-date

in the search for Moctezuma’s predecessors

What happened to the Aztec/Mexica gods

after the Spanish Conquest? (2)

The matted, tangled hair of Mexica priests symbolized

the ‘disordered filaments of the underworld’

How to make a wheely

simple Aztec toy...

Rare, stunningly beautiful, elusive, an artist’s dream

- is the quetzal the ultimate symbol of beauty?

Basic Aztec facts:

AZTEC TOOLS

Evidence shows the Aztecs were

very much a ‘mask culture’...

Molluscs were both useful

and symbolic in the Mexica empire

‘When in Rome...’

Download a basic Náhuatl guide

An Aztec riddle...

What wears a tight blouse?

The Aztec goddess of youth beauty and love

- was anything but a soft touch...

The best stone sauce bowls

take generations to ‘season’

Mexica man, Mexica woman -

physical strength, moral force

While the Tudors strummed

the Mexica ‘sang with their feet...’

What happened to the Aztec/Mexica gods

after the Spanish Conquest? (2) - Conclusion

A new series of simple resources

on Aztec every-day life...

Were human sacrifices

performed by 5 priests... or 6?

The Nahuas acted morally

to follow the models of their ancestors...

Basic Aztec facts:

AZTEC GODS

Aztec legacy

in Bournville?

Ancient language, modern soundwaves

- how to pronounce some of the commonest words

Did the Aztecs really know

of their impending doom?

One Alligator’ - a sign of the times...

Read the first in our ‘Birth Sign Bonanza’ series

Watch the beautifully animated story of a bat

- a creature with ancient associations...

Xochiquetzal -

- you should love her to bits!

The reed mat ‘petate’ -

- you could bet your life on it...

The Aztecs sang - literally -

- ‘to their hearts’ content’

Ancient Mexican figures continue

to inspire today’s stone workers

The world’s first botanic gardens

may well have been Aztec...

Off to work at 6...

... years old

What games and sports

did the Mexica (Aztecs) play?

While frogs helped feed the Aztecs,

toads helped feed their religion...

Control of lakes and waterways

was crucial to ensuring Mexica power

The Garden of Eden ...

in south west England

The Redcoats obtained their ‘red’ coats from Mexican

cactus beetles called cochineal - in huge quantities...

Mexican Batman -

- ancient hero or figure of death?

Symbol of a good Aztec citizen?

The upright digging stick

At the BM Community Preview

the gentler side of the Mexica came to the fore...

The awesome Aztec pinauhuiztli beetle

has just been identified as the ‘deer-killer’!

What was your average

AZTEC HOUSE like...?

Without tlachtli, neither Cantona nor Beckham

would have been the ballpayers we know today...

Mexican plants...

... in south west London

Our Lord the Flayed One’ -

- was one of the oldest Aztec gods

An Aztec thief just had to ‘lift the lid’

of the family treasure chest

Teachers are encouraged to say -

From now on they’re the Mexica!

Aztec pillow-fight games: the trick was

to hide the soft bag under your cape...

The Aztec Water-Dog

has been positively identified...!

Listen to short poems in English

with music, inspired by Nahua culture

In pre-Hispanic Mexico, any metal used in jewellery

making had a mystical significance...

Aztec children were brought up

to be exemplary citizens...

What did the Aztecs prize above all else?

We survey our Panel of Experts...

Musical Instruments from all over

in Forest Hill

Tlaloc the rain god was worshipped in Mesoamerica

long before the Aztecs had settled in the central highlands...

The aquatic quadruped that made a real name for itself:

The deadly Ahuizotl...

Getting to the hearth of the matter

- at the very centre of Aztec life

Moctezuma’s in town!

Join us at the BM...

Aztec pipes were called ‘tubes of aromas’

and held like darts thrown in battle!

The Mexica counted in 20s -

- a person was all fingers and thumbs!

Help identify the fakes...

... and the genuine artefacts!

Knots and matchmakers -

clues to ancient Mexican weddings

There’s something about

those goggle eyes...!

Did the ancient Mexicans invent

high-chairs for meal times?

See how twin-templed pyramids evolved

from the simplest of house designs

Mexica turquoise craftsmen had reached

the cutting edge of their art

There are 5 basic ways to design clothes

- and the Mexica wore them all...

What clothes did Aztec

children wear?

IN THE NEWS: in Mexico today

truth itself is a sacrificial victim

For rapid transport around the city

the canoe was king

Huitzilopochtli -

- the one truly Aztec god

Oscar Wilde wrote all about

the ‘fantastic character’ of Aztec instruments

We share in schools the Aztecs’ joy of carrying

the most precious artefact of all - a young baby...

The Aztecs left behind some snazzy designs...

...for rugs: perfect for colouring in!

Each bowl of gold dust tribute had to fill

‘the hollow of both hands placed together’

Tracking the provenance of Mexica-Mixtec

turquoise mosaics at the BM

What makes us angry

about ‘The Angry Aztecs’

The rise of Tenochtitlan in the 14th century

depended on an ecological miracle...

The Full Monte(zuma): London hosts

an international symposium and major exhibition

Big T’s character was as dark...

... as a Smoking Mirror

Maquahuitl

- the Aztecs’ Broadsword

Would your cry of pain have been

ear-piercing, tongue-piercing or nose-piercing?

At the heart of every meal

- a tortilla!

While the Aztecs were squeaky clean

the Spanish must have been eeuugghhh!

Pilgrimage to Broken Mountain:

A Nahua Ritual for Abundant Crops

See and hear an expert musician

raise the tempo on a teponaztli...

Mexican curiosities

... in the Royal Pavilion

The Aztec Uictli

was in some contexts a sacred instrument

Some Aztec hairstyles were definitely

‘a cut above the rest...’

Moctezuma Montezuma

Motecuhzoma...

Become a young ‘codexpert’...

... Learn how to cook the books!

Our Grandmother’ -

and Mother of the Gods

See you later Alligator!

- death was a final homecoming...

Were there rich and poor

in Aztec times?

Were large stone sculptures

the Aztecs’ greatest artistic achievement?

Strictly ‘tzictli’ - sticky chicle!

Nip up a gum tree and discover the original Aztec recipe...

The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle

was given to The Queen in 1973

Need ideas for teaching ‘Aztec’ dance?

We have a hot tip for you...!

Was every woman’s day in Aztec times

just one long GRIND...?

Some dyed their hair with indigo

- ‘so that their hair shone...’

Mexica weaponry: images are telling

but just how were they used in practice?

A different Aztec Calendar Stone

can be seen in Philadelphia

How to get around

a pre-Hispanic market!

One-room bed-sit...

... Home smoky home!

‘Our father’ -

- the cypress tree...

Mexica philosophy centered on teotl

- sacred energy in motion...

When the Aztecs danced...

...they ‘sang with their feet’

Az Tec will show you...’

Make your own Aztec sacrifice knife!

Have you ever been to Aztec -

- a little town in New Mexico?

The wisdom of Aztec parents

- even the Spanish were deeply impressed...

Drunk as a ...rabbit?

Discover the folly of the 1 Deer birth sign.

Shoes off before the Emperor?

Not me

¡Viva el Chicozapote!

Up the Chewing Gum Tree!

Aztec Women: Capable Partners

and Cosmic Enemies

Aztec beanz

meanz money!

Compare Aztec advice for pregnant women

with today’s Dos and Don’ts

The story behind Vienna’s

Mesoamerican Featherworks

As well as chewing chicle latex

ancient peoples used it to seal and stick

Chimalli

Aztec shields - status symbols par excellence

The Aztecs encouraged parents to stretch their children

- literally!

For Aztec water-folk

the pelican mirrored their fate...

Barcelona - home to a gem of a museum

of pre-Columbian artefacts

Did the Aztec Tlatoani

possess divine powers?

Teponaztli

The ‘Queen’ of Aztec sacred drums ...

Wonderful... marvellous... superb...

Mmmmmm... vanilla!

What does the Aztec language

(Náhuatl) MEAN?

Paris: home to important collections

of pre-Hispanic Mexican artefacts

How pre-Hispanic masks inspired poetry

by Year 6 children in Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Hi-tech science reveals Mexica and Mixtec skill

in using shell to craft exquisite turquoise mosaics

Metate

One of the most ancient of Aztec artefacts

Pre-Hispanic nicknames...

... were often linked to clothing

Smoke signals gave the game away

to something precious underneath...

Get children to reveal something of themselves

through Aztec calendar signs and masks...

ArtiFact or ArtiFake? -

The problem of forgeries in Mesoamerican Art

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli

- The god with the longest name?

The original ‘runaway’ slave

- the Aztecs gave you a sporting chance...

Aztec music -

- will we ever know what it sounded like?

Sun moon

Venus -

Happy-go-lucky?

You were probably born on 1-Flower!

Pulque gods’ gold ornament

- a real one has been found!

Beetlemania...

... seriously bad news!

A nose plug

fit for a water goddess

U-tube - a great source of music...

...for over 800 years!

John Bierhorst helps explain

‘how Aztec poetry works...’

Did the modern piñata...

... evolve from Aztec rain-god pots?

Plagued by ants, mice, frogs?

To the Aztecs they were omens as well as pests...

An obsidian ‘microphone’

- basic kit for Aztec DJs!

A modern-day ‘tlacuilo’

has a sad tale to tell...

Better than an alarm clock

The timeless sound of tortilla-making

I can’t ‘handle’ life on my own...

... I just need to get a grip!

If you’ve got designs...

... on my shields

Did these figures represent

multi-ethnic ancient Mexico?

How did Mesoamericans

envision the cosmos?

For the Aztecs if you’d ‘made it’ in life...

... you were compared to a ripe ear of corn

A portrait of a Mexican museum collection

- frozen in time

Did the ancient Mexicans

play marbles, or jacks?

Pioneers of Chocolate

Aztecs thought it was blood of the gods.

No time for leisure?

Ancient Mexican life had a real swing to it...

New guidelines: preparing and

following up on a team visit to your school

Moctezuma II washed twice a DAY -

Louis XIV of France only washed twice in his LIFE!

Strictly they didn’t float...

... and they were rich enough to feed thousands of Aztecs

The Aztecs cried their hearts out...

... they made a strong case ‘for crying out loud’

Cenotes were places of symbolic meaning

as well as important sources of clean water...

How come a heron...

... was a special symbol for the Aztecs?

Dust to dust...

... for the Aztecs it was water to water

See again the opening video

from the Royal Academy ‘Aztecs’ exhibition

Mexicolore has won the 2012 LUKAS award

‘Cultural/Educational Resource of the Year’!

Awaiting you in the sauna -

- goddess of the ‘steamy’ side of life...

1 petate .. 2 petate .. 3 petate

The Aztecs slept fitfully...

And now for something completely different -

- a ‘spot the mistakes’ Aztec teaser

The art of spear throwing was already ancient

by the time the Aztecs came along

We now run a range of craft workshops

on Mexican themes in schools

The wheel -

Did the Aztecs just ‘toy’ with the idea?

In wheel life...

... feet handle rough terrain far better

Listening to the Aztecs at home

would have surprised anyone expecting talk of blood

Dark materials indeed

Where did Phillip Pullman get his ‘daemon’ idea from?

3 score and 10...

...Yippee!!!

A real ‘hands-on’ approach

to the Aztec Calendar

Should we call the Aztecs ‘Aztecs’ -

- or the ‘Mexica’

The Aztec recipe for hiccups...

... was used in Europe for 200 years

Getting drunk on Pulque

One of the benefits of the agave!

Just what do we mean

by ‘Human Sacrifice’?

Ultrarunning

Fresh fish from the coast daily ... on foot!

Do not pass Go

Patolli was an Aztec board game.

Hare today

Gone tomorrow...?

Guide dogs -

- for all?

The largest prehistoric earthwork

in the Western Hemisphere

Because of its lunar connections...

... the rabbit was an important day and year-bearer sign

Thanks to Aztec ‘Eagle Man’

the ‘Kids in Museums’ movement is born

Aztec chocolate was a drink for the privileged -

never eaten as it is today

Take the Aztec time challenge

and connect artefacts at ground level to the planets above!

Learn from two young locals

how to say Hello in Náhuatl

Aztec poets

performed ‘flower-songs’

The ultimate in headwear...

... but isn’t the original in the wrong place?

Got questions for an expert?

Why not Skype us...?

Superfood

Did the Aztecs eat nutritious green goo?

Aztec children could get jobs

- as super glue makers!

Playing ‘ullamaliztli’...

... required an awful lot of balls!

Aztecs’ understandings of their bodies and their destinies in life

began with pregnancy and birth.

The Aztecs gave themselves...

... a healthy thwacking!

Náhuatl words and phrases shaped the way the Aztecs

thought about the body and the world

Aztec life check

Do you give as much as you receive?

Listen to the sound

of a large horned toad-shaped ocarina

Aztec laments went far beyond

the simple act of grieving over loss

Download a Powerpoint presentation

from us after a team visit!

We all mellow to yellow...

... with age

The companionship of the

long-distance runner...

The Aztecs were nothing if not

‘proverbial’ speakers...

Interview us!

Get your pupils to prepare an article about Mexicolore

Funeral fanfare -

- or wake-up call?

The ‘Arty Aztecs’...

... are based in Guildford!

While the Tudors strummed...

... the Aztecs beat

Share a giggle

with the Aztecs

New for Autumn Term 2012:

a Chocolate Artefacts pack...

Study the carvings

on a famous Aztec war drum

Blasts from the past -

conch shells!

Armoured bears? The Conquistadors

attacked with armoured dogs...

Eating the soul: who’s ‘guilty’

of cannibalism?

An unusual ancient Mexican instrument

that imitates the roar of the wind...

An appeal to the President of Mexico

to rescue the country’s ancient musical heritage...

We recommend good sources

for studying the music of the Aztecs/Mexica

Just how should we look

at the Aztec Sunstone?

Tlaltecuhtli

Aztec Earth Deity surfaces -

We recently visited our

1,000th new school...!

Ethelburga Primary

School visit led to 25 years on the road

Schools beware! Some Sunstone copies

are VERY cheap-and-nasty!

A calendar that can

drive a scribe dotty...

Recovering a massive Aztec stone cactus

from under a bookshop proved a thorny task

Just what IS the meaning of

December 21st. 2012?

Still 3 years to go...

...and the jokes have begun

What’s engraved on the SIDE

of the Aztec Calendar Stone?

Spot the Sunstone mistake at London’s

Mestizo restaurant and win a prize!

The Aztecs -

- you either love them or you hate them!

Guess which Aztec god today

is the most searched-for...

How Aztec...

... is the Day of the Dead?

Is there any connection between the Aztecs

and the famous crystal skull in the British Museum?

There’s ‘precious’ little Aztec turquoise left in the world -

- but it’s enough to inspire and fill a wonderful new book

Were the Olmecs writing

2500 years before the Conquest?

An afterlife for dogs

was not limited to ancient Peru

Aztec objects are at ‘The Heart’

of the Wellcome Collection’s latest exhibition

Pole-climbing -

- a universal custom?

The sacred precinct - attacked by Spanish guns

... and by 20th century Chevrolets!

Xochipilli -

- the only Aztec god you can bank on?

Hidden on Mexico’s $100 peso note

is a tiny pre-Hispanic poem!

Did D H Lawrence manage to get under the skin

of the Plumed Serpent?

The ancient footprints debate

runs on and on...

The roots of dentistry in Mexico are ancient -

- and the Aztecs used ‘tooth place’ everywhere!

Praise from the National Grid

NGfL say this site is a valuable set of resources.

A god under every stone...’

... their hearts still beat underground

Faces of Mexico...

... to inspire your art projects

How Mesoamerica inspired...

... one of the 20th. century’s greatest sculptors

Pre-Hispanic symbols in

Frida Kahlo’s ‘lost’ painting

State-of-the-art science at the British Museum -

- sheds new light on just how superb Aztec mosaic workers were

Aztec rugby ball...?!

... No! It’s part of Tezcatlipoca’s ‘ezpitzal’

Let’s talk Tezcatlipoca...

A major international conference in London

Future collaboration with the Templo Mayor

Learning from experts in the heart of Tenochtitlan...

Anyone come across a school book on the Aztecs

in English older than 1965?!

Bristol offers rich educational links

to the New World

The Mexico team in the World Cup

have for years sported THE Aztec icon

Were all Aztecs at heart born

‘bloody-minded’?

Was ‘The Last Aztec’

Moctezuma or D B C Pierre?!

Snow has hit the Tarahumara

very severely this winter

Drumming on about the Aztecs...

... Aztec music is coming alive in England!

Mexico: at the heart of

‘the world’s largest interactive classroom project’

Háblame! -

Speak to me!

Drawing on...

... Aztec art