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Artefacts of the Aztecs/ancient Mexicans
Here are some carefully researched and richly illustrated story features on individual artefacts that were central to Aztec life - more on their way...!
PLUS: mini-features on intriguing artefacts (mostly in museums) we think you may find interesting... AND: check out our artefact study pages, each linked to a downloadable activity sheet (see menu, right).
‘Artefacts in the Spotlight’ Archive
‘Artefact of the Week’ Archive
Learn about Aztec furniture...
Our entry on the ‘double-headed serpent’
If you want to see a gallery of conch/shell artefacts from different parts of Mesoamerica...
‘Moctezuma’s Headdress’ - a 2018 update:
Report on a one-day symposium in London
The chimalli: one of the most emblematic
weapons in the history of Mesoamerica
The story behind the famous monkey
shaped obsidian jar from Texcoco...
Under the day sign One Death
Aztec slaves were released from their collars
A Mexican community rediscovers its cultural heritage in education,
history, archaeology and campaigning...
Coatlicue - the epitome
of Mexica/Aztec art...
Could this be the eighth known piece
of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican featherwork?
Guess how many feathers went
into making this famous Aztec shield?
Europe has many Mesoamerican objects
that were victims of ‘mistaken identity’...
‘The primary association of a chair
is with power....’
The Templo Mayor Museum has a rare example
of a Mexica priest’s waistcoat...
The Dumbarton Oaks ‘Aztec’ Birthing Figure
is striking, powerful, and entirely unparalleled
A stone Aztec jaguar head still lurks
just 7 blocks from the Zócalo...
You will never guess what some children
think a molinillo is for...!
Aztec pine torches gave plenty of
rich aroma as well as light!
See and Be Seen - the meaning of
‘smoking’ obsidian mirrors
An Aztec thief just had to ‘lift the lid’
of the family treasure chest
The ‘personified knives’ from Ofrenda 125
of the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan
The V&A Museum has, stored away, a mysterious
‘monster’ metate which we’ve been allowed to see
In ancient Mexico the oldest clay stamps
were hand modelled...
The famous atlatl dart-thrower
was a truly ancient hunting weapon
Every Mexica family owned something ceramic
- what a lotta pottery!
Rulers were said to carry
a heavy LOAD of responsibility...
The best stone sauce bowls
take generations to ‘season’
The reed mat ‘petate’ -
- you could bet your life on it...
Symbol of a good Aztec citizen?
The upright digging stick
Getting to the hearth of the matter
- at the very centre of Aztec life
Did the ancient Mexicans invent
high-chairs for meal times?
We share in schools the Aztecs’ joy of carrying
the most precious artefact of all - a young baby...
Maquahuitl
- the Aztecs’ Broadsword
The Aztec Uictli
was in some contexts a sacred instrument
Strictly ‘tzictli’ - sticky chicle!
Nip up a gum tree and discover the original Aztec recipe...
¡Viva el Chicozapote!
Up the Chewing Gum Tree!
As well as chewing chicle latex
ancient peoples used it to seal and stick
Chimalli
Aztec shields - status symbols par excellence
Teponaztli
The ‘Queen’ of Aztec sacred drums ...
Metate
Sun moon
U-tube - a great source of music...
...for over 800 years!
An obsidian ‘microphone’
- basic kit for Aztec DJs!
Did these figures represent
multi-ethnic ancient Mexico?
Did the ancient Mexicans
play marbles, or jacks?
Artefact in the Spotlight
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Lizard, dense volcanic rock, Aztec/Mexica,1300-1521 CE, length 65.5 cms., Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.
According to the notes of Guillermo Dupaix in 1806, this sculpture was sealed onto the facade of an ancient stone hostel at Xochimilco, on the royal route leading to the Mexican capital. This shows that at the start of the 16th century, it was still quite common to exhibit objects inherited from earlier civilisations not just in urban but also in rural environments.
The creature is resting yet in an alert position. Every feature of the lizard has been sculpted with exceptional realism and attention to detail.
Adapted from Azteques: La Collection de Sculptures du Musée du Quai Branly, by Leonardo López Luján and Marie-France Fauvet-Berthelot, 2005, p.153.
Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.