Aztec tower made of human skulls discovered in Mexico City

A tower of human skulls found in central Mexico City has raised new questions about the culture of sacrifice in the Aztec Empire. The remains of women and children were found in the structure of the building.

The archaeologists ' discovery is truly horrifying: the tower consists of more than 650 human skulls. The bones were found under the Templo Memorial, one of the main temples in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, which later became Mexico City.

Historians have suggested that the remains of fallen warriors were placed in the walls. But the find says something else.

"We expected that there would only be the skulls of men, young men who were warriors. Women and children can hardly be expected to fight, " said Rodrigo Bolagnos, an anthropologist studying the find. In connection with this discovery, the researchers put forward another version: perhaps the tower is associated with the rituals of human sacrifice. The Aztecs believed that spilled blood gave the sun god the strength to fight the dark.

The tower reached almost six meters in diameter and was installed at the foot of the monument to the god Huitzilopochtli-the patron saint of the Aztec capital, the god of the sun and war. 

A cylindrical tower made of human skulls is mentioned in the account of the Spanish conquistador Andres de Tapia, who accompanied Cortez in the conquest of Mexico in 1521.

676 skulls have already been found in the tower. Archaeologists have not yet unearthed the base of the temple, and it is not known how many human remains there may be.