| Object Name: | Sacrifical stone for the extraction of hearts in the shrine of Huitzilopochtli |
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| Creation Date: | 1325-1521 A. D. | |
| Culture: | Aztec, Post-Classic | |
| Site: | Tenochtitlan | |
| Material: | ||
| Repository: | ||
| Image source: | © Dr. Manuel Aguilar | |
| Human sacrifice played a vital role in Mesoamerica, probably from early times onward, although it is difficult to document before the Late Preclassic period. According to most native worldviews, the Gods had offered their own blood in order to generate humankind, and the sacrifice most sought by the gods in return was human flesh and blood. Humanity lived in the thrall of this blood debt, and human sacrificial victims were offered repeatedly to forestall the demise of the world and to seal the pact made with the gods. The Aztecs, for example, believed that they were living in the fifth sun, the gods having created and destroyed four previous eras, and that human sacrifice helped to keep the gods at bay. In the sacrificial stone (techcatl) of the Great Temple, shown here, the victims were subject to the extraction of their heart by the main priest. | ||
