Coyolxauhqui Stone
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The Coyolxāuhqui Stone is a carved, circular
Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
stone, depicting the mythical being
Coyolxāuhqui In Aztec religion, (, "Painted with Bells") is a daughter of the priestess ("Serpent Skirt"). She was the leader of her brothers, the ("Four Hundred Huitznahua"). She led her brothers in an attack against their mother, , when they learned she w ...
("Bells-Her-Cheeks"), in a state of
dismemberment Dismemberment is the act of cutting, ripping, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise disconnecting the limbs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with ...
and
decapitation Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
by her brother, the patron deity of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli. It was rediscovered in 1978 at the site of the
Templo Mayor The (Spanish: Main Temple) was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. The temple was called ' in ...
of
Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...
, now in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. This relief is one of the best known Aztec monuments and one of the few great Aztec monuments that have been found fully ''in situ''.


Discovery

On February 21, 1978, a group of workers for the Mexico City electric-power company came across a large shield-shaped stone covered in reliefs while digging. The stone they uncovered depicts the narrative of Coyolxauhqui's defeat at Coatepec. The discovery renewed the interest in excavating the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, underneath Mexico City. This led to the excavation of the Templo Mayor, directed by
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma Eduardo Matos Moctezuma (born December 11, 1940)  is a Mexican archaeologist. From 1978 to 1982 he directed excavations at the Templo Mayor, the remains of a major Aztec pyramid in central Mexico City. Matos Moctezuma graduated with a ma ...
.


Location

The Coyolxauhqui stone sat at the base of the stairs of the Huēyi Teōcalli, the primary temple of the Mexica in Tenochtitlan, on the side dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. The temple is dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, the Aztec rain deity. Scholars believe that Mexica artists and builders incorporated images of the Coatepec narrative into the Huēyi Teōcalli (Templo Mayor) during a major renovation from the years 4 Reed to 8 Reed (1483-1487) under the rule of Ahuitzotl. At the time of its discovery, the stone laid in the center of a platform that extended from the foot of the stairway. On both sides of the stairway's base, completing the bottom of the stairway's sides, were two large grinning serpent heads and numerous others jutted out from the different walls of the pyramid. Eduardo Matos Moctezuma first noted that the placement of the monument at the bottom of the Templo Mayor commemorated the history of Huitzilopochtli defeating Coyolxauhqui in the battle on Mount Coatepetel. Matos Moctezuma has argued that the section of the Huēyi Teōcalli dedicated to Huitzilopochtli represents the sacred mountain of Coatepec where Huitzilopochtli was born and Coyolxauhqui died. The Coyolxauhqui stone was located in what was named Phase IV of the Templo Mayor during its excavation.


Creation

The stone was likely created in 1438 under the rule of
Axayacatl Axayacatl (; nci, āxāyacatl ; es, Axayácatl ; meaning "face of water"; –1481) was the sixth of the of Tenochtitlan and Emperor of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Biography Early life and background Axayacatl was a son of the princess Atot ...
(1469-1481). The artist of the Coyolxauhqui stone carved this disk in
high relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
out of a single large stone, 3.25 meters in diameter. Aztec historian Richard Townsend describes it as one of the most powerfully expressive sculptures of Mesoamerican art, using "an assurance of design and a technical virtuosity not previously seen at the pyramids."


Imagery

On the disk, Coyolxāuhqui lies on her back, with her head, arms and legs severed from her body. Her head faces upwards, away from her torso and in profile view, with her mouth open. Her dismembered torso lies flat on her back. Her breasts sag downward. Her body is neatly yet dynamically organized within the circular composition. Scallop-shaped carving line the points of decapitation and dismemberment at her neck, shoulders, and hip joints. In this representation, Coyolxauhqui is nearly naked, barring her serpent loincloth. Mexica people would have understood this nudity as shameful. She wears only the ritual attire of bells in her hair, a bell symbol on her cheek, and a feathered headdress. These objects identify her as Coyolxauhqui. She wears a skull tied to a belt of snakes around her waist and an ear tab showing the
Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...
year sign. Snake, skull, and earth monster imagery surround her. In the image to the right, which represents the original colors of the stone, Coyolxauhqui's yellow body lies before a red background. Bright blue colors her headdress and various details in the carving. White bones emerge from the scalloped dismembered body parts.


Role in Sacrifice

The Coyolxauhqui stone would have served as a cautionary sign to the enemies of
Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...
. According to Aztec history, female deities such as Coyolxauhqui were the first Aztec enemies to die in war. In this, Coyolxauhqui came to represent all conquered enemies. Her violent death was a warning for the fate of the those who crossed the Mexica people. Richard Townsend notes that the disk represented the defeat of the Aztecs' enemies at large. Sacrificial victims crossed this stone before walking up the stairs of the temple to the block in front of Huitzilopochtli's shrine. Scholars also believe that the decapitation and destruction of Coyolxauhqui is reflected in the pattern of warrior
ritual sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...
, particularly during the feast of Panquetzaliztli (Banner Raising). The feast takes place in the 15th month of the Aztec calendar and is dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. During the ceremony, captives’ hearts were cut out and their bodies were thrown down the temple stairs to the Coyolxauhqui stone. There, they were decapitated and dismembered, just as Coyolxauhqui was by Huitzilopochtli on Coatepec.


Notes


References

* * Carrasco, David. 1999. ''City of Sacrifice : the Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization''. Boston: Beacon Press, p.62 * {{refend Aztec artifacts Mesoamerican stone sculpture 1438 works 1978 archaeological discoveries Mexico City