Word: aztecs
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...long-forgotten Aztec temple is unearthed in Mexico City...
...almost two centuries, the Aztecs dominated central Mexico. Striking out from their capital, Mexico-Tenoch-titlán, site of present-day Mexico City, their soldiers waged war with the efficiency of Roman legions. Decked in feathery plumage to simulate serpents and other fearsome creatures, they terrorized their neighbors, bringing back captives and exacting tribute of food, blankets, precious metals and cacao beans (for use as money). In a bloody annual ritual known as the Raising of Banners, they appeased their chief deity Huitzilopochtli, the war god, by killing their prisoners as well as slaves especially purchased for sacrifice...
...Texcoco, it was a thriving metropolis with a population of perhaps 200,000, larger than any European city at the time. It was divided into quadrants, each symbolizing a corner of the world. In the center of this cosmos was a complex of temples, the heart and soul of Aztec life. The largest, some 15 stories high, as tall as many European cathedrals, was a stepped pyramid topped by two shrines-one dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc, the other to Huitzilopochtli. This Great Temple, or El Templo Mayor, as the Spaniards called it, was the site of human sacrifice...
...after what some scholars regard as the most important dig in New World archaeology, this hub of Aztec civilization has again become the subject of intense interest. Excavating in the very heart of bustling Mexico City, archaeologists have succeeded not only in unearthing the battered remains of the Great Temple but also in recovering some 6,000 objects: statues, wall carvings, pottery and jewelry as well as human and animal sacrificial remains. Some 100 choice examples from the dig have gone on exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York until...
...Aztec, Jennings...