Stunning eagle sculpture uncovered at sacred Aztec temple in Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

10. We Learned About the Aztecs From Their Conquerors--But New Research Is Letting Them Speak for Themsel

We Learned About the Aztecs From Their Conquerors—But New Research Is Letting Them Speak for Themselves



A stone Aztec calendar of the sun, on display at a museum circa 1930 Ewing Galloway—Getty Images

BY CAMILLA TOWNSEND NOVEMBER 1, 2019 1:00 PM EDT
With the U.S.-Mexico border a focal point of division in today’s American politics, it has become commonplace for one group of Americans to hurl insults at Mexicans and clamor for the building of a wall to keep them out, while another group insists on Mexicans’ goodness relative to others and reminds Americans that they have made invaluable contributions to the country.

Amid all this, it is easy to forget that migrations between today’s United States and Mexico once went in the reverse direction, that what is now Mexico City was once the Aztec capital — and that it was, without a doubt, the beating heart of North America.

Corn farmers had lived in central Mexico longer than anywhere else and, as a result, had developed a great civilization, complete with marketplaces, schools and running water. People as far north as today’s Utah had heard all about their marvelous and wealthy land, and whenever warfare or drought brought suffering, hundreds and even thousands of people would make their way south, hoping for a better life.

The city that emerged on a lake in the central valley of Mexico was called Tenochtitlan (Ten-och-TEE-tlan) and its people were called the Mexica (Me-SHEE-ka). Today we call them the Aztecs, and they have a fearsome reputation in our minds. The Spaniards, whose conquest of the Aztecs began 500 years ago this year, in 1519, told us most of what we think we know about them. Apparently motivated by guilt about what they had destroyed, the Europeans painted a bleak picture of Aztec life before the Christians arrived. (Remorse can be seen in a famous account written by the foot soldier Bernal Diaz de Castillo: “Of that beautiful place, nothing is now left standing.”). Since the 1970s, archaeologists, in uncovering their most dramatic site, twin temple pyramids, produced a horrifying record of skulls and serrated flint-knives. Taken together, these artifacts and accounts suggested that the Mexica were a barbaric and violent people.

But defining the Aztecs based purely on their European conquerors’ judgments and the look of a few silent objects leads to an incomplete picture at best. Until we have heard people speak for themselves—explain their actions and motivations; disclose their fears and insecurities; and express love, humor and wit—we don’t really know them.

. . .

For too long, we have accepted as fact the records left behind by the Spaniards, whose language, culture and worldview vastly differed from the people they conquered. Five hundred years ago Hernando Cortés arrived in Mexico, and all these centuries later we still don’t really know the Aztecs—or their descendants—at all. There is a rich and multifaceted Aztec history that we’ve been missing all along. Luckily for us, the Mexica people had the forethought to write down their stories, to record their voices for posterity. It’s time we started listening.

More:
https://time.com/5715476/aztec-history-myths/