Sculpture, Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City

Piedra del Sol, or Stone of the Sun, a gladiatorial sacrificial altar or temalacatl, with relief of Xiuhtecuhtli emerging from the earth hole, holding human hearts, with tongue as a sacrificial knife, unfinished, used to stage fights between warriors in the tlacaxipehualiztli ceremony, olivine basalt, 1502-20, Mexica, Aztec, from Teotihuacan, in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, or National Museum of Anthropology, opened 1964, holding national collections of archaeology and ethnography, in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Mexico. The stone depicts Xiuhtecuhtli surrounded by the 4 suns and 20 day signs, sun beams as sacrificial sharp points, and Xiuhcoat or fire serpents to carry the sun across the sky. Picture by Manuel Cohen

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16th Century Artefact Artifact Aztec Color Image Gladiator Inah Mexica Mexico City Museo Nacional De Antropologia Nahua National Museum National Museum Of Anthropology North America North American Pre-columbian Sacrifice Sacrificial Temalacatl Tenochtitlan Tlacaxipehualiztli Unfinished United Mexican States Xiuhtecuhtli

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