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An quake last year revealed a big surprisal beneath a law school in modern - twenty-four hour period Mexico City : a gargantuan , colorful snakehead from theAztec Empire .
The shell-flower dates back more than 500 years , to when the Aztecs controlled the area , which at the fourth dimension was part of the flourishing capital of Tenochtitlan . The carving was name after amagnitude-7.6 earthquakestruck Mexico City on Sept. 19 , 2022 ; the seismic upshot caused scathe and changes in the topography , revealing the snakehead beneath a building that was part of a legal philosophy school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico , Mexico ’s National Institute of Anthropology and History ( INAH ) say in a Spanish - languagestatement .
A magnitude-7.6 earthquake revealed a giant Aztec snake sculpture in Mexico City.
The Aztecs built temples and pyramids and worshipped a number of divinity , include Quetzalcoatl , who was often depicted as a snake . However , it ’s unclear if this sculpture depicts him , the archaeologists suppose .
The sculpted ophidian is 5.9 feet ( 1.8 metre ) long , 2.8 feet ( 0.85 m ) extensive and 3.3 feet ( 1 m ) gamey , and it weigh about 1.3 ton ( 1.2 metrical tons ) , the INAH said . Several colors — admit red-faced , blue , sinister and white — are preserved on the carving .
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The more than 500-year-old snake has painted scales.
Color was preserved on about 80 % of the sculpture ’s Earth’s surface . To keep it preserved , an INAH squad lift the snakehead out of the ground with a crane and constructed a humidness chamber around the sculpture . This sleeping room allows the sculpture to mislay humidity gradually , with its coloring material being preserved , MaríaBarajas Rocha , a conservationist with the INAH who worked extensively on the sculpture , said in the argument .
While other snakehead sculptures have been launch at Tenochtitlan , this one is particularly of import for its preserved colors , saidErika Robles Cortés , an archaeologist with the INAH .
" Thanks to the context in which this while was discovered , but above all , thanks to the stupendous intervention of the restorers - conservators led by Maria Barajas , it has been potential to stabilize the coloring material for its conservation in almost all the carving , which is extremely important , because the colors have helped us to conceive pre - Latino prowess from another perspective , " Robles Cortés told Live Science in an email .
Here we see the painted fangs of the giant snake from the Aztec Empire.
The sculpture ’s " sheer size is telling , as well as its artistry , " but the survival of the colors is remarkable , saidFrances Berdan , a prof emeritus of anthropology at California State University , San Bernardino who was not involved with the dig . " The selection of black , lily-white , scarlet , yellow , and aristocratic paints is particularly interesting — one gains a good image of the ocular impingement of such sculptures as they were range about the city centerfield , " Berdan told Live Science in an e-mail .
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In addition to its preserved colors , the snakehead ’s size is noted , saidBertrand Lobjois , an associate prof of humanities at the University of Monterrey in Mexico who is not require in the excavation . The " first time I saw this serpent head , I was dazzle by its dimensions , " he enjoin in an email .
Lobjois also praised the preservation body of work that allowed the colors to survive , remark that " the preservation process allows us to appreciate the realistic approach of figuration " the Aztec creative person used .
This work is on-going and will continue at the site into next class .
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