Tzompantli - The Wall of Skulls

Photo: edenpictures, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on Chichen Itza Self-Guided Tour, a free self-guided tour.

This long, low platform is covered in row after row of carved stone skulls. It is about 60 meters long and is known as the Tzompantli, a word from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, meaning a rack or wall of skulls.

In central Mexico, platforms like this held wooden racks displaying the real skulls of war captives and sacrificial victims, and this one is a clear sign of contact with that region. There is a local twist, though: the carvings here show skulls stacked on vertical poles, while at Tenochtitlan they were strung sideways on horizontal beams.

It is easy to let a place like this run away with the imagination. Archaeologists cannot say how many people were displayed here or exactly why. What is clear is the message: the platform was built to impress, a public statement of a city's power facing its busiest plaza.

Walk its length and look at how the rows repeat, then glance at the smaller square platform just next door.

Getting here: From the Lower Temple of the Jaguars, walk a few steps east; the long carved platform is right in front of you.

Did you know?: The small square platform beside it, the Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars, has panels showing eagles and jaguars holding human hearts - more symbols of warrior power.

Photo op: Crouch low near one end and shoot along the wall so the rows of skulls stretch into the distance.

More on Wikipedia: Tzompantli · Nahuatl · Tenochtitlan

Tzompantli - The Wall of Skulls

Stops on this tour