Construction Workers Uncover Massive 800-Year-Old Aztec Dwelling in Mexico City
Construction Workers Uncover Massive 800-Year-Old Aztec Dwelling in Mexico City
The accidental discovery has a long, layered history
Elizabeth Djinis
Daily Correspondent
May 13, 2022
An electrical works project led archaeologists to uncover this Aztec-era dwelling. Mexico's
National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)
It was supposed to be a routine job in the center of Mexico City. Workers were poised to begin a project modernizing an electrical substation when they came across something that seemed out of place.
Their initial assessment was indeed correct: The area they were working on held the remains of a dwelling from almost 800 years ago, when the Aztec Empire ruled most of northern Mesoamerica.
While experts have not put an exact date on the structure, they estimate that it was first used as early as the late Postclassic period, spanning roughly 1200 to 1521 C.E., according to a statement from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The house’s location itself is unique, as it borders two neighborhoods not far from Tenochtitlan, which became the Aztec capital around 1325 C.E. Based on modern-day standards, the residence is vast: The remains stretch over more than 4,300 square feet, archaeologists say.
The findings show that the area was not only an important place to live but to work using the chinampas farming technique typical of the time. The Aztec agricultural system relied on “floating gardens”—patches of seemingly self-sustaining land that appear to float along shallow bodies of water. A pier with wooden beams that stretch up to 130 feet and connected channels found at the site demonstrate how the location would have functioned as part of a larger whole.
More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/construction-workers-uncover-massive-800-year-old-aztec-dwelling-mexico-city-180980079/