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As precious as jade is how the Aztecs describe their capital---Tenochtitlan. The Great Pyramid or the Templo Mayor as it's known honored the two most significant Gods for the Aztecs---- Tlaloc, the god of rain and water and Huitzilopochtli ---the warrior god associated with the Sun. The bodies of sacrificial victims were flung down onto this stone, eleven feet in diameter which depicts the Moon Goddess, cut into pieces by the warrior god of the Sun. It was discovered in 1978 by electrical workers laying cables. This led to the excavations that uncovered the Great Pyramid.
Archaeologists have uncovered several layers of construction, all from the 200 years of Aztec rule which started at the beginning of 14th century. The pyramid was rebuilt seven times and modified at least five. Each new level rose above and sealed off the previous one. They were building upon success.
Despite their choice of a place to settle, the Aztecs flourished. Crowds between 25 and 60 thousand people gathered daily at Tlatelolco -- site of the biggest market supplying the Aztec metropolis.
Here you could buy anything from cactus to live animals. We share many of the foods which flourished in Aztec times, avocados, squash, beans, chilies and corn, ground into flour to make tortillas as important a diet staple then as they are today. All this abundance was the product of their own ingenuity, but the Aztecs gave credit to their gods and made offerings accordingly. Hoping to uncover more about the offerings, in 1990 scientists began to analyze soil samples from the Great Pyramid. Analysis is still in progress, but some extraordinary results are beginning to emerge.
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metropolis: n. 首都
avocado: n. [植]鳄梨
squash: n. 南瓜
chili: n. 红辣椒
grind: v. 磨(碎)
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