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Over 50 different varieties of plants have been identified. Flowers and seeds were a vital ingredient of offerings which the Aztecs buried in the foundations of the Great Pyramid. So far over 135 different offering groups have been uncovered. These offerings represented a miniature version of the entire universe in harmony. The levels of existence, the overworld, the earth and the underworld, were represented by different plants, animals and artifacts.
Xiuhtecuhtle, the fire god, gave energy and life to the universe. Alongside him is a vase depicting Tlaloc, the god of rain and water, tilted on his side to encourage rain. Jade beads represent water drops. Tlaloc is recognizable by his goggle eyes, fangs and serpent nose. There are still serpents to be found among the ruins of the Great Pyramid.
In the Egyptian world the pyramids were largely used as interior spaces for burials. But in Mesoamerica the pyramids and the ceremonial centers were exterior spaces. They were theaters, theaters for the performance of the relationship between the people and the gods, between nature and daily life.
In these theaters the Aztec gods and goddesses were represented by sculptures. This enormous figure, over 8 feet tall and weighing 12 tons, is the earth goddess, Coatlicue.
This is a block, a solid block which can not be penetrated. It doesn't even have a sex. It is a massive sculpture with no penetration whatsoever. And it was Baudelaire who, when he saw reproductions of Aztec sculpture in Paris in the 19th century, said this is a barbaric art, barbaric in the sense that it is completely alien to the human. There is very little humanity in the most of Aztec sculpture. It is a brutal assertion of the powers of the gods and of the goddesses. They are different from you and me. They are different from women and men. Do not forget it.
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