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As a purification ceremony, frankincense or copal may have been burnt in these huge braziers depicting Tlaloc, the rain god. Most telling of all, the scientists found traces of albumen indicating the presence of blood where these benches are decorated with clusters of flowers. The painting marks the spot where real clusters of flowers once stood. They contain the spines of the maguey cactus and sharpened animal bones which the Eagle Warriors used to pierce the earlobe, thigh, arm, tongue or penis, offering their own blood to the gods. This ritual bloodletting, auto sacrifice as it’s called, was the most common form of Aztec sacrifice. In this relief, warriors proceed towards the cluster of flowers to perform the ceremony. Perhaps the Aztec rulers themselves came here to shed their own blood? After extensive analysis of their results, scientists have discovered the highest concentration of albumen around the gods of death. Their results confirm the accuracy of the Aztec records depicting large quantities of blood poured over these gods.
Archaeologists believe that this ceremony marked the death of one ruler and the inauguration of the next, a reminder of the continuous cycle of life and death in the natural world. And the ritual seemed to work. Within just 140 years of their arrival in the Valley of Mexico, the Aztecs conquered lands stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the east to the Pacific coast in the west, more than 300 miles away, by the time the Spaniards arrived 60 years later, the empire stretched as far south as the borders of Guatemala. The Aztecs demanded tribute from each conquered state. In time, they would pay dearly for this coercion-------jade, turquoise, obsidian and alabaster for the ritual offerings buried at the Great Pyramid. Aztec society was itself a pyramid with the strict hierarchy, at its top the ruler himself combining spiritual, political and military powers. In this freeze, the ruler is depicted triumphantly grasping the forelocks of conquered leaders. But the stone itself served a much bloodier purpose.
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frankincense: n. 乳香
brazier: n. 火盆
albumin: n. 蛋白
earlobe: n. 耳垂
bloodletting: n. 放血
tribute: n. 供品
coercion: n. 强迫，威压
turquoise: n 绿宝石
obsidian: n 黑曜岩
alabaster: n. 雪花石膏
hierarchy: n. 层次，等级
triumphantly: adv. 成功地， 耀武扬威地
forelock: n. 额发
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