
tzompantli
Sign in to saveAlso known as skull rack
thumb|right|200px|A , illustrated in the 16th-century Aztec manuscript, the [[Durán Codex]]
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17 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Historical distribution
- General information
- Toltec
- Maya
- Aztec era
- Preparation of {{lang|nci|tzompantli}}
- {{lang|nci|Hueyi Tzompantli|italic=no}}
- Historical depictions
- Recent excavations
- Association and meaning
- Gallery
- Contemporary uses
- In popular culture
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
thumb|right|200px|A , illustrated in the 16th-century Aztec manuscript, the [[Durán Codex]]
A ' () or skull rack' was a type of wooden rack or palisade documented in several Mesoamerican civilizations, which was used for the public display of human skulls, typically those of war captives or other sacrificial victims. It is a scaffold-like construction of poles on which heads and skulls were placed after holes had been made in them. Many have been documented throughout Mesoamerica, and range from the Epiclassic () through early Post-Classic (). In 2015 archeologists announced the discovery of the Huey Tzompantli, with more than 650 skulls, in the archeological zone of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City.