‘A holocaust to appease the fury of the gods’: Child sacrifices to Tláloc to ward off extreme drought

In 1980, a team from the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History’s Templo Mayor Project (PTM) excavated an offering containing the skeletal remains of at least 42 children sacrificed in honor of Tláloc, the Aztec god of rain. New studies suggest that these sacrifices, carried out in Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1454, attempted to end a devastating drought that hit the Valley of Mexico.

At the ninth Freedom for Knowledge: Water and Life meeting, organized by the National College, Leonardo López Luján, director of the PTM, presented these findings in light of data provided by earth sciences. Accompanied by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, emeritus researcher at the Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), and doctors Teresa Rojas Rabiela and Carlos E. Córdova, López Luján addressed how climatic variations influenced the economic and religious dynamics of the time.

López Luján explained that hydraulic works and rituals related to water supported daily life and agriculture, and also guaranteed political and social stability in the Valley of Mexico. According to the researcher, rainfall was only welcome when it occurred in adequate quantities and at precise times, otherwise the consequences were fatal.

“There was a real obsession with controlling rainfall, appealing to supernatural forces,” he said, noting that in nine of the 18 months that made up the Aztec calendar, ceremonies dedicated to providing rain were held. Some of these rituals culminated in the sacrifice of children personified as tlaloques, Tláloc’s assistants.

The offering, known as Offering 48, was found in the northwest sector of the Templo Mayor (Great Temple), on the side dedicated to Tláloc. It corresponds to the construction stage IVa, during the rule of Moctezuma I (1440-1469), and reflects the collective desperation in the face of the prolonged drought of 1452-1454 that, according to López Luján, generated “a holocaust that was carried out to appease the fury of the gods.” The analysis conducted by physical anthropologist Juan Román Berrelleza revealed that of the 42 infants, 22 were boys aged between two and seven, and six were girls. Many showed signs of porotic hyperostosis, an indicator of nutritional problems.

The bodies were placed in a box of ashlars on a layer of sea sand, some adorned with chalchihuite necklaces with a green stone bead in the mouth. On top were laid more bodies, blue pigment, gourds, marine elements, small birds, an obsidian blade, copal and eleven polychrome tezontle sculptures bearing the face of Tláloc.

An analysis of stable oxygen and phosphate isotopes by Diana Moreiras Reynaga at the University of British Columbia determined that the sacrificed children came primarily from an undetermined region of the present-day state of Oaxaca and the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala. However, 16th-century sources suggest that the Aztecs also offered their own children in sacrifice.

Faced with the drought crisis, Moctezuma ordered the royal reserves to be distributed among the population. However, shortages and plagues led many families to sell their children. Peoples such as the Totonacs and the Cohuixcas received these children as slaves in exchange for provisions for the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan.

A calendar tablet with the date ce tochtli (One Rabbit, or 1454 AD), found on the eastern façade of the Great Temple, coincides in time with Offering 48. According to the Mexican Atlas of Drought, a large-scale drought affected central Mexico and impacted the germination and ripening of crops, which prolonged famines.

Salvador Guillem Arroyo, in his book Ofrendas a Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl en Mexico-Tlatelolco (Offerings to Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl in Mexico-Tlatelolco), highlights that Offering 48 is an example of how the Aztecs resorted to high-intensity ritual practices in times of crisis. Researchers agree that these acts represented a combination of desperation and hope. Through them, the Aztecs sought to re-establish the relationship with their deities in a time of great need.

López Luján stressed that the Aztec state initially tried to mitigate the effects of the drought by opening the royal granaries and performing rituals to appease the tlaloques. However, the prolongation of the crisis weakened the state, which caused a mass exodus of the population.

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