Hygiene and ritual marked every moment of life for pregnant Aztec women. The tlamatlquiticitl—midwife—offered those in her charge a remarkable 16th-century birthing plan, combining practical ...

One of the most interesting but terrifying religious practices of Aztec culture was the Aztec death whistle. The skull-shaped ceramic instrument not only looks creepy-it also produces the most ...

As López Luján's father, the Mesoamerican scholar Alfredo López Austin, puts it, "The most common misconception is that the Aztec were a completely original culture. They weren't." But the ...

Sacrifices were government-sanctioned ritual performances staged at the heart of the Moon Pyramid. Teotihuacán thrived between 100 B.C. and 650 A.D., more than 1,000 years before the eminent Aztec ...

A new study shows how animal sacrifices in Teotihuacán reveal ancient rituals and cultural connections of people 2,000 years ago.

Day of the Dead rituals help people connect with their ancestors, which the Aztecs believed was key to well-being. Cocoa may not be the panacea it was once believed to be, but it’s more than ...