Release the Hounds: Archaeology Edition

There are lots of articles and essays about new archaeology finds that are of interest to modern Pagans, Heathens, and polytheists out there. More than our team can write about in-depth in any given week. Therefore, The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up. Here are our favorite picks this month.

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Archaeologists in Bolivia are learning more about ritual items unearthed last year that are from the lost Tihuanacota civilization. They were discovered in the Kalasasaya region where the Tihuanacota are known to have lived between 300 B.C.E. and 1200 C.E. The ritual items include ceremonial metalwork, knives, and vases. The finds could help researchers to better understand the spiritual and cultural practices of the Tihuanacota civilization. Reuters has a short video that catalogs some of the extraordinary finds.

Archeologists in Bolivia have unearthed ceremonial vases, knives and metal works belonging to the lost Tihuanacota civilization pic.twitter.com/fgQWkyahFI

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 15, 2021

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MEXICO CITY, Mexico – A bas-relief sculpture of an eagle measuring  3.5 feet long and 2.3 feet wide carved of red tezontle, a type of volcanic rock common to the region, has been uncovered at the foot of the Templo Mayor, in the central axis of the temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli.

Researchers from the Templo Mayor Project (PTM) of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered the sculpture in February of 2020, but have only now made the findings public.

Templo Mayor (2015) – Image credit: Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0

Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero said of the findings, “From what we have seen through photographs, it is a very beautiful piece that shows the great secrets that the Templo Mayor of Mexico Tenochtitlan has yet to reveal to us. I want to extend my appreciation to the INAH archaeologists who collaborate in this space, since, thanks to their effort and dedication, we can continue to recover our history and our memory.”

Guerrero noted the delay in continued work on the site, “Due to the health contingency, the field work has had to be postponed, however, it is clear that there is also an important work of research and academic reflection that has not stopped.”

This latest find is the largest of 67 similar carvings discovered within the Templo Mayor and is distinguished in importance not only by its size and detail but also by its location. In addition to its proximity to the central axis that crosses the temple of Huitzilopochtli and the sculpture of the goddess Coyolxauhqui, it is also near a circular building named Cuauhxicalco, which means “place of the eagle’s gourd,” and where the ritual cremations of the Tenochca rulers were conducted according to documents from the 16th century.

Researchers believe the sculpture may have been carved during the reign of Moctezuma I, which was from 1440 CE to 1469…