In a context marked by water scarcity and collective despair, the mass offering of children sacrificed to the god of rain, Tlaloc, carried out in the 15th century, emerged as a response to the drought that devastated the population and crops between 1452 and 1454, when rains failed to come and fields lay barren. Through these sacrifices, the Mexicas sought to attract rain and thus ensure their survival and social stability.

This climatic tragedy was one of the topics addressed at the IX Encuentro Libertar por el saber, titled “Water and Life”, organized by El Colegio Nacional. During the event, archaeologist Leonardo López Luján, director of the Templo Mayor Project (PTM) of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), offered a deep perspective in light of new data on Offering 48, found in 1980, which contained the remains of at least 42 children sacrificed to Tlaloc.

Water was the primary source of life in the Basin of Mexico and an essential element for agriculture, which formed the economic and food base of the Mexicas. Mexica religiosity was deeply tied to natural cycles, and the sustenance of the people depended on the rains. Tlaloc, the god of rain and fertility, was one of the most important deities in their pantheon. In his honor, offerings and rituals were performed in hopes of ensuring rainfall and, thereby, successful harvests.

Offering 48
The Templo Mayor, site of the discovery. Credit: Gerardo Peña / INAH

During this event, López Luján highlighted that in nine of the eighteen months that comprised the Mexica agricultural calendar, specific ceremonies dedicated to the provision of rain were celebrated, many of which culminated in the sacrifice of children personified as tlaloques, the assistants of Tlaloc. The offering located on the northwest side of the Templo Mayor, built under the rule of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, illustrates how religiosity intertwined with adaptation strategies in response to climatic crises.

Offering 48 is one of the most striking examples of this type of ritual. In it were found the remains of 42 children, between two and seven years old, placed inside a box of ashlars in a careful arrangement. The bodies were face up, with contracted limbs, laid on a layer of marine sand, some adorned with chalchihuite necklaces and a green stone bead in their mouths, symbolizing the sacred.

Additionally, the remains were sprinkled with blue pigment, a color associated with Tlaloc, and accompanied by offerings that included gourds, birds, marine elements, and eleven polychrome tezontle figures representing the face of Tlaloc.

Offering 48
Tlaloc jars found with the offering. Credit: Leonardo López Luján / El Colegio Nacional / INAH

Physical anthropologist Juan Alberto Román Berrelleza analyzed these remains and found signs of porotic hyperostosis, a condition resulting from nutritional problems that reflects the harsh living conditions of that time. Alongside a calendar stone on the eastern façade of the Templo Mayor, belonging to phases IV and IVa, with the date ce tochtli (1 rabbit – 1454 A.D.), which corresponds architecturally and temporally with Offering 48, the doctor indicated that the Mexican Drought Atlas shows indisputable evidence that a major drought was recorded across central Mexico from 1452 to 1454:

Everything suggests that early summer droughts would have affected the germination, growth, and flowering of plants before the canícula (mid-summer heat), while autumn frosts would have attacked the corn before it matured. Thus, the concurrence of both phenomena would have destroyed crops and led to prolonged famine.

The drought of 1454, which lasted three years, caused unprecedented devastation in the Basin of Mexico, affecting the economy, agriculture, and daily life of the population. Historical sources indicate that Moctezuma Ilhuicamina’s government attempted to mitigate the famine by ordering the distribution of provisions stored in royal warehouses.

Offering 48
The offering coincided with the great drought of 1454. Credit: Leonardo López Luján / El Colegio Nacional / INAH

However, these measures were insufficient, and many families were forced to make drastic decisions, such as selling their own children to nearby towns, including the Totonacs of the Gulf of Mexico and the Cohuixcas of Guerrero, in exchange for food.

The child sacrifice in Offering 48 reflects the degree of desperation and the complex religious and economic dynamics at play at that time. Climatic fluctuations not only affected crops but also jeopardized the social and political stability of the region.

As Dr. López Luján noted in his presentation, subsequent isotope studies on the remains of those sacrificed suggest that some children came from areas such as Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Guatemala, highlighting the geographic extent of the connections and resources mobilized for these rituals.



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