El culto del Estado mexica y el paisaje ritual de la Cuenca: mito, naturaleza y sociedad

Abstract

 To the detailed study of Mexica (Aztec) state cult based on the descriptions of the 16^th century Spanish chroniclers, we apply an interdisciplinary approach that combines Ethnohistory with Archaeology, Geography and Archaeoastronomy. Today there still exist archaeological vestiges on the mountains that surround the Basin of Mexico where the priests of the Aztec state cult executed rites and sacrifices at certain dates of their ritual calendar. The location of these places allows us to interpret the symbolic vision of space and the ritual design that the Aztec State imprinted on the geography of the Basin. This vision reflected the complexity of the cultural universe of the Mexica in which they combined their observation of nature, geography, astronomy, climate and agricultural cycles into a multiscale cosmovision based on an intimate knowledge of the observation of natural cycles. It further documents the existence of a particular historical consciousness about the role of the Aztec State. In that way, these cult places and their strategic localization in the landscape of the Valley also expressed relations of political domination since when conquering other political entities in the Valley, the Mexica appropriated themselves of the former sanctuaries of their enemies and impressed their own characteristics on these sacred places. In this way Aztec state cult reflected relations of political domination expressed through ritual in the very geography of the Basin, its lakes and ancestral mountains.