Black Temple Walls

Why would temples in the Aztec world have blackened walls? The reports from the Conquistadores is that the temple walls were smeared with blood from human sacrifices. If a visitor, after being prepared with such a book, came by and saw the wall blackened with bitumen as in China, or made with blocks of black lava stone, they would not even consider that the walls were covered with anything but human blood. To make absolutely certain that no one would ever question the validity of the written word, the temples were completely destroyed. There is no "evidence" of anything left to prove or disprove what was said by the conquering soldiers.

However, if one would investigate the Aztec and Maya cultures, one might find very strong evidence that they believed horoscopes to be essential to the lives of even ordinary people on the street. There was a great demand for priests and shaman who could tell the lucky name for a new born child, the best day to have a battle or warn one of impending danger that the stars foretold.

Monctezuma himself believed in the strange event of a strange bird with a mirror on its head. The stars in the mirror were of Ursa Major. That, together with other eerie events (the temple burning where there was no fire, a woman crying the night) all warned of the disasters to come. Such prognostications do not come about without aid of the stars. The temple priests had to be very aware of the movements of the constellations and planets in the heavens. Where would they be able to best view the stars?

The obvious place would be from the highest point in the city. Far above the twinkling lights people insist on using to see during the late evening hours. What better place than a temple built high on top of a pyramid of stone, almost as high as the mountain: far from the lighthouse to the east and the fishing gates to the north. A special room would be created with walls covered with bitumen or with black lava rock. Special mirrors of glistening black obsidian stone would be scored. or tiled in such a way that specific star formations would "fit" in the palm of the hand.

Imagination? I doubt it. There is enough evidence that such things were important to the populations that lived in the land. Walls blackened with blood of sacrificial victims is not what has been discovered. Vermin spores and shell cases are missing from the archaeological digs, even though traces of plants and grains abound.

The "priests" did not learn to calculate astronomical orbits by killing rats and bugs. They learned by actual stellar and planetary observations. They were awake for many long night vigils before they could announce the five dangerous empty days at the beginning of each new year. These things were essential to the health and happiness of their people. And it was much more important than executions of bad politicians or murderers.

It is time that we started to understand that the conquistadores had to create an effective campaign, which included wild tales of cannibalism, and witchcraft, in order to take the land and its the gold. They felt no remorse when then they destroyed Tenochtitlán. Their pockets were full, until they returned home. Then they also were robbed of their loot.