The discovery of the Aztec Moon Goddess

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Electricity workers in Mexico City accidentally uncovered a massive stone sculpture in 1978. It turned out to be the Aztec Goddess of the Moon, Coyolxauhqui. The sculpture was found in an area where the Aztecs, 500 years earlier, had built the capital of their empire: the city of Tenochtitlán. The discovery changed the face of the Mexican capital.

María Elena Navas spoke to Raúl Arana, one of the archaeologists who identified the sculpture as the Moon Goddess.

Photo: The sculpture of Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec Moon Goddess (Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds. Choosing what to
0:32.1	watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:36.5	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:41.5	telly we share what we've been watching.
0:43.7	Cladie Aide!
0:45.7	Loads of games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:48.2	Lovely.
0:49.0	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:51.2	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:54.7	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds. You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Maria Elena Nahuas.
1:12.0	Today we're going back to 1978,
1:15.0	when electricity workers in Mexico City
1:18.0	made a remarkable discovery that changed the face of the Mexican capital and the way Mexicans saw their Aztec heritage.
1:27.0	In February 1978, the workers were digging below street level when they uncovered a huge carved stone depicting the Aztec goddess of the moon, Kojol Shjki. On the 23rd February, the
1:46.0	on the 23rd of February, the engineer in charge of the works came to see us.
	...

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