Listen To The "Shriek Of Death" Made By These Mysterious Skull-Shaped Aztec Whistles
Listen To The "Shriek Of Death" Made By These Mysterious Skull-Shaped Aztec Whistles
While excavating an ancient temple within the ruins of the Aztec city-state of Tlatelolco in 1999, archaeologists discovered a 500-year-old skeleton buried with two mysterious objects in his hands: clay whistles resembling skulls. The significance of these instruments was unknown, but one thing was certain, the sounds they produced were chilling.
One scholar associated with the Mexico City dig described the noise to Gizmodo as “a shriek of death”, in an interview for their Sound Mysteries series.
Other examples of these “death whistles” have been found at several other ancient Mesoamerican sites associated with the Aztec culture, with the first official description in 1971 by historian José Luis Franco. But, according to Roberto Velázquez Cabrera, a mechanical engineer who specializes in the history and reconstruction of such instruments, none had ever been unearthed alongside other objects, let alone human remains, that could help clarify the whistle’s purpose through context.
So, for many decades, these objects were treated as mere curiosities, packed off to languish in museum storage based on the assumption that they were long ago-discarded toys rather than important spiritual relics.
More:
http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/listen-to-the-shriek-of-death-made-by-these-mysterious-skullshaped-aztec-whistles/
Anthropology:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/12293985
