Pre-Hispanic Images Revealed on Early Convent Walls in Mexico
Thursday, October 6, 2022
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—According to a statement released by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, a team of researchers removing layers of lime from the walls at the former Christian convent of Tepoztlán uncovered a well-preserved sixteenth-century mural featuring pre-Hispanic iconography in chapel four. As they removed the lime, the conservators first saw a red circle measuring about three feet in diameter, and expected to find a Christian image of Mary or Jesus within it. Instead, the image features pre-Hispanic iconography, including a plume, an ax, a shield known as a chimalli, and a flower stick, which could be attributed to the god Tepoztécatl. The emblem, which was equal in size to Christian images painted on the walls, was found to have been repeated in chapels two and three at the convent. The images could help to clarify the relationship between pre-Hispanic culture and Christianity in the first years after the Spanish invasion, the researchers concluded. To read about a ritual offering of starfish that was unearthed at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, go to "Mexican Star Power." (https://www.archaeology.org/issues/482-2209/digs/10764-digs-mexico-aztec-starfish-offering)
https://www.archaeology.org/news/10878-221006-mexico-convent-mural
= new reply since forum marked as read
BY ASPEN PFLUGHOEFT OCTOBER 14, 2022 1:50 PM
Photo from Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and National Institute of Anthropology and History
Earthquakes shook and damaged a former Catholic convent in central Mexico, but restoration efforts have led to an unexpected discovery.
The former Convent of the Nativity in Tepoztlán was built in the 16th century as part of the first Catholic monastery built in the area, according to an Oct 3 news release from Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and National Institute of Anthropology and History. Restoration efforts began on the old convent after an earthquake in 2017.
Underneath layers of paint on the walls of three open-air chapels, archaeologists noticed part of a red circle, archaeologists said. They expected the coloring would reveal a painting or the virgin Mary or Jesus Christ. They were wrong.
Archaeologists working to uncover the murals on the walls of the open-air chapels. Photo from Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and National Institute of Anthropology and History The faded red paint formed a well-preserved red circle, about 4 inches thick, experts said. Inside, the 3-foot-wide mural, found on three chapel walls, contained a plume of feathers, an ax, a wand with flowers and a chimalli — a pre-Hispanic shield symbol, archaeologists said.
Read more at: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/world/article267310802.html#storylink=cpy
until quite recently. Really makes one wonder about that, doesn't it? Have thought about this really hard for a very long time. I think it has everything to do with racism, and twisted belief in European-descended superiority.
Thank you for your post. 
