The 1887 Discovery of the Templo Mayor Huehuetéotl

Record summary

A large seated sculpture identified as Huehuetéotl was found near Mexico City’s Templo Mayor area in 1887 and became part of the expanding nineteenth-century record of Mexica antiquities. Its identification as an old fire deity reflects comparisons among colonial texts, iconography, and archaeological context. Such finds were sometimes presented as evidence of a mysterious vanished civilization, although they belong to a historically documented Indigenous imperial tradition. The lead is useful for examining excavation context, museum classification, and the recovery of Mexica history under modern urban development.