Aztec tower of human skulls uncovered in Mexico City Published duration 2 July 2017

media caption Archaeologist Lorena Vazquez explains why the Aztecs created their skull towers

Tales of the tower of skulls which struck fear into the hearts of Spanish conquistadors have been passed down through the generations in Mexico.

Said to be the heads of defeated warriors, contemporary accounts describe tens of thousands of skulls looming over the soldiers - a reminder of what would happen if they did not conquer territory.

For the next 500 years, the skulls lay undisturbed underneath what was once the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, but is now Mexico City.

Until, that is, a group of archaeologists began the painstaking work of uncovering their secrets two years ago.

What they found has shocked them, because in among the skulls of the young men are those of women and children - bringing into question everything historians thought they knew.

image copyright Reuters image caption The skulls were first discovered in 2015

image copyright Reuters image caption A team of archaeologists has been painstakingly uncovering them ever since

"We were expecting just men, obviously young men, as warriors would be, and the thing about the women and children is that you'd think they wouldn't be going to war," Rodrigo Bolanos, a biological anthropologist investigating the find, told news agency Reuters.

"Something is happening that we have no record of, and this is really new, a first."

So far, archaeologists have found 676 skulls in a site next to Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, which was built over the Templo Mayor, one of the most important Aztec temples.

image copyright Reuters image caption Historians have been surprised to discover the remains of women and children among the skulls

image copyright Reuters image caption For many years, it has been thought they were the skulls of warriors defeated in battle

Its base has yet to be uncovered, and it is thought many more skulls will be found.

They are believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli, a skull rack some 60 metres (200ft) in diameter which stood on the corner of the chapel of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of the sun, war and human sacrifice.

Archaeologists have no doubt it is one of the racks, or tzompantli, described by soldier Andres de Tapia, who accompanied Hernan Cortes in the 1521 conquest of Mexico.

Cortes landed at Veracruz, on Mexico's east coast, in 1519. Two years later, allied with other native forces, Cortes' men captured the Aztec capital.

image copyright Reuters image caption So far, more than 650 skulls have been found

image copyright Reuters image caption Many more skulls are believed to be hidden underneath the city