The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 14: March 2002
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Cipactli's sword, Tlaltecuhtli's teeth: deciphering the sawfish & shark offerings in the Aztec Great Temple
Matthew T. McDavitt
Rostrum of the sawfish Pristis pectinata in Offering 58 of the Great Temple. Used as tools
of sacrifice, these spiky snouts symbolized the blood-spilling swords that fed Cipactli.
(Photo courtesy of CNCA-INAH-MEX)
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Mysterious remains
In 1978, the ruins of the Aztec Great Temple were discovered beneath
the central plaza of Mexico City. Over the next few decades, this sacred
structure was excavated and studied, revealing a wealth of information
about Aztec religious life. Five-hundred years ago, this multi-tiered
pyramid marked the literal center of the Aztec universe. Here elaborate
ceremonies were performed to maintain cosmic order and sustain the
gods. Among the abundant offerings entombed in the foundations
were the remains of dozens of sawfishes, sharks, and crocodiles (Lopez
Lujan 1994). In fact, these aquatic predators represent the most
abundant large animal remains buried beneath the Great Temple. Why
did the Aztecs bury so many sawfishes and sharks beneath their main
temple? The following paper will briefly examine the role these
animals played in the cosmology of the ancient Aztecs.
Creation and sacrifice
In Aztec belief, the world had been founded on the premise of divine
sacrifice. The gods had drained all their life-force into creation and no
longer had the power to sustain themselves. In a kind of cosmic
conservation of energy, the Aztecs believed that the sun could not rise,
crops could not grow, and rain would not fall without the regular
release of life energy back to their creators. To keep the gods alive,
humans were obligated to feed them their blood and hearts, the most
potent source of life energy. Although the Aztecs recognized hundreds
of gods, these diverse deities were just manifestations of the primary
forces of the universe such as sun and earth. The sun was a giver of
life and a protector of the Aztec people. The earth however, was
considerably more hostile...
The Earth-Monster subdued
When the gods were forming the world, they gazed into the primal
sea, wondering how to create land for their people. They noticed
a titanic monster called Cipactli surging through the darkened
depths. Baiting the beast from the abyss, four gods wrestled the
raging creature to the surface. The deities succeeded in subduing
Cipactli, eventually ripping her in half. The earth was formed from
her lower body; the heavens from her upper half. Dismembered but
alive, the paralyzed Cipactli became known as Tlaltecuhtli, the
"Earth-Lord".
Cipactli as crocodile, shark and sawfish
Little is known about Cipactli; she is rarely mentioned in the mythological
texts or pictured in the Aztec codices. However, careful examination
of the iconography of this earth-monster reveals much about her role
in Aztec religious thought. Historically, interpretations of Cipactli have
been confused by zoological imprecision; various commentators have
identified Cipactli as either a serpent, lizard, alligator, crocodile,
caiman, shark, swordfish, sawfish, gar, iguana, or dragon... This
confusion is eliminated once the iconography is scrutinized.
The primary form of Cipactli is undeniably crocodilian. Cipactli
is often depicted with a reptilian scale design I have termed
"Cipactli pattern" (McDavitt 1993). Composed of wavy diagonal
lines intersecting to form diamonds with a black dot in the center,
this design is a faithful rendering of the skin of true crocodiles
which have sensory pits on each of their body scales (as opposed
to alligators and caimans). "Cipactli pattern" can be used to
identify other symbols linked to her. Drawings of mountains, caves,
and the ground itself are often filled with "Cipactli pattern",
revealing that the earth was formed from the body of this mighty
crocodile.
Other depictions of Cipactli feature a finned fish body and
heterocercal tail. Beyer (1965) interprets this tail as belonging to
the sawfish, but the tail is too strongly heterocercal to represent this
ray. In some depictions, the finned Cipactli bites the leg off a male
deity. The strong upper tail lobe combined with this propensity for
man-eating suggest the carcharhiniform sharks; stripes on one
example may specifically denote the tiger shark, though most
examples are not striped. And there is a final, more enigmatic form
of Cipactli...
At times, the crocodile head of Cipactli bears a strange, toothy
appendage. Though often very stylized, several naturalistic
representations clearly identify this feature as the rostrum of a sawfish
(Pristis sp.). Called acipaquitli by the Aztecs, this creature is even
linguistically linked to the earth-monster. Rarely discussed in Aztec
texts and seemingly absent from the codices, sawfish rostra have
received little mention in interpretations of the Great Temple offerings.
However, these toothy snouts represent the most abundant large
animal remains interred beneath the center of the Aztec universe.
Sawfish rostra were undeniably important in Aztec religious thought,
but are there any clues to their significance?
A. Cipactli as crocodile growing corn on her back-note the "Cipactli pattern" skin.
(Codex Borgia); B. Cipactli as shark-note heterocercal tail. (Codex Fejervary-Mayer);
C. Cipactli head with sawfish rostrum (petroglyph, Acalpixcan);
D. Cipactli head with sawfish snout-note S-curve resembling the xonecuilli staff
(Codex Borgia); E. Xonecuilli staff, symbolizing lightning and fertility (Codex Borgia); F. Devouring maw of Tlaltecuhtli as surface of the earth, accepting offering of quail
blood-the head of this "Earth Lord" is formed from two inverted Cipactli heads
joined at the base (Codex Borgia).
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Sword of the Earth-Monster
In reality, sawfish rostra appear commonly in the Aztec codices, often
independent of Cipactli. They sometimes bear the characteristic
"Cipactli pattern", firmly establishing their association with the earthmonster.
However, these rostra are often so stylized that they are rarely
recognized. In the codices, sawfish rostra often curl with a graceful S-curve.
This modification in shape suggests that when depicted, sawfish
rostra were sometimes merged with another implement, the xonecuilli,
an S-curved staff associated with lightning and agricultural fertility.
In Aztec language, the sawfish rostrum was known as imacuauh
"its sword" (Sahagun 11: 1963), linking Cipactli to warfare and the
sword combat which fed her, or itlahuitequia "its striker" (Sahagun 2:
1981), a term using the same root as tlahuitequiliztli "lightning". There
is pictorial evidence of these associations, as well. Sawfish rostra are
most often depicted as symbolic 'swords' in the shield / spear bundles
which symbolize warfare in Aztec iconography. There is even a
structural similarity between the Aztec glass-edged swords and the
sawfishes' toothy appendage. Similarly, sawfish rostra occasionally
appear as lightning hurled by gods.
G. Aztec sword & shield, symbolizing warfare (Lienzo de Tlaxcala);
H. Sawfish rostrum as symbolic sword behind shield (Codex Borbonicus);
I. Detail of xonecuilli-shaped sawfish snout behind shield-note "Cipactli
pattern" (Codex Borgia).
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Sawfish rostra are then common both archaeologically and
iconographically. In Aztec religion, they were powerful symbols
representing the connection between the fecundity of the landscape
and warfare. Cipactli / Tlaltecuhtli, enraged at being dismembered to
form the earth, demanded to be "irrigated with blood" in order to
nurture crops on her fertile back (Garibay 1973). As the 'sword' of the
earth-monster, the sawfish rostrum represented the necessity of
bloodshed through combat and sacrifice for agricultural production. In
the Aztec world, there was no life without death.
The use of sawfish snouts in ritual is detailed in a text written soon
after the conquest of the Aztecs (Sahagun 2: 1981). In certain heart
extraction sacrifices, the neck of the victim was crushed with the snout
of a sawfish, preventing any inauspicious cries. Presumably, this action
also allowed Cipactli to symbolically 'bite' the offering before the heart
and blood were offered to the sun.
Remains re-examined
So, what do the plentiful sawfish and shark remains entombed beneath
the Aztec Great Temple mean? Based on iconographic analysis,
sawfishes, sharks, and crocodiles clearly represent Cipactli / Tlaltecuhtli,
the personified earth, at once fertile and destructive. The detached
sawfish rostra may be actual ritual implements used to pierce the necks
of sacrificial victims when the hungry earth required food. They were
probably offered, as were other tools of sacrifice, as palpable proof that
the Aztecs were fulfilling their duty to feed the gods. Based on their
associations with warfare, these 'swords' of Cipactli were potent
symbols of the Aztecs' obligation to fertilize the predatory, devouring
earth with blood and bodies, so that she could in turn nourish mankind.
And there are other possibilities...
Many ancient cultures believed that the earth had been formed
from a titanic monster or dragon. These societies regularly re-enacted
the battle between the gods and the earth-monster, celebrating the
founding of the world. Civilizations from Ancient Babylonia to Edo-
Period Japan performed these rituals to prevent the captive earth from
moving, a terrifying possibility which threatened to destroy the world.
Planted at the very center of the Aztec cosmos, these Cipactli
remains may represent such a foundation sacrifice. We can imagine
that these crocodile, shark, and sawfish offerings were utilized in
ceremonies where Cipactli was symbolically slain to prevent her from
sinking below the waves, forever destroying the parasitic civilization
resting on her back. By cyclically defeating Cipactli and entombing her
beneath the Great Temple, perhaps the Aztecs hoped to ensure that
their living, hostile earth never again found the strength to submerge.
References
Beyer, H. 1965. La aleta de Cipactli. El Mexico Antiguo, Tomo X:427-430.
Broda, J., D. Carrasco and E. Matos Moctezuma. 1987. The Great Temple
of Tenochtitlan: Center and Periphery in the Aztec World. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Garibay, A.M. (ed.). 1973. Teogonia e Historia de los Mexicanos. Mexico:
Editorial Porrua.
Lopez Lujan, L. 1994. The Offerings of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan.
Colorado: University Press of Colorado.
McDavitt, M. 1993. A Re-evaluation of the Identity and Role of the Earthmonster
'Cipactli' in Aztec Religion & Art. Unpublished bachelor's
dissertation, University of Virginia.
Sahagun, F.B.D. 1951-1982. Florentine Codex: General History of the
Things of New Spain (13 vols). Edited and translated by A.J.O.
Anderson & C.E. Dibble. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Matthew McDavitt
6342 Hawthorne Terrace, Norcross, GA 30092, USA
Email: nokogiri@aol.com
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