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PUEBLA, MEXICO—The only shrine ever found dedicated to Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death, has been discovered near the site of Tehuacan. Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History have called the fifteenth-century structure, built by the Popoloca people, the Temple of Skulls because on the west and north walls, they found two niches containing four femurs each and human skulls held in place with stucco. Traces of red paint on the mouth of one of the skulls resembles an image of Mictlantecuhtli in the Codex Borgia, and two ceramic heads and an effigy of the god of the dead were found on top of the temple. Remains of human sacrifices were also recovered.
