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."
