Stunning eagle sculpture uncovered at sacred Aztec temple in Mexico

A striking 600-year-old Aztec sculpture depicting a golden eagle has been uncovered in an ancient temple in Mexico, archaeologists with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced Monday (Jan. 25).

The eagle, which measures 41.7 inches by 27.6 inches (106 by 70 centimeters), is the largest bas-relief sculpture ever found at the temple.

The eagle was carved into the floor of a structure at the foot of Templo Mayor — the iconic pyramid-shaped temple that was built at the heart of the ancient Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán and is now in modern-day Mexico City.

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(Image: Mirsa Islas)

The bas-relief of a golden eagle found near the foot of Templo Mayor.

Artists created the bas-relief — a type of sculpture with raised images carved out of a stone background — in the mid-15th century during the reign of Moctezuma I.

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(Image credit: Mirsa Islas)

A bas-relief of a golden eagle carved into the floor near the famous Aztec site Templo Mayor.

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) — also known as an "itzcuauhtli," or obsidian eagle, in the Nahuatl language spoken by Indigenous people in central Mexico — was an important symbol in Aztec culture.

"The eagle was a sacred creature in Aztec thought, believed to have been present at the birth of the sun (hence, the blackened 'singed' wing tips) and was the symbol of one of the elite warrior orders in Aztec culture," Pennock said.

The bird of prey was also frequently linked with Huitzilopochtli, and the positioning of the bas-relief may echo an important myth surrounding the god.

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The temple was called the huei teocalli ('wei teo'ka) in the Nahuatl language and dedicated simultaneously to two gods, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture, each of which had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases.