In a gruesome discovery, the archeologists also found that part of the platform where the rack was once found itself was made of skulls, bound together with mortar.

It’s only fitting that a human skull rack would contain skulls, especially a rack of its size – though it has yet to be entirely unearthed, it is suspected to be 112 feet long and 40 feet wide. The tzompantli was a rack on which the sacrificed peoples’ skulls were placed in order to instill fear and awe in the hearts of those who beheld these horrors. The skulls face inward, gazing at the middle of the circle, yet scientists do not know what could be in there.

Archaeologist Raul Barrera said that “there are 35 skulls that we can see, but there are many more” in underlying layers.

“This structure had a specific symbolism and many of these skulls could be enemies of the Aztecs who were captured, killed and beheaded as a warning of their power”, said Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, an emeritus researcher from the INAH. “As we continue to dig the number is going to rise a lot”.

Barrera noted that one Spanish writer soon after the conquest described mortared-together skulls, but none had been found before.

Susan Gillespie, an archaeologist at the University of Florida, was not involved in the project, but wrote an analysis of the findings in Mexico City, The AP noted. Archaeologists at the institute say that writings and paintings from the early colonial period showed descriptions of the skull racks, but this find is different.

A display rack made for human skulls was found at an Aztec ruin site in Mexico City. As a result of the home was traditionally invaluable, archaeologists typically labored in slender excavation wells six ft (two meters) beneath the ground degree suspended on their stomachs on a picket platform.

The Templo Mayor The Templo Mayor, meaning “Great Temple” in Spanish, was one of the main temples in the Aztecs capital city of Tenochtitlan, or what is now Mexico City.

Periodic excavations carried out since 1914 recommended a ceremonial website was situated close to the location.

There were many skulls that were having holes on both sides, which indicate that they belonged to a tzompantli. During the reconsecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs boasted that they had slaughtered 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days, although this is believed to be an exaggeration.