MEXICO CITY— An altar containing a pot of human ashes was found near a square in Mexico City.
Archaeologists say it dates back to near the end of the Aztec empire, the BBC reports.
Archaeologists with Mexico's National Institute for Anthropology and History also found 13 intricately decorated incense burners carefully placed in what they say was the courtyard area of a family home, where they explain the inhabitants would have held a ritual “to bear witness to the ending of a cycle of their lives and of their civilisation.” The altar dates to the time of the Spanish conquest.
The house itself was located in one quarter of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan[d], according to The American Post and would also have been made up of a large room which was connected by a corridor to five smaller rooms, one of which is believed to be a kitchen, according to the BBC.