Anthropology Museum

Dead Warrior Brazier

Splendid ceramic brazier that still conserves very bright colors in a part of the front, where a figure dressed like a warrior of the military order of the eagles was painted and modeled. The elements that characterize him as an eagle warrior are the dress he wears, which has an eagle's helmet with a very open beak from where the character's face emerges, and the claw of the bird that protrudes from the only lower extremity that the character maintains , as well as the shield and arrows that he holds in one of his hands. However, this is a dead warrior, as indicated by the emaciated face and ornaments that he wears, such as the earmuffs and the necklace made of cut hands and hearts, like those worn by the deities of death. The warriors who were sacrificed to the Sun are called cuauhtécatl or "dwellers of the land of the eagle" since their vital energy went to the sky to be part of the army of the sun. The brazier has the usual Aztec form, slightly biconical and ornamented with pointed fringes on the upper edge.