Coaticue

Coatlicue, c. 1500, Mexica (Aztec), found on the SE edge of the Plaza mayor/Zocalo in Mexico City, basalt, 257 cm high (National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City), photo: Steven Zucker (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Here is another piece from a culture that longer exists.  In Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology stands a 10 foot tall finely carved basalt sculpture of the Aztec goddess known as Coaticue. She was the mother of the patron god Huitizilopochtli, who was the Aztec god of war. She was one of many goddesses that were found in the Sacred Precinct which is located under what is now Mexico City. This massive piece has designs on the front, back and underneath. There are snakes throughout this sculpture, in fact, her name Coatlicue actually means Snakes-Her-Skirt. The skirt she is wearing is woven of venomous snakes, she is also wearing a belt with a skull for a buckle. The necklace that covers her breasts and fat rolls is made out of hearts and hands. These fat rolls are what suggest she could be a mother. What makes this piece unique is that her head has been decapitated, and the face that one might think is her head is in fact two snake heads meeting together. Snakes coming out of body parts was an Aztec representation for blood squirting out, which can also be seen in her arms suggesting they too were decapitated. The carvings on the bottom of the sculpture is dedicated to the earth lord, Tlaltecuhtli, because he would have had these carvings facing him. It is believed when Coaticue’s daughter found out of her mother's immaculate conception, she became angry, and started a coup with her 400 brothers against her mother. The plan was to storm snake mountain and kill her, however, one of the brothers worried her of the coup, afraid for her life she was worried but Huiltizilopochtli comforted her and told her not to worry. When Coyolxauhqui reached her mother, Huiltizilopochtli, was born fully grown and killed his sister. He chopped off her head and pushed her off snake mountain, her body broke into pieces before it reached the ground. The myth doesn't mention the dismemberment of the mother, only the sister. There are other myths surrounding her creation, and archaeologists did find the remains of other sculptures of female deities like Coatlicue, however, each has different skirts. 

Image published in Antonio León y Gama’s 1792 book, Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con ocasión del nuevo empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de México, se hallaron en ella el año de 1790

  When this sculpture was first found by the Spanish conquest it was considered to pagan and was reburied. Two hundred years later in 1790 it was found again by Antonio León y Gama but yet again was considered to be too frightening and reburied again. Finally, she again was unburied in the twentieth century and placed where she now lives.