The cursed treasure of Hernán Cortés that could still be buried in the bowels of Mexico City

The night of June 30 to July 1, 1520, took place the first and only defeat of the troops of the Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes and their native allies Tlaxcala at the hands of the Mexican army in Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

Legend has it that it was the “Sad Night” in which Cortés mourned his defeat in front of a tree, a Añejo ahuehuete located on the road to Tacuba, in Mexico City. Hundreds of his soldiers were massacred, as many drowned in the ditches with their horses and his precious gold booty which he had stolen from Mexica and melted into yews for better transport, was lost in the waters of Tenochtitlan.

However, the legend was a solid truth since thanks to the recent scientific analysis of a gold yew (ingot) unearthed in the heart of Mexico City, it is possible to say that it corresponds to the escape from the island., undertaken by Hernán Cortés and his hosts on June 30, 1520.

Dr Leonardo López Luján, director of the Templo Mayor Project (PTM), an archaeological initiative of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), explained that despite the location of thethe discovery, on March 13, 1981, north of the Alameda Central, in correspondence with the route of the famous escape; and the characteristics of the metal bar, which coincide quite exactly with those mentioned in historical sources, it was deemed necessary to carry out further studies with advanced technology to authenticate it.

As they did with the gold collection of the PTM, 267 complete pieces and a thousand small fragments recovered as offerings, the project arranged the analysis of the “golden yew”, which is part of the collections of the National Museum of anthropology (MNA); as well as six pieces of Plume by Moctezuma from the Weltmuseum in Vienna and the Texcoco Warrior from the Museum of Art in Cleveland.

During the conference “The gold of the Templo Mayor and the conquest of Tenochtitlan”, during the last 33rd Guadalajara International Book Fair, the archaeologist explained that – in a systematic way -, Since the mid-1970s, studies of the chemical composition of various archaeological collections have been carried out, “Emphasizing their relative percentage content of gold, silver and copper.”

Compared to that of other Mesoamerican regions such as the Mayas (objects extracted from the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá), The or the Mixteca (Central Valleys), the gold coins recovered from the excavations of the Templo Mayor, have the lowest percentages of copper.

Regarding the study of “golden yew”, of which the researcher gives more details in the latest issue of the journal Arqueología Mexicana, he stressed that for this and with the collaboration of Dr. the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM ), The portable equipment named “Sandra” was used, equipped with, among other things, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), “a proven multi-elemental technique of high sensitivity, non-destructive, non-invasive and extremely fast.

“We recently performed 23 XRF readings in different regions of this coin and as a result we found that it was very chemically homogeneous: it had an average composition of 76.2 ± 1% gold, 20.8 ± 1% silver and 3.0 ± 0.5%. Copper. If these values ​​are compared with those recorded in the graph of the Mesoamerican geographic areas of use, we will see that the ingot is within the group of recovered coins. for the Templo Mayor project.

“What’s even more interesting,” he continued, “is that It is perfectly located in the region occupied by our later rooms, those of stage VI (1486-1502 AD), and particularly by those found around the monolith of the goddess Tlaltecuhtli, as is the case with offers 122, 123, 125 and 149. The above is significant, since the ingot would have been cast between 1519 and 1520 AD. “, He detailed.

A “key” piece of the puzzle

In his presentation, also member of El Colegio Nacional, related the anecdotes of the discovery of “the golden yew”, toThe data that “tie” the story of the “Sad Night”, which led to a significant loss of Spaniards, Tlaxcalans and Huejotzincas, at the hands of the Tenochcas offended by the death of the tlatoani Moctezuma, among other grievances.

The 1,930 kg ingot was discovered in mid-1981, during the construction of the Central Bank (Bancen), near Avenida Hidalgo, in what today corresponds to the land where the system is located. ‘FISC administration.. One of the workers, Francisco Bautista – died in 2019 and had the opportunity to participate later in several archaeological excavations – found it at a depth of 4.80 m and was instructed to deliver it to archaeologists.

The interesting thing is that the location of the find was consistent with the path followed by Cortés and his men on the “Sad Night”: the Toltecaacaloco Canal; remaining buried in his bed, until almost 460 years later, he was discovered by Don Francisco. The “golden yew” reached the hands of INAH Director General Gastón García Cantú, who in turn informed President López Portillo.

López Luján recalled that, during a press conference held at the former official residence of Los Pinos, the president described the discovery as “a reflection in which all Mexicans must see themselves”. Beyond the flowery speeches, the director of the PTM emphasizes that this ingot is a “key” piece of the puzzle of this historic event, since it coincides with the description that Bernal Díaz del Castillo made of the “golden yews” which were obtained from the melting of the “Treasure of the ancestors of Moctezuma”.

“Bernal refers to the fact that the yews were three toes wide, equivalent to 5.4 cm, and believe it or not, which measures the ingot found in 1981”. Likewise, in the Florentine Codex it is established and illustrated that once the vengeance was consummated, the Mexicans returned to the canals to search for the looted items and it is curious that one of them appears carrying a sword in his hand. right and a “gold bar” on the left “.

Other conclusions that have been drawn about the “golden yew” are that it was made between November 1519 and June 1520, by the “goldsmiths” of Moctezuma who resided in Azcapotzalco, under the supervision and standards of Spanish conquerors. It was made in the old houses of Axayácatl, melt “a set of jewelry and Mexican goldsmith badges” at a temperature of 950 ° C.

“The Mexican castings are said to come from the ‘Treasure of the ancestors of Moctezuma’, found by the Spaniards in Teucalco (Old houses of Axayácatl) or, perhaps, gold obtained as spoils of war in the royal warehouses of Petlacalco, the armories of Tlacochcalco or the workshops of craftsmen of Totocalli ”.

In any case, concluded INAH researcher Leonardo López Luján, “the golden yew” is on display today at the National Museum of Anthropology, “as a dramatic material witness to the Spanish conquest and unique archaeological testimony. of the so-called “Sad Night”.

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