Remains of a young woman deified for having died in childbirth are found in Tlatelolco

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported that the Tlatelolco Project, which has explored funerary contexts in recent years, provided details about the discovery of an offering in the parking lot of the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center (CCUT), which was part of the archaeological rescue carried out in 2023.

These would be the burials of a woman, between 15 and 17 years old, accompanied by female figurines, plates, cajetes, winches and a baby approximately two months old; Specialists consider that the cihuateteo were venerated there, women who achieved divine status when they died in childbirth.

“Labor was considered a battle against death, where the newborn was a trophy. The woman fought for the perpetuity of the lineage just like a warrior. Those who died in childbirth were transformed into a divine being to reside in the house of the Sun, in the western part of the sky, coinciding with the orientation of the temple where the offense was located,” commented Salvador Guilliem, director of the project.

He, together with the physical anthropologist Miriam Angélica Camacho Martínez, points out that the Tlatelolcas were related through both lines, so it was not surprising that the analyzes indicated that the mother had congenital anomalies associated with endogamy, for example, invaginated tooth (tooth on tooth), malformation in dentin and enamel, and presence of a fusion in the first vertebra.

Three more burials

Pathological analyzes of the neonate are linked to a nutritional deficiency developed by the mother, such as scurvy, which may be the result of the exclusive corn diet. “The woman died during or after childbirth from sepsis (periosteal reactions), as did the newborn, which is indicated by its discovery at the foot of the structure, in commemoration of the temple, possibly associated with Cihuapipiltin (precious woman),” they conclude.

In addition to the Tlatelolco Project, where the union of mother and child after death has been studied, the researchers expose the discovery, made between 2022 and 2025, of the remains of three women buried each with a newborn in the large basement of the pre-Hispanic sacred enclosure that was occupied as a common grave due to the high mortality caused by the cholera epidemic in 1833.

These burials belong to women between 25 and 39 years old, and the neonates were approximately 30 weeks old, except for one who was 38 weeks old, so it is likely that she was born to term.

Findings of babies on their mothers’ laps may mean that they were baptized. “When the midwife saw danger of death in the newborn, even if it was inside the mother, she was obliged to baptize it, even if any part of its body left the pelvic cavity,” said the researcher.

Camacho explained that the presence of enamel hypoplasia and marks from hard work, in addition to nutritional deficiencies, lead to the assumption that the women belonged to the poor population of Mexico City. “It is rare to find children in these situations, since there was a special place for them. Despite the severity of the cholera, the women were placed with their infants, which indicates the intention for them to remain together,” concluded the expert.