Archaeologists discover Mexico temple to Xipe Totec, ‘the Flayed Lord’ whose human sacrifices were skinned

Priests ritually sacrificed their victims on one of the temple’s two circular altars, then flayed them on the other and draped themselves in their skin

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A skull-like stone carving and a stone torso depict Xipe Totec, the “Flayed Lord”, a pre-Hispanic fertility god depicted as a skinned human corpse. They were excavated from the Ndachjian – Tehuacan archaeological site in Tehuacan, Puebla state, at a temple dedicated to the deity. Photo: AP

Published: 6:35am, 4 Jan 2019Updated: 6:35am, 4 Jan 2019

Archaeologists in Mexico have found the first temple to the pre-Hispanic deity Xipe Totec, a god of fertility and war who was worshipped by sacrificing and skinning captives.

Evidence indicates that priests ritually sacrificed their victims on one of the temple’s two circular altars, then flayed them on the other and draped themselves in their skin, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement.

A torso of a sculpture of the pre-Hispanic fertility god Xipe Totec. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Historians have long known that Xipe Totec (“the Flayed Lord”) was worshipped by numerous peoples across what is now central and western Mexico and the Gulf coast.

But the discovery – made among the ruins of the Ndachjian-Tehuacan archeological site in the central state of Puebla – is the first time a temple dedicated to the god has been found, the institute said.

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The artefacts uncovered at the site include three stone sculptures of Xipe Totec: two skinned heads and a torso, whose back is covered in engravings representing the sacrificial skins worn by the god.