Marine objects in Ofrenda 126 at the Templo Mayor

Archaeologists discovered four vertical levels of object offerings, all placed carefully to simulate a model in miniature of a large section of the universe known to the contemporary Mexica. The top level is that shown in the main photo above. Seven basalt figures of the old Fire God had been placed at this level, representing the three sacred hearthstones and four cardinal directions.
What staggered archaeologists was the huge range of animal, bird and reptile species amassed in the ofrenda: a minimum of 1,688 individual creatures, belonging to no less than 167 different species, 90% of which are of marine life, sourced from the Pacific to the Caribbean. Clearly Aztec priests had intended to represent materially the ocean as a vast and fertile (hence feminine) living world, underneath and all around the primordial deity of the earth.

Just a few of the many hundreds of marine objects from Ofrenda 126, offered to Tlaltecuhtli, Templ Mayor Museum, Mexico City