Figure of a Warrior

At first sight, Spanish chronicles inform us, the wealth and artistry of the Aztec Empire’s gold treasury rendered colonizers speechless. Colonizers destroyed what they most coveted, melting down these precious artifacts for transport to Spain. Today, few precolonial Aztec gold artifacts exist aside from those found in archaeological digs.

Archaeologists found this gold warrior figurine in the 1950s or 60s in Tetzcoco, an Altepetl that was part of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Artists cast it using the lost wax method. The warrior holds a shield, a spear, and darts, and wears an array of jewelry indicating high status.

Aztec people held warriors in highest regard, on earth and in the afterlife. Gold was associated with war, the sun, agricultural fertility, and death. Artists often used it alongside jade, which many Mesoamerican groups revered.