PXL_20250424_211624390

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 07:49:22 +0100

Solar disk

This work is known in Nahuatl as tezcacuitlapilli or disco solar. The solar disks were linked between the Toltecs with the
war, for they formed part of the military clothing, as may be appreciated on the back of the Atlas of this room, and in the
friezes that decorated the Burnt Palace. It is feasible that the disk has encamped some war or solar power, since the
center of the pyrite disk had the ability to reflect light, although it is now degraded.
The disk, elaborated with 300 turquoise plates mounted on a wooden base, in turn was divided into four
sections with pyrite fragments alternating with four flowers in the middle. These flowers have been interpreted as the
stylized representation of the trumpet of the xiuhcóatl, the turquoise serpent that among the Nahuas alluded to the firmament
stars.

The tezcacuitlapilli shows the networks of exchange between Tula and Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, as well as with the southwest of
United States to supply turquoise.

Provenance: Room 2 of the Burnt Palace, Tula, Hidalgo (Early Postclassic, 900-1250 AD)