Aztec society Aztec society Pre-Columbian Aztec society was a highly complex and stratified society that developed among the Aztecs of central Mexico in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and which was built on the cultural foundations of the larger region of Mesoamerica. Politically, the society was organized into independent city-states, called altepetls, composed of smaller divisions (calpulli), which were again usually composed of one or more extended kinship groups. Socially, the society depended on a rather strict division between nobles and free commoners, both of which were themselves divided into elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities, and power.
Aztec mummy Aztec mummy Aztec mummy refers to an intentionally prepared or naturally desiccated human body of Aztec origin. Distinctions must be made between intentionally prepared Aztec mummies and mummies resulting from natural desiccation. Prepared Aztec mummy “bundles” consist of the remains of the deceased placed in a woven bag or wrap which was often adorned with a ceremonial mask. Most of the more widely known examples of Aztec mummies, which formed the basis of popular traveling exhibitions and museum exhibits in the 19th Century, were likely the product of natural desiccation rather than an intentional mummification process. Unlike Egyptian mummies, which