Aztec Ruins National Monument Aztec Ruins National Monument The Aztec Ruins National Monument preserves Ancestral Puebloan structures in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of New Mexico. This national monument is close to both the town of Aztec and the Animas River, and it is about northeast of Farmington, New Mexico. The Salmon Ruins and Heritage Park, which also has Puebloan structures, is about south of the monument. The Aztec ruins date from the 11th to the 13th centuries. American settlers in the 19th century named them the "Aztec ruins" based on their erroneous belief that the Aztec civilization built them. The site
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