The sacrifice of at least 42 children in Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City, was an effort to calm the anger of the Aztec rain god during a devastating drought, researchers have revealed.

The remains, mostly boys aged between two and seven years old, were placed inside a box of ashlars in a careful arrangement.

In an upper layer of bodies, the officiants of the burial sprinkled blue pigment and then placed gourds, ocean materials, ...