Coronation Stone of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin

This is a block of basalt, a dark volcanic stone. It stands about 67 centimeters tall, about 58 centimeters wide, and nearly 23 centimeters thick. An unknown Mexica artist made it around 1503, probably in Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. The Mexicas, also called the Aztecs, ruled central Mexico from 1428 until 1521. The surface holds no scene of people. Instead it is carved with glyphs, which are picture-signs that stand for dates and ideas. Together they record the history of the Mexica universe up to the year 1503.

Start at the center of the front. There you will find the sign 4 Movement, which marks the current cosmic era, meaning the great age of the world that the Mexicas were living in. In each of the four corners is a sign for one of the four eras that came before. Now look above the center for 1 Crocodile, and in the square frame for 11 Reed. Together these two signs give one date, July 15, 1503. On the back, a single sign, 1 Rabbit, stands for the beginning of time.

The date on the front is the day the ninth emperor, Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, was crowned. The stone's long record of the universe ends with that day. These glyphs appeared all over Tenochtitlan, and they can be found in Chicago too. The sign 4 Movement appears in a mural at the 18th Street stop of the "L," the city's elevated train. It also appears on manhole covers in Pilsen, a neighborhood that has long been home to Chicago's Mexican community. Look once more at the center of the stone, at 4 Movement, the sign that travelled.