In the 1990s, archaeologists excavated an Aztec temple underneath Mexico City and found a human sacrifice to the Aztec wind god Ehactl. In the hands of this sacrifice, musical instruments were found with the skeletal face of Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec God of death and the underworld, etched upon their surface, becoming known as 'Aztec death whistles'. These whistles were used exclusively by the Mexica, the Nahuatl-speaking people of the valley of Mexico who in part ruled the Mexico empire and from which the modern nation of Mexico draws its name.
Scientists used a 3-D printed replica to recreate the instrument’s sound, which when played sounded shriek-like and uncannily human. This led people to develop theories that they were used in battle to psychologically intimidate their enemies, feeding on cultural preconceptions of the Aztecs to form this theory. However, this theory is not substantiated well, with the reproductions of these whistles being much larger in size than those excavated. When size-accurate reproductions of these whistles are played, they sound much closer to atmospheric wind or ambient noises.
Flutes that could play multiple tones at once, Ocarinas shaped like animals, and many other fascinating instruments have also been found in separate Aztec excavations
Based on its location at the base of a temple to the wind god, its death-related imagery, and the lack of whistles discovered at battle sites or in warrior graves it is much more likely that it was used in a religious and ceremonial capacity. Based on a document known as the Codex Borgia, a Mesoamerican manuscript detailing Aztec customs and religious beliefs, it is believed that Ehactl and Mictlantecuhtli guarded the underworld back-to-back with these gods being intimately linked. Thus, the idea that they were used in a religious capacity makes far more sense since they were whistles with the death God's face, held by a human sacrifice to the wind God.
They are still fascinating instruments though, as they operate in a way entirely different to Western wind instruments (such as trumpets or flutes), entirely unique to pre-Colombian America. Flutes that could play multiple tones at once, Ocarinas shaped like animals, and many other fascinating instruments have also been found in separate Aztec excavations which alongside the discovery of the death whistle, adding to the increasing evidence of pre-Colombian America as a supremely advanced musical culture. This further counters the modern and heavily westernized preconception that they were somehow less advanced than contemporary western societies.
