General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 19 Mar 2024/2 Death
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General feedback

”I’m a 70 yr old kid (who just happens to live in Mexico) having an absolute BALL with your site. I imagine real kids must go bananas. This site is so cool that I left my dinner cooking on the stove and burned it. Ni modo. Great work!! Thanks and Felicidades.” (Langdon Tousley)

“I’m 25. I love being on the same foot as visitors to this site that are half my age and twice my age...” (Matt Troup)

”Your site is like a welcoming oasis in the desert of indifference where many have deposited ancient Mexican wealth.” (Ricardo Esponda)

“Hi! I’m Mexican and just discovered your website. Ironic that I’ve learned more from it than from the History books at school...!” (Darién)

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Here's what others have said:

Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Professor, for your kind words. We’re very glad you find the website useful.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you so much, Professor, for your most generous feedback, support and encouragement for our educational work.
Mexicolore replies: We’re not quite sure what kind of recommendations you’re after, but try this for starters:-
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/resources/aztec-history-resources-list-2021.
Mexicolore replies: Thanks so much for your message, Siera. Keep learning and searching...!
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Aeris, for writing in and for your generous comments - we really really appreciate it. The website is a labour of love, and we pay for it (just!) thanks to the fees we charge schools for our in-person history workshops on the ancient Maya and the Aztecs/Mexica here in England. We may one day seek sponsorship so we can update the website, as that will demand a lot of time and money, but in the meantime we intend to keep going as we are for as long as we can...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Meg, for this encouragement. We love our work! Still so much to do...............
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks for your encouragement and support!
Mexicolore replies: MANY thanks, Beto, for this generous offer. We will discuss this as a team and get back to you directly...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Professor. Your books continue to be a major reference and informational resource for us here...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for your comments. We’re very aware of the out-of-date design; it’s going to be a lot of work to update it all.......!
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Professor, for this encouragement and support.
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Andrew, and yes, that’s a good idea - to be worked on...!
Mexicolore replies: Very glad to be of help! Thanks for writing, and greetings from London!
Mexicolore replies: You’re very welcome! Thanks for your kind words.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Professor, for your support and encouragement.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Josh, for your kind comments. We look forward greatly to working with you in the future.
Mexicolore replies: You’re welcome! Thanks for taking time and trouble to write in. Very glad it’s of help...
Mexicolore replies: Really good question! At present we just don’t know, but we’re definitely not giving up on them...! Glad you like them!
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks Jonny. We’d like to share here what you told us in an email - that you’re ‘currently on a journey to connecting with my indigenous roots, learning Nahuatl, rediscovering my love for running and finding the history of Mexica runners on your site, as well as learning sign language. I’d thought it would be really something if my ancestors also signed to communicate and can’t imagine they did not in some way.’ There are some clues to the use of signs and gestures in the ‘Tec a Good Look’ section (see l/h menu)...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for your comments! Yes, we’re aware of the site’s rather quaint dated look and are working on it...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for your warm words and for recommending the site to your students. We feel honoured!
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Zach! Good luck with your career.
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Javier. We love how you’re researching so carefully for your ‘Dream of Darkness’ game...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for reaching out. Have enjoyed reading your blog and would very much like to upload something of your experiences, insights and details of your route on our site, if you’re happy to share... Will email you! All best...
Mexicolore replies: ¡Muchísimas gracias! We will always continue to try to do our best...
Mexicolore replies: You’re quite right! Something our webmaster is (he tells us) currently working on.........!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for your comments and interesting question. Standard kit would have been the ubiquitous petate (reed mat bed) (in which all supplies would have been wrapped - to be carried, strapped to a strong carrying frame - by an army of porters) to sleep ON, and a warm rug/cape to wrap themselves IN. Military campaigns took place in the dry season, so hopefully no rain to contend with... See examples of carrying frames/backpacks here -
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/artefacts/carrying-frame
Mexicolore replies: Thank YOU for sharing with us your splendid infographic on key Mexica artefacts found in Mexico City (in our ‘Aztec Artefacts’ section)
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for your friendship and support over many years!
Mexicolore replies: You should never be able to buy a genuine (original) one! But a decent ceramic one should be available. Try approaching one of the leading exponents of pre-Hispanic music and asking their advice: we list several in our ‘Aztec Music’ section. Some not only make recordings but make and sell reproduction instruments too.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you so much, Professor, for your encouragement and support, over many years.
Mexicolore replies: Thanks and apologies for this. We’ve reinstated the video today (May 1st). Sometimes the embed codes get changed on Youtube videos and no-one tells you!
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for your warm and generous words! We very much enjoyed working with you and your children yesterday and were most impressed by how motivated and keen they were to learn about Mexican history and something of the mystery of the great Aztec Sunstone. Here we are for another time...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for your kind words. As we say time and time again, it’s feedback like yours that inspires us to keep going. Mexicolore, for all its faults, is very much a labour of love...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for kind words: they keep us going!
As far as we know, unlike ancient Maya roads that WERE paved, the causeways of Tenochtitlan were not - they were constructed of sand, dirt, and rocks and held in place by large wooden stakes. Professor Michael E. Smith gave a good illustrated description in answer to a school question (Oct 2008), here - https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/where-did-the-aqueduct-go-to-from-tenochtitlan.
Mexicolore replies: Oh yes there is! Try doing a search on the site.....
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for the positive feedback and encouragement - and for posting great comments and questions around the site!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for writing in to us. We can’t find any reference to Choisya in our library, yet it’s a shrub known commonly as Mexican orange. We hope others can help...
Mexicolore replies: We wish we could help, but we’re on the ‘wrong’ side of the ocean! We really have no idea, sorry...
Mexicolore replies: Our understanding of the design of the ‘atl’ sign is that it represents ‘a stream of rushing water, flanked by white shell’ (Gordon Whittaker); above this the only elements we can make out are a jade ear piece and two precious quetzal feathers, adorning a VERY indistinct deity head in profile...
Mexicolore replies: In David Carrasco’s words, it’s probably ‘a combination of legend and history’. We’ve written a full answer to your question in the ‘Ask Us’ section (see l/h column).
Mexicolore replies: As far as we know, they didn’t - at least in any methodical way. Of course the 52-year cycle (known today as the Calendar Round) was universally important in ancient Mesoamerica, and was marked by the Aztecs in particular with their New Fire Ceremony (indeed, the Aztecs had a special icon and name for the Calendar Round, the xiuhmolpilli or ‘bundle of reeds/years’. But it’s important to remember that the 52-year cycle didn’t/doesn’t fit into the vigesimal counting system. So the Maya moved from the 20-year cycle or k’atun directly to the 400-year cycle or bak’tun. It’s because the Aztecs didn’t ‘count’, mark or denominate the Calendar Rounds that historians have found it hard later to ‘locate’ a given year (eg 1-Flint) within a particular Calendar Round: it’s a bit like saying ‘Back in the ‘40s’) without saying WHICH ‘40s! Do you mean the 1940s, 1840s, 1740s...?
We’ll try and get more expert input on this - it’s a good question!
Mexicolore replies: We’ve passed this on to our webmaster. We’re planning to upgrade the whole site during 2019 to a Wordpress site, so there are bound to be hiccups along the way. Please bear/stay with us...!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for your generous message, Isaac. As always, it’s feedback like yours that keeps us going. This is very much an old-fashioned labour-of-love...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Carmel. We’re delighted you have found the site useful.
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for commenting. It would be useful and interesting to know where you’ve been getting your information on and descriptions of the Aztecs from...? The ‘short hair and dreads’ sounds a bit ‘off’...
Mexicolore replies: We’ll try; just very busy just now in the middle of a heavy teaching term...
Mexicolore replies: Happy to be in touch; we think your work is inspirational!
Mexicolore replies: We’ve just discovered your project and are HUGELY impressed! We’ll certainly be in touch by email and will try to raise the profile of your project which is pioneering and inspiring... Thank you for contacting us!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for writing. It would help us here greatly if you could point out one or two examples, rather than making a blanket statement!
Mexicolore replies: Somewhere we noted that there is an image of precisely this in the Codex Vaticanus B (3773) pl. 79, but we’ve lost where the reference came from! We’ll send you the image by email... BTW, there are good images of women warriors generally in the Tovar Manuscript.
Mexicolore replies: MANY thanks, Professor, for your splendid support for our educational work.
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, José, for taking time to write in, and for your kind words - much appreciated.
Mexicolore replies: The closest, we believe, would be the arrows-and-shield symbol for ‘war’ and the burning/toppled temple symbol for ‘conquest’.
Mexicolore replies: MANY thanks, Joan. We’re pleased to be of service.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Professor, for your superb contributions to our educational work and constant guidance!
Mexicolore replies: (We greatly enjoyed teaming up with Claudia and her fellow BM curator Kate Jarvis to trial the BM/Google Maya Project virtual reality ‘expedition’ at Preston Park Primary School, Wembley, in July 2017)
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Nancy, for your kind words.
Mexicolore replies: Thank YOU, Jay, for this uplifting feedback. You’ve no idea how supportive to us this kind of comment is, encouraging us to continue our work. Congratulations on all you’re doing and all best for the future...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for pointing out any errors. I’ve written to you separately asking for specific details so we can make appropriate corrections. Our apologies for getting the names/credits confused.
Mexicolore replies: Our apologies for this fault. it’s now in the hands of our webmaster. We’ve noticed one or two other pages in the same section are faulty too... Will send you the info!
Mexicolore replies: Pardon me, but we most certainly include chía seeds in the Aztecs’ diet: please see the feature ‘Basic Aztec facts: AZTEC FOODS’ in our Kids section...
Mexicolore replies: Whilst we have a good article on the Guadalupe/Tonantzin question (in our ‘Aztec Gods’ section), we don’t feel qualified to comment on the tilma itself. Sorry!
Mexicolore replies: Good question! We know the siege of Tenochtitlan lasted 80 days - the longest continuous battle, according to John Pohl, in recorded history. We also know the Spanish destroyed the entire city, razing every building ‘street by street’. But as specifically for the Templo Mayor building, we’ll try and get external expert opinion...
Mexicolore replies: Cheers, Leah! Keep us posted of your research: music is of primary interest to us as a team...
Mexicolore replies: We feel humbled by such generous comments and by this hugely encouraging support for our work. Very many thanks, Professor Sandstrom!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Mariana. We’d love to read your novel when it’s ready! Do keep us posted: if we like it we’d be delighted to give it space on the website...
Mexicolore replies: Cheers, Rebecca! Thanks for your support and interest.
Mexicolore replies: Would love to help, but the link you’ve pasted in is a dud! Please send us the quote itself or a valid link and we might be able to help...!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Laura. Yours is an excellent suggestion (wish now we’d done it from the start!) and in response we’ve already made a good start (around 40 articles) to upload publication dates, at least with major articles...
Mexicolore replies: Warmest thanks to Dr. Sandstrom, who is a member of our Panel of Experts.
Mexicolore replies: We are honoured to have a fine contribution from Dr. Staller on the Mexicolore website.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Deneen. We share your enthusiasm and commitment to working in the public service domain...
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Ben, for your generous comments. We follow your own (research and teaching) work closely and have great admiration for it. Hopefully in future we can collaborate directly on disseminating good teaching resources on these great cultures...
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for your kind offer. We’ll see what we can do... (We should point out that the IOQ referred to above is a Masonic Order, based on the principles of Freemasonry).
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Joan. [It was thanks to a recent question from Joan that we added a piece on Aztec Pine Torches in Aztec Artefacts].
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, José, for your support and encouraging words - greatly appreciated.
Mexicolore replies: Not sure which article you’re referring to! Please clarify!
Mexicolore replies: You’re lucky to attend such a great school, Aryan - we seriously enjoyed our latest visit to Orley Farm this year. Enjoy your Aztecs topic and thanks for writing!
Mexicolore replies: Cheers, Zoe, thanks for this encouragement!
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Fernando. We feel humbled, and will always continue to do our best, keeping this site 100% educational and open-access...
Mexicolore replies: MANY thanks Zoe! Warm greetings from Olympic London...!
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Prudence. It’s comments like yours that keep us going...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Elizabeth. We look forward to hearing news of your forthcoming book (featuring a short discussion about the Aztec story of Creation).
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Phil, for these encouraging comments. PLEASE do let us have pictures that we can add to the site! Sounds a great competition........
Mexicolore replies: Warmest thanks: it’s support like yours that keeps us going - and that’s from the heart!
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, JC. BTW, we increasingly give dual prominence now to ‘Mexica’/’Aztecs’...
Mexicolore replies: Any day now, Bernard...!
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Patricia!
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks for this, Ross. No, we hadn’t come across A de B’s Aztec crime fantasy trilogy, though they sound great. Blimey they’re expensive though!@! If we get one for Xmas, we’ll review it...
Mexicolore replies: Juan Carlos has uploaded an impressive and beautifully made animation film of the Sunstone (we’ve added links to it and recommend it...)
Mexicolore replies: This is a great idea - thank you for it! We’ve always been open to including this sort of personal story/testimonial, and would welcome contributions. If any of you out there know of a suitable potential interviewee - you might like to interview them yourselves! - please get in touch...
Mexicolore replies: As we always say, Alfonso, it’s feedback like yours that keeps us going... Cheers!
Mexicolore replies: (Sarah is Head of English at Great Cornard Middle School, Sudbury; this should really be on our visits testimonial page, but we’re leaving it here, ‘cos we like it!!)
Mexicolore replies: Thanks Holly! (You can see one or two of the answers we’ve provided to Holly’s students in the ‘Ask Us’ section...)
Mexicolore replies: Thanks Scott (This relates to the ‘Ideas for a DAY OF THE DEAD story...’ in our Resources section).
Mexicolore replies: You’ve touched a sensitive point here, Sebastian! No, we don’t think it fair to suggest they were stolen. You can read the story of some of the best known (mosaic) items in our Moctezuma pages, here -
http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azt&two=moc&id=454&typ=reg
Mexicolore replies: We’d love to showcase a little of what you’re doing, Nikki - do send over a couple of images and some text; it sounds inspiring...
Mexicolore replies: We’ve added Tocatzin’s great Mesoamerican video blog to our list of recommended links. See www.youtube.com/mesoamericainaztlan.
Mexicolore replies: Cheers, Steve! We’ll be in direct contact to see if we can work together...
Mexicolore replies: We’ve just added (March 2010) a feature on Maya cenotes. Thanks for your suggestion and encouragement...
Mexicolore replies: Cheers, Patricia! (This was in response to our help in tracing a piece of Aztec poetry - see ‘Aztec Poetry (2): Three Poems’ on our Aztecs homepage)
Mexicolore replies: Well that’s one way of looking at it. What do others think?
Mexicolore replies: We’re delighted to welcome Professor Sandstrom onto our Panel of Experts
Mexicolore replies: Many thanks, Pilar, for writing in: it’s definitely feedback like yours that inspires us to keep going! Good luck with your studies, and keep in touch - you will be a valuable contributor to our learning/teaching community...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for this feedback, Bernadette. One of these days we’re going to organise a public debate over ‘Angry Aztecs’: come and support!
Mexicolore replies: We’re honoured and grateful to have Professor Whittaker on our Panel of Experts
Mexicolore replies: Cheers Gael - many thanks for your encouragement, and for your interesting (separate) queries that we will do our best to address in our ‘Ask Us’ section...
Mexicolore replies: It’s a ‘personalised’ Aztec flint knife called ‘tecpatl’. They were made of flint and obsidian and tended to be around 20 cms long. We’ve got a whole children’s microsite based on Tec, a flint knife character. You’ll find more info there and also in our ‘Aztec Artefacts’ section...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Sarah! This should strictly go on our ‘Visit testimonials’ page, but we can’t resist leaving it here too!
Mexicolore replies: Read about Professor Ferrero’s pioneering work in our ‘Aztec Language’ section.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Susanna, for this and for offering to join our Panel of Experts: welcome!
Mexicolore replies: It’s feedback like this that encourages us to keep going: a big Thank You, Alma.
Mexicolore replies: Cheers, Rosie! Thanks for writing in and for all the valuable encouragement...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Skarlet! Lovely school to work in too; loved what one of you said about a message from the Aztecs - even if things seem hopeless, never give up... All the best.
Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Owen. We’re happy to leave this ‘public’.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you for your kind comments - we’re glad to be of service...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for writing in Anfan. We LOVE working at Redriff Primary!
Mexicolore replies: This is a great question, and we’re struggling to think of any examples...
Mexicolore replies: Thanks for writing in to us. The page on the symposium is now available in Spanish.
Mexicolore replies: This is a comment from a Year 5 pupil following a team visit to her school: for all other testimonials on our in-school sessions, click on Visit Testimonials in the right hand menu.