Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos, “Montezuma’s Zoo” (Peabody Museum)

The animal specimens displayed in the Yale Peabody Museum’s 2018 spring semester Study Gallery are a few of the numerous species that lived in the houses of animals, described with admiration by early sixteenth-century Spanish witnesses in the Aztec city of Mexico. Studies of faunal remains recovered from excavations confirm that the Aztec kept animals in captivity, and show that they were brought from remote provinces in the empire. In this gallery talk, Professor Oswaldo Chinchilla will discuss the various natural science and anthropological research methods used to learn about and illustrate the animals that lived and died in Moctezuma’s “zoo.”

Refreshments to follow. Free admission.