Archaeologists have unearthed a ceremonial Aztec platform studded with stone carvings of serpent heads under a the Mexico City's Templo Mayor ruin, raising hopes there could be an emperor's tomb deep buried nearby. No Aztec ruler's tomb has ever been located and researchers have been on a five-year quest to find a royal tomb in the area of the Templo Mayor, a complex of two huge pyramids and numerous smaller structures that contained the ceremonial and spiritual heart of the pre-Hispanic Aztec empire. Mexico's National Institute of History and Anthropology said the stone platform is about 15 yards in diameter and probably built around A.D. 1469. 'The historical records say that the rulers were cremated at the foot of the Templo Mayor, and it is believed to be on this same structure - the 'cuauhxicalco' - that the rulers were cremated,' said archaeologist Raul Barrera. Mr Barrera said accounts from the 1500s suggested the platform was also used in a colorful ceremony in which an Aztec priest would descend from the nearby pyramid with a snake, either real or made of paper, and burn it on the platform
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