Golden Shadows: The Hunt for Aztec Gold

What can a surviving gold object tell us about the treasure stories surrounding the fall of Tenochtitlan? Golden Shadows follows Mexica artisans and ceremonial objects, the meeting of Moctezuma and Cortés, the violent retreat of 1520, and the siege that followed.

Spanish and Nahua accounts sit beside excavated finds, including the Tejo de Oro, while later fiction reveals how a hidden-hoard tale acquired a secret chamber and a curse.

Ten source-linked chapters separate surviving objects, participant claims, later legends, and questions that remain open.

• Follow Mexica artistry, the meeting of Moctezuma and Cortés, the 1520 retreat, and the siege.
• Compare Spanish and Nahua accounts with surviving finds such as the Tejo de Oro.
• See how later fiction supplied the hidden chamber and curse absent from earlier evidence.

Discover the history beneath one of the Americas' most persistent treasure tales.

See what is inside

The revised edition covers these chapters and reader resources:

• Chapter 1: What a Gold Object Can Tell Us
• Chapter 2: The City and the Metal
• Chapter 3: The Gold That Survived
• Chapter 4: The Meeting in the Records
• Chapter 5: The Night and the Bar
• Chapter 6: What the Siege Left
• Chapter 7: How a Treasure Gained a Curse
• Chapter 8: What a Modern Find Can Prove
• Chapter 9: A Case File for a Lost Hoard
• Chapter 10: What the Records Leave Us
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