Aztec ball game court and temple found under hotel in Mexico City

The remains of a major Aztec temple and a court where deadly ball games are thought to have been played have been discovered in the heart of Mexico City.

tExcavations beneath a hotel revealed the foundation of the massive temple located next to the ball court where the Aztec people played games more than 500 years ago.

A grisly discovery was also made at the site - 32 severed male neck bones were discovered in a pit next to the court.

The remains are thought to be evidence that the game may have ended with players being sacrificed.

"There was a small oval-shaped well, within which there were 32 sets of cervical vertebrae - necks from young adults, and there were also children," said Raul Barrera, an archaeologist at the site.

"Above them, a series of skull fragments had been ceremonially arranged.

"Surely, these people were decapitated."

Only a part of the structure that was located at the ball court remains - a staircase and a section of stands.

Archaeologists believe the original court was around 50m (165 feet) long.

Adjacent to the court is the round-shaped temple, built during Aztec Emperor Ahuizotl's reign, which lasted from 1486 to 1502.

Some of the original white stucco remains visible on parts of the temple, which was dedicated to the wind god Ehecatl.

The discoveries, made during excavations between 2009 and 2016, shed light on the sacred spaces of the metropolis that Spanish conquerors overran five centuries ago.

The ruins were hidden under a part of the hotel that was damaged during a catastrophic earthquake in Mexico's capital in 1985.

The owners of the hotel then noticed the ancient remains and alerted the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Discoveries of this kind of historic structure are not uncommon in Mexico City, where newer houses have been built atop ancient ruins over the course of centuries.