If you’ve ever watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, you’ve probably noticed the mysterious "Aztec gold" at the story's center. It’s cursed, coveted, and cool—but how much does it have to do with the actual Aztecs of Central Mexico? As it turns out, the answer is… kinda, sorta, but also not.
The Prop with Pre-Columbian Connections
First, a fun fact for Disney fans: the original prop chest that holds the "Aztec gold" in the Pirates of the Caribbean is inside the Disneyland attraction of the same name today. It has a real-world connection to the ancient Americas, though not to the Aztecs. The chest draws on imagery and motifs from Ancient Andean cultures (as in the Andes of South America), specifically Tiwanaku. The Aztecs were in Central Mexico, part of North America, in the region we now call Mesoamerica. They had no interaction with Tiwanaku culture. Ever. So, in this case, the Imagineers made an error. I will also note that this error is standard, and I hope it can be fixed moving forward.
What's the error?
It is REALLY common in movies, video games, TV shows, etc., to see all the diverse cultures of the Americas—North and South—to be lumped together, with people cherrypicking symbols and motifs and objects to suggest some "exotic ancient American" culture.
Each culture is already so complex and rich that I hope Disney and others can work with expert consultants to create these worlds. (Hey, Disney, I'd be happy to help.) They did an excellent job with recent movies like Encanto and Coco.
Let's return to the Pirates of the Caribbean and Aztec gold, though....
The Aztec Sun Stone Inspiration
In both the movie and the attraction, the gold coins are loosely modeled on the famous Aztec Sun Stone, also known more popularly as the "Calendar Stone." However, the resemblance is more artistic than accurate—there’s no skull in the center of the actual Sun Stone, and its design is far more intricate and symbolic than the simple coins captured in the movie.
The Sun Stone was a massive, circular basalt sculpture that depicted Aztec cosmological beliefs about the five different suns (or eras). It has a large solar disk that frames a band of calendrical symbols and a face in the center (possibly the sun deity Tonatiuh). Unlike the coins in Pirates of the Caribbean, it wasn’t made of gold. The movie coin borrows the basic sun disk imagery with the pointed rays. It also mimics the calendrical band but with nonsensical things. And it substitutes a skull for the central face—undoubtedly to feed into the reputation of Aztecs as "scary" or ravenous human sacrificers (it would take too long here to discuss the problems with the Aztecs' reputation in pop culture, so more on that in other posts.)
Gold in Aztec Culture
Gold was highly valued by the Aztecs, but not in the way we might think. It wasn’t used as currency—Aztecs didn’t have coins in the monetary sense. So the golden coins in the movie, called Cortes's treasure, didn't ever exist.
Instead, the Aztecs prized gold for its connection to the gods. It was believed to be the excrement of the sun god, giving it a divine, almost sacred status (yes, you read that right—it was holy sh*t). Deities like Tlazolteotl ate this divine excrement as a way of purifying it. She, like other Aztec deities, had both positive and negative associations and could restore harmony or bring chaos.
The duality of deities like Tlazolteotl aligns somewhat with the cursed gold storyline in Pirates of the Caribbean. In the movie, the golden coins cause chaos—they turn people into undead skeletons!—but they also restore balance in a way—reunited, they break the curse!
No Aztec Coins, But Plenty of Treasure
While the Aztecs didn’t use coins as currency, they certainly had objects made of gold, including jewelry, ceremonial objects, and ornaments dedicated to their gods. Spanish conquistadors, including Hernán Cortés, were famously obsessed with finding and seizing Aztec gold, which only added to the allure of hidden treasures and curses.
Fun fact: Feathers were more valuable than gold for the Aztecs
Aztec Gold in Pirates of the Caribbean: Blending Fact and Fantasy
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean blends historical inspiration with fantastical elements. Those involved in making the movie clearly looked to some degree at actual art objects and stories from Aztec culture but didn't really get it right.
The cursed Aztec gold might not be historically accurate, but it does tap into centuries-old legends about hidden treasures and lost civilizations like El Dorado in the Americas. The franchise and attraction create a compelling story by loosely referencing real artifacts like the Sun Stone and playing with ideas about gold’s sacred and chaotic properties (though I believe that this was probably not intentional). There is no denying that.
And for what it is worth, I find this movie very fun. After all, who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt—especially one that blends art, mythology, and a bit of Disney magic?
CITE THIS PAGE: Kilroy-Ewbank, Dr. Lauren. "Aztec Gold, the "Calendar Stone," and Pirates of the Caribbean: Fact vs. Fiction." January 23, 2025. lkilroyewbank.com <Insert date you accessed> https://www.lkilroyewbank.com/post/aztec-gold-the-calendar-stone-and-pirates-of-the-caribbean-fact-vs-fiction
Stay tuned for other posts about Mesoamerican art (that may or may not connect to Disney).
Resources to learn more
Want to learn more about the Aztec Sun Stone? Check out this video I made on ARTSQ
A deep dive with Google Arts and Culture
Khristaan Villela and Mary Ellen Miller, eds. The Aztec Calendar Stone (Getty Research Institute, 2010).
Camilla Townsend, Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs (Oxford University Press, 2019)
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