“Death whistles,” or Aztec skull whistles, were short, carved instruments made of two opposing chambers where air could clash ...

But in the forests of central Mexico, a single note from an Aztec whistle didn’t always indicate celebration — it meant death. “Death whistles,” or Aztec skull whistles, were short ...

Three of the whistles they used were modern reproductions, and the two others were whistles found at the Aztec site of Tlatelolco, near the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in what is now Mexico City.

A team of scientists from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, has created 3D reconstructions of several Aztec skull whistles from the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany. In research published ...