topiltzin-2091

Headless Bodies Found at Mysterious Mexico Pyramid
Thu Dec 2, 4:50 PM ET
By Brian Winter

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The discovery of a tomb filled with decapitated
bodies suggests Mexico's 2,000 year-old "Pyramid of the Moon" may have
been the site of horrifically gory sacrifices, archeologists said on
Thursday.
Reuters Photo
*The tomb at Teotihuacan, the first major city built in the Americas,
whose origins are one of history's great mysteries, also held the bound
carcasses of eagles, dogs and other animals.
"It is hard to believe that the ritual consisted of clean, symbolic
performances -- it is most likely that the ceremony created a horrible
scene of bloodshed with sacrificed people and animals," said Saburo
Sugiyama, one of the scientists leading the ongoing dig.
"Whether the victims and animals were killed at the site or a nearby
place, this foundation ritual must have been one of the most terrifying
acts recorded archeologically in Mesoamerica."
Of the 12 human bodies found, 10 were decapitated and then tossed,
rather than arranged, on one side of the burial site. The two other
bodies were richly ornamented with beads and a necklace made of
imitation human jaws.
The Aztecs came across Teotihuacan's towering stone pyramids in about
1500 A.D., centuries after the city was torched and abandoned. It is not
known what language its inhabitants spoke, but the Aztecs named it "The
Place Where Men Become Gods," believing it was a divine site.
A major tourist site, it lies about 35 miles northeast of Mexico City.
After 200 years of excavations, archeologists are still largely in the
dark about the origins of the city, which is believed to have housed
200,000 people at its peak in 500 A.D. -- rivaling Shakespeare's London,
but a millennium earlier.
Sugiyama said the nearly complete excavation indicates the Pyramid of
the Moon was significant to its builders as a site for celebrating state
power through ceremony and sacrifice.
The sacrifices were carried out during the expansion of one of the
city's major monuments, suggesting the government wanted to symbolize
growing sacred political power.
"Contrary to some past interpretation, militarism was apparently central
to the city's culture," the excavation team said in a statement.
The master-planned city-state collapsed around 700 A.D., an event as
mysterious as its formation.
It was the site of a modern-day controversy earlier this year when
protesters fought and lost a battle to keep the Mexican unit of retail
giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from building a new store a half-mile away.

Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.


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astronaut

Have Mormons made much of these discoveries in trying to establish proof for
the Book of Mormon?

Headless Bodies Found at Mysterious Mexico Pyramid
Thu Dec 2, 4:50 PM ET
By Brian Winter

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The discovery of a tomb filled with decapitated
bodies suggests Mexico's 2,000 year-old "Pyramid of the Moon" may have
been the site of horrifically gory sacrifices, archeologists said on
Thursday.
Reuters Photo
The tomb at Teotihuacan, the first major city built in the Americas,
whose origins are one of history's great mysteries, also held the bound
carcasses of eagles, dogs and other animals.
"It is hard to believe that the ritual consisted of clean, symbolic
performances -- it is most likely that the ceremony created a horrible
scene of bloodshed with sacrificed people and animals," said Saburo
Sugiyama, one of the scientists leading the ongoing dig.
"Whether the victims and animals were killed at the site or a nearby
place, this foundation ritual must have been one of the most terrifying
acts recorded archeologically in Mesoamerica."
Of the 12 human bodies found, 10 were decapitated and then tossed,
rather than arranged, on one side of the burial site. The two other
bodies were richly ornamented with beads and a necklace made of
imitation human jaws.
The Aztecs came across Teotihuacan's towering stone pyramids in about
1500 A.D., centuries after the city was torched and abandoned. It is not
known what language its inhabitants spoke, but the Aztecs named it "The
Place Where Men Become Gods," believing it was a divine site.
A major tourist site, it lies about 35 miles northeast of Mexico City.
After 200 years of excavations, archeologists are still largely in the
dark about the origins of the city, which is believed to have housed
200,000 people at its peak in 500 A.D. -- rivaling Shakespeare's London,
but a millennium earlier.
Sugiyama said the nearly complete excavation indicates the Pyramid of
the Moon was significant to its builders as a site for celebrating state
power through ceremony and sacrifice.
The sacrifices were carried out during the expansion of one of the
city's major monuments, suggesting the government wanted to symbolize
growing sacred political power.
"Contrary to some past interpretation, militarism was apparently central
to the city's culture," the excavation team said in a statement.
The master-planned city-state collapsed around 700 A.D., an event as
mysterious as its formation.
It was the site of a modern-day controversy earlier this year when
protesters fought and lost a battle to keep the Mexican unit of retail
giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from building a new store a half-mile away.

Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.


Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America and Mesoamerica News and Links
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/MIKERUGGERISANCIENT

Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Lectures and Conferences
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmerica

Mike Ruggeri's Maya Archaeology News and Links
http://community.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/MIkeRuggerisMaya

Mike Ruggeri's Mound Builders/Ancient Southwest News and Links
http://community.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/MIKERUGGERISMOUND