topiltzin-2091

Sacrificial burial deepens mystery at Teotihuacan, but confirms the
city's militarism

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/earth_sciences/report-37231html

Arizona State University
03.12.2004*

Sacrificial burial deepens mystery at Teotihuacan, but confirms the
city's militarism

Partially uncovered figurine, carved in jade, found in connection with
three unbound, seated bodies and other objects at the top of the
pyramid's fifth stage (the offering was presumably made in the
construction of the sixth stage), circa 350 AD. This object is notable
in that it is carved from jade that originated in Guatemala, and appears
to be Mayan in style. Other jade objects on top of the figurine are
beads and earspools.
A spectacular new discovery from an ongoing excavation at the
Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Moon is revealing a grisly sacrificial
burial from a period when the ancient metropolis was at its peak, with
artwork unlike any seen before in Mesoamerica. Though archaeologists
hope that discoveries at the pyramid will answer lingering questions
about the distinctive culture that built the great city, the new find
deepens the mystery, with clear cultural connections to other burials
found at the site, but with some markedly new elements. With the
excavation of the pyramid nearly complete, one important conclusion is
emerging: combined with past burials at the site, the new find strongly
suggests that the Pyramid of the Moon was significant to the
Teotihuacano people as a site for celebrating state power through
ceremony and sacrifice. Contrary to some past interpretation, militarism
was apparently central to the city's culture. Teotihuacan, the
2,000-year-old, master-planned metropolis that was the first great city
of the Western Hemisphere, has long been perplexing to Mesoamerican
archaeologists. Located 25 miles north of the current Mexico City, this
ancient civilization left behind the ruins of a city grid covering eight
square miles and signs of a unique culture. But even the Aztecs, who
gave the city its present name, did not know who built it. They called
the monumental ruins "the City of the Gods." The Pyramid of the Moon is
one of the site's oldest structures, and has long been suspected to be
its ceremonial center.
In the continuing excavation of the pyramid, led by Saburo Sugiyama,
professor at Aichi Prefectural University in Japan and research
professor at Arizona State University, and Ruben Cabrera of Mexico's
National Institute of Anthropology and History, the team has found a
fifth tomb, this time at the center of the fifth of the pyramid's seven
stages of construction. This phase of the excavation has been supported
by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the National
Geographic Society. ASU manages an archaeological research center at the
site.
The filled-in burial vault contains the remains of twelve people, all
apparently sacrificed, together with a large variety of offerings and
the remains of various animals of clearly symbolic importance. Ten of
the human bodies were decapitated. Sugiyama, the excavation director,
believes that the signs of violence and militarism in the burial are
especially significant.
"What we have found in this excavation suggests that a certain kind of
mortuary ritual took place inside the tomb before it was filled in. 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," Sugiyama said.
"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 archaeologically in Mesoamerica." All the human remains
had their hands bound behind their backs, and the ten decapitated bodies
appear to have been tossed, rather than arranged, on one side of the
burial. The other two bodies Sugiyama describes as "richly ornamented"
with greenstone earspools and beads, a necklace made of imitation human
jaws, and other items indicating high rank. The animal remains were
found arranged on the sides of the burial structure, especially on the
end opposite the decapitated bodies, and include five canine skeletons
(wolf or coyote), 3 feline skeletons (puma or jaguar), and 13 complete
bird remains (many were tentatively identified eagle) – all animals
that are believed to be symbols of warriors in Teotihuacano iconography,
according to Sugiyama. Many of the animals appear to have been bound and
there are also numerous animal skulls.
"We don't know who the victims were, but we know that this ritual was
carried out during the enlargement process of a major monument in
Teotihuacan, and highly symbolic objects associated with them suggest
that the government wanted to symbolize expanding sacred political power
and perhaps the importance of military institutions with the new
monument," said Sugiyama.
Though Teotihuacan at its height was roughly contemporary with the early
stages of the Mayan cities located to the south in the jungles of
southern Mexico and Guatemala, archaeologists have long noted very
distinct differences between the cultures and only minor evidence of
interaction.
During an earlier stage of the excavation in 2002, Sugiyama and Cabrera
found a burial (connected to the construction of the pyramid's sixth
layer) that revealing a Mayan link with the city's aristocracy. The
burial included three ceremonially positioned bodies adorned with jade
artifacts of Mayan design.
The current discovery is connected to construction of the pyramid's
earlier fifth layer, and has similarities to the second burial found by
Sugiyama's team, which was also connected to that layer, which contained
four bound men (two of whom isotopic evidence indicates were
Teotihuacanos and two were foreigners), and some similar symbolic animal
remains.
The current burial, however, also contains some startling new features
– particularly an "offering" at the center of the burial containing an
mosaic human figure, with some features unique in Mesoamerican art and
enigmatic in its cultural connections. The central offering also
contains various shell pendants, obsidian blades, projectile points, a
fragmented slate object, and "many remains of organic materials." "The
mosaic figure was found on top of 18 large obsidian knives, carefully
set in a radial pattern. Nine of these had a curving form, while the
nine others had the form of the feathered serpent, a symbol of maximum
political authority," noted Sugiyama. "Evidently this offering in some
way formed the central symbolic meaning of the grave complex." Sugiyama
said.
The burial also contained obsidian human figures, knives, projectile
points; shell pendants and beads, ceramics (Tlaloc jars), plaques, and a
large disk.
Currently completing the excavation, Sugiyama says that the recent
digging is approaching the completion of the seven-year-long excavation
of the Pyramid of the Moon, though the ****ysis of the finds is ongoing.
"We will now be able to dedicate our efforts more intensively in the
material studies, ****yses of different kinds, and in interpretation. We
expect to publish the project results quickly," he said.

More information:http://www.asu.edu *


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