[Aztlan] A Speculation on a Sacrifice at Teotihuacan

[Oralia Cabrera]

Hi listeros,

Mary Hopkins is correct that the dental pectoral ornaments worn by some of
the ca. 200 individuals found at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid are based on
maxillae (the upper dental arch) cut away from the rest of the cranium--not
mandibles. Some of these are real human and canid maxillae, but the large
majority are replicas made of shell.

For further reference see:

Cabrera Castro, Rubén, Saburo Sugiyama, and George L. Cowgill
    1991    The Templo de Quetzalcoatl Project at Teotihuacan. Ancient
Mesoamerica 2(1):77-92.

Spence, Michael W., Christine D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe, and Kimberley R.
Law
    2004    Victims of the Victims: Human Trophies Worn by Sacrificed
Soldiers from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Ancient
Mesoamerica 15(1):1-15.

Sugiyama, Saburo
    1989    Burials Dedicated to the Old Temple of Quetzalcoatl at
Teotihuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 54(1):85-106.

    1992    Rulership, Warfare, and Human Sacrifice at the Ciudadela: An
Iconographic Study of Feathered Serpent Representations. In Art, Ideology,
and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by J. C. Berlo, pp. 205-230. Dumbarton
Oaks, Washington, D.C.

    2005    Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership at Teotihuacan,
Mexico: Materialization of State Ideology in the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

White, Christine D., Michael W. Spence, Fred J. Longstaffe, Hilary
Stuart-Williams, and Kimberley R. Law
    2002    Geographic Identities of the Sacrificial Victims from the
Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Implications for the Nature of State
Power. Latin American Antiquity 13(2):217-236.

also:
http://archaeology.la.asu.edu/teo/fsp/index.htm


Best,

Oralia Cabrera
Arizona State University