Early Copán Acropolis Program 2000 Field Season

Analysis of Other Artifacts

During the 2000 field season FAMSI Grant 99102 supported the efforts of Ellen Bell to catalogue all objects recovered from the floor of the Margarita Tomb (some 3,707 artifacts), completing the analysis of more than 14,000 objects from the Margarita and Hunal tombs (some of which had been lifted as part of concentrations). The cataloging process includes measuring color, composition, size, volume, and hardness, the completion of a 1:1 scale drawing, and a detailed description of each object. Copies of all records are archived on disc in the CRIA.

In addition to portable objects made of jade, shell, and ceramic, the material from the Margarita Tomb included two pyrite and slate mirrors. The slate backings that held the reflective pyrite mosaic pieces were covered with stucco and decorated with fine-line, Teotihuacán-style, polychrome designs. The better-preserved mirror (Disk 2, Figure 6a) includes the depiction of a winged Teotihuacán figure standing in profile with a speech scroll in front of his mouth and an object dangling from his hand, which may be a trophy head (Figure 6b). The figure wears a feathered sandal on his right foot and appears to be standing in front of or seated on a small, rectangular bundle. The border of the disk is formed by a scaled serpent with water imagery along the top. The painted back of the other mirror (Disk 1) includes a geometric design that may represent a Central Mexican-style headdress, although the central portion of the headdress has been destroyed by the decaying pyrite. The border includes yellow dots and stars similar to those on a jar from Teotihuacán found in the Hunal Tomb.

A number of the pottery vessels were transferred to the lab with their contents intact (see the Archaeobotanical and Zooarchaeological analyses sections). The contents of one of these vessels, Vessel 2 from Offering 93-16, was catalogued in 2000.  These items included the complete skeleton of a female turkey (Meleagris ocellata) along with the disarticulated head of a second turkey (also Melagris ocellata; see Table 5). The complete turkey had been stuffed with 10 small, unmodified rocks with the second, disarticulated head nestled near the intact cranium, and burned. David Sedat (personal communication, 2000) suggests the possibility that this deposit represents the material remains of rituals similar to those described by Girard (1962) for the Ch’orti Maya involving the sacrifice of a pair of turkeys (male and female) as part of the annual cycle of agricultural renewal. The contents of the vessel also included material that had been reduced to multicolored, friable mineral crystals, similar to those seen in other vessels in the cache. The deposit and excavation process was documented with black and white photographs, color slides, and digital images.

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