Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T22:52:32.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

THE TEMPLE OF QUETZALCOATL, TEOTIHUACAN: NEW DATA ON THE ORIGINS OF THE SACRIFICIAL VICTIMS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2020

T. Douglas Price*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin53706
Michael W. Spence
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, N6A 5C2London, Ontario, Canada
Fred J. Longstaffe
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, N6A 5B7London, Ontario, Canada
*
E-mail correspondence to: tdprice@wisc.edu

Abstract

Continuing isotopic investigation of the sacrificial burials and trophies beneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (Temple of Quetzalcoatl) in ancient Teotihuacan, Mexico, has produced new results. Isotopic proveniencing using bioapatite strontium and structural carbonate oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel was applied to 39 samples, 24 from the sacrificial victims and 15 from the trophy jaws. Both the strontium and oxygen isotope ratios suggest that most or all of the sacrificial victims came from the central highlands of Mexico, which includes the area of Teotihuacan. In this sense, we find somewhat less multiethnicity represented among the military at Teotihuacan than previously thought. Analysis of carbon isotope ratios in enamel structural carbonate indicated a childhood diet dominated by maize, relatively homogeneous among the victims at the pyramid, and typical for much of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Armillas, Pedro 1964 Northern Mesoamerica. In Prehistoric Man in the New World, edited by Jennings, Jesse D. and Norbeck, Edward, pp. 291321. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Budd, Paul, Montgomery, Janet, Barreiro, Barbara, and Thomas, Richard 2000 Differential Diagenesis of Strontium in Archaeological Human Dental Tissues. Applied Geochemistry 15:687694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castro, Cabrera, Rubén, Saburo Sugiyama, and Cowgill, George L. 1991 The Templo de Quetzalcoatl Project at Teotihuacan: A Preliminary Report. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:7792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabrera Castro, Rubén 1993 Human Sacrifice at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent: Recent Discoveries at Teotihuacán. In Teotihuacan, Art from the City of the Gods, edited by Berrin, Kathleen and Pasztory, Esther, pp. 101107. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Cabrera Castro, Rubén, and Serrano Sánchez, Carlos 1999 Los entierros de la Pirámide del Sol y del Templo de Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan. In Prácticas funerarias en la ciudad de los dioses: Los enterramientos humanos de la antigua Teotihuacan, edited by Manzanilla, Linda and Serrano Sánchez, Carlos, pp. 345397. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar
Cabrera Castro, Rubén, and Cabrera Cortés, Oralia 1991 El Proyecto Templo de Quetzalcoatl. Planteamientos generales y resultados preliminares. Arqueología 6:1931.Google Scholar
Carballo, David 2007 Weaponry and Martially Themed Obsidian Production Near the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:173190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carballo, David 2011 Obsidian and the Teotihuacan State: Weaponry and Ritual Production at the Moon Pyramid. University of Pittsburgh Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology, No. 21. University Press of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 1983 Rulership and the Ciudadela: Political Inferences from Teotihuacan Architecture. In Civilization in the Ancient Americas, edited by Leventhal, Richard M. and Kolata, Alan L., pp. 313343. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 1997 State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Reviews in Anthropology 26:129161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 2002 Ritual Sacrifice and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacán, México. Electronic document, http://www.famsi.org/reports/96036/96036Cowgill01.pdf, accessed August 10, 2017.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 2003 Social Differentiation at Teotihuacán. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, edited by Chase, Diane Z. and Chase, Arlen F., pp. 206220. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 2015 The Debated Role of Migration in the Fall of Ancient Teotihuacan in Central Mexico. In Migration and Disruptions: Toward a Unifying Theory of Ancient and Contemporary Migrations, edited by Baker, Brenda J. and Tsuda, Takeyuki, pp. 97–112. University Press Scholarship Online. http://dx.doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813060804.003.0005.Google Scholar
Ferrari, Luca, Esquivel, Teresa, Manea, Vlad, and Manea, Marina 2011 The Dynamic History of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Mexico Subduction Zone. Tectonophysics 522–523:122149.Google Scholar
González Sabrino, Blanca Zoila 2017 El cuerpo como vestigio biológico, simbólico y social: Victimas sacrificadas en el Templo de Quetzalcóatl en Teotihuacan. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Grimes, V., and Pellegrini, M. 2013 A Comparison of Pretreatment Methods for the Analysis of Phosphate Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Bioapatite. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 27:375–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hedges, R.E.M., Lee-Thorp, J.A., and Tuross, N.C. 1995 Is Tooth Enamel Carbonate a Suitable Material for Radiocarbon Dating? Radiocarbon 37:285290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoppe, K.A., Koch, P.L., and Furutani, T.T. 2003 Assessing the Preservation of Biogenic Strontium in Fossil Bones and Tooth Enamel. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 13:2028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knudson, Kelly J., and Price, T. Douglas 2007 The Utility of Multiple Chemical Techniques in Archaeological Residential Mobility Studies: Case Studies from Tiwanaku- and Chiribaya-Affiliated Sites in the Andes. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132:2543.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koch, P., Tuross, N., and Fogel, M.L. 1997 The Effect of Sample Treatment and Diagenesis on the Isotopic Integrity of Carbonate in Biogenic Hydroxylapatite. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:417429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laffoon, J.E., Sonnemann, T.F., Shafie, T., Hofman, C.L., Brandes, U., and Davies, G.R. 2017 Investigating Human Geographic Origins Using Dual-Isotope (87Sr/86Sr, δ 18O) Assignment Approaches. PLoS ONE 12:e0172562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee-Thorp, J.A., and Sponheimer, M. 2003 Three Case Studies Used to Reassess the Reliability of Fossil Bone and Enamel Isotope Signals for Paleodietary Studies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22:208216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee-Thorp, J.A., and van der Merwe, N.J. 1991 Aspects of the Chemistry of Modern and Fossil Biological Apatites. Journal of Archaeological Science 18:343354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lightfoot, E., and O'Connell, T.C. 2016 On the Use of Biomineral Oxygen Isotope Data to Identify Human Migrants in the Archaeological Record: Intra-Sample Variation, Statistical Methods and Geographical Considerations. PLoS ONE 11:e0153850.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manzanilla, Linda R. 2001 State Formation in the New World. In Archaeology and The Millennium: A Sourcebook, edited by Feinman, G.M. and Price, T.D., pp. 381413. Kluwer Academic, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manzanilla, Linda R. (editor) 2012 Estudios arqueométricos del centro de barrio de Teopancazco en Teotihuacán. INAH, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Manzanilla, Linda R. 2015 Cooperation and Tensions in Multiethnic Corporate Societies Using Teotihuacan, Central Mexico, as a Case Study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America 112:92109215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manzanilla, Linda R. (editor) 2017a Multiethnicity and Migration at Teopancazco: Investigations of a Teotihuacan Neighborhood Center. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manzanilla, Linda R. 2017b Discussion: The Subsistence of the Teotihuacan Metropolis. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 9:133140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalfe, Jessica Z., Longstaffe, Fred J., and White, Christine D. 2009 Method-Dependent Variations in Stable Isotope Results for Structural Carbonate in Bone Bioapatite. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:110121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millon, René 1973 The Teotihuacan Map, Part I: Text. Urbanization at Teotihuacan, Mexico, Vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1981 Teotihuacan: City, State, and Civilization. In Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 1: Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. 198243. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1988 The Last Years of Teotihuacan Dominance. In The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations, edited by Yoffee, Norman and Cowgill, George L., pp. 102164. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millon, René, Bruce Drewitt, R., and Cowgill, George L. 1973 The Teotihuacan Map, Part II: Maps. Urbanization at Teotihuacan, Mexico, Vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Morales Puente, Pedro, Cienfuegos, Edith, Manzanilla, Linda R., and Otero, Francisco J. 2012 Estudio de la paleodieta empleando isótopos estables de los elementos carbono, oxígeno y nitrógeno en restos humanos y fauna encontrados en el barrio teotihuacano de Teopancazco, Teotihuacan. In Estudios arqueométricos del centro del barrio de Teopancazco en Teotihuacán, edited by Manzanilla, Linda, pp. 347423. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Nado, Kristin Lynn 2017 Dietary Practices, Socioeconomic Status, and Social Mobility at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Nado, Kristin L., Zolotova, Natalya, and Knudson, Kelly J. 2017 Paleodietary Analysis of the Sacrificial Victims from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacán. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 9:117132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellegrini, M., and Snoeck, C. 2016 Comparing Bioapatite Carbonate Pre-Treatments for Isotopic Measurements: Part 2—Impact on Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Compositions. Chemical Geology 420:8896.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, T.D., Burton, J.H., Fullagar, P.D., Wright, L.E., Buikstra, J.E., and Tiesler, V. 2008 Strontium Isotopes and Human Mobility in Ancient Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 19:167180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, T. Douglas 2015 An Introduction to the Isotopic Studies of Ancient Human Remains. Journal of the North Atlantic S7:7187.Google Scholar
Price, T. Douglas, Manzanilla, Linda, and Middleton, William D. 2000 Immigration and the Ancient City of Teotihuacan in Mexico: A Study Using Strontium Isotope Ratios in Human Bone and Teeth. Journal of Archaeological Science 27:903913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rattray, Evelyn C. 1993 The Oaxaca Barrio at Teotihuacan. Universidad de las Américas, Monografías Mesoamericanas No. 1. Universidad Prensa, Puebla.Google Scholar
Rubel, M.A. 2009 Assessing Musculoskeletal Markers Characteristic of Military Activities: An Analysis of Sacrificial Victims from Teotihuacan. Senior honors thesis, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Schaaf, Peter, Solís, Gabriela, Manzanilla, Linda R., Hernández, Teodoro, Lailson, Becket, and Horn, Peter 2012 Isótopos de estroncio aplicados a estudios de migración humana en el centro de barrio de Teopancazco, Teotihuacán. In Estudios arqueométricos del centro de barrio de Teopancazco en Teotihuacán, edited by Manzanilla, Linda R., pp. 425448. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Serrano Sánchez, Carlos, Pimienta, Martha, and Gallardo, Alfonso 1991 Los entierros del Templo de Quetzalcoatl: Patrón de distribución por edad y sexo. Arqueología 6:5367.Google Scholar
Serrano Sánchez, Carlos, Pimienta, Martha, and Gallardo, Alfonso 1997 Mutilaciones e incrustaciones dentarias en un entierro colectivo del Templo de Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan. Estudios de Antropología Biológica 6:295308.Google Scholar
Shemesh, Aldo 1990 Crystallinity and Diagenesis of Sedimentary Apatites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 54:24332438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solís Pichardo, Gabriela, Schaaf, Peter, Treviño, Teodoro Hernández, Lailson, Becket, Manzilla, Linda R., and Horn, Peter 2017 Migrants in Teopancazco: Evidence from Strontium Isotope Studies. In Multiethnicity and Migration at Teopancazco, edited by Manzanilla, Linda R., pp. 143163. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spence, Michael W. 1989 Excavaciones recientes en Tlailotlacan, el barrio oaxaqueño de Teotihuacan. Arqueología 5:82104.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael W. 1992 Tlailotlacan, a Zapotec Enclave in Teotihuacan. In Art, Ideology and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Berlo, Janet C., pp. 5988. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael W. 1997 Further Morphological Analysis of the Quetzalcoatl Series. Report to the Proyecto Templo de Quetzalcoatl. Manuscript on file, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael W., and White, Christine D. 2009 Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology: Past and Future. Ancient Mesoamerica 20:233240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spence, Michael W., White, Christine D., Longstaffe, Fred J., and Law, Kimberley 2004 Victims of the Victims: Human Trophies Worn by Sacrificed Soldiers from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacán. Ancient Mesoamerica 5:115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sponheimer, Matt, and Lee-Thorp, Julia A. 1999 Oxygen Isotopes in Enamel Carbonate and their Ecological Significance. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:723728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1989 Burials Dedicated to the Old Temple of Quetzalcóatl at Teotihuacán, México. American Antiquity 54:8851106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1991 Un entierro central de la Pirámide de la Serpiente Emplumada: Implicaciones generales. Arqueología 6:333440.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1992 Rulership, Warfare, and Human Sacrifice at the Ciudadela: An Iconographic Study of Feathered Serpent Representations. In Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacán, edided by Berlo, J.C., pp. 205230. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1995 Mass Human Sacrifice and Symbolism of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1998 Cronología de sucesos ocurridos en el Templo de Quetzalcóatl, Teotihuacán. In Los ritmos de cambio en Teotihuacán: reflexiones y discusiones de su crhonología, edited by Brambila, Rosa and Cabrera, Rubén, pp. 167184. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 2005 Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership: Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, C.H., and Krueger, H.W. 1981 Carbon Isotope Analysis of Separate Chemical Phases in Modern and Fossil Bone. Nature 292:333335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taube, Karl A. 1992 The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of Sacred War at Teotihuacan. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 21:5387.Google Scholar
Torres-Alvarado, Ignacio S., Verma, Surendra P., and Carrasco-Nuñez, Gerardo 2000 Compilation of Radiogenic Isotope Data in Mexico and Their Implications. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Science (Earth Planet. Sci.) 109:6778.Google Scholar
Webb, Emily C., White, Christine D., and Longstaffe, Fred J. 2014 Investigating Inherent Differences in Isotopic Composition between Human Bone and Enamel Bioapatite: Implications for Reconstructing Residential Histories. Journal of Archaeological Science 50:97107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Christine D., Spence, Michael W., and Longstaffe, Fred J. 2004a Demography and Ethnic Continuity in the Tlailotlacan Enclave of Teotihuacan: The Evidence from Stable Oxygen Isotopes. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23:385403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Christine D., Spence, Michael W., Longstaffe, Fred J., Stuart-Williams, Hilary, and Law, Kimberley R. 2002 Geographic Identities of the Sacrificial Victims at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid: Implications for the Nature of State Power. Latin American Antiquity 13:217236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Christine D., Spence, Michael W., Stuart-Williams, Hilary Le-Q., and Schwarcz, Henry P. 1998 Oxygen Isotopes and the Identification of Geographical Origins: The Valley of Oaxaca versus the Valley of Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 25: 643655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Christine D., Storey, Rebecca, Longstaffe, Fred J., and Spence, Michael W. 2004b Immigration, Assimilation and Status in the Ancient City of Teotihuacan: Stable Isotopic Evidence from Tlajinga 33. Latin American Antiquity 15:176198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Christine D., Douglas Price, T., and Longstaffe, Fred J. 2007 Residential Histories of the Human Sacrifices at the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacán: Evidence from Oxygen and Strontium Isotopes. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:159172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Lori E., and Schwarcz, Henry P. 1998 Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes in Human Tooth Enamel: Identifying Breastfeeding and Weaning in Prehistory. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 106:118.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Price et al. supplementary material

Price et al. supplementary material

Download Price et al. supplementary material(File)
File 2.3 MB