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The Templo de Quetzalcoatl Project at Teotihuacan: A Preliminary Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Rubén Cabrera Castro ,
Saburo Sugiyama  and
George L. Cowgill
Rubén Cabrera Castro
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Córdoba 45, México, D.F.
Saburo Sugiyama
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA
George L. Cowgill
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA
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Abstract

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid (Temple of Quetzalcoatl) was built in a single episode involving the sacrifice of around 200 individuals, in Miccaotli or Early Tlamimilolpa times. Most were males with military gear. Many had shell collars with pendants of imitation human jaws made of worked shell teeth set in stucco; rarely were real jaws used. At the center, 20 individuals (probably all males) were buried with very rich offerings including greenstone beads, earspools, nose pendants, figurines, and strange conical objects; obsidian blades and figurines; shells; and remains of wood and probable textiles. We also explored a looters' tunnel that had severely disturbed two large pits under the pyramid; in one of these an individual of exceptional importance may have been buried. Preliminary analysis of material from tests in the platform that later obscured the front of the pyramid suggests that it may have been built as much as two centuries after the pyramid. It covered another large pit associated with the pyramid, also looted.

Type
Special Section: Urban Archaeology at Teotihuacan
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , Spring 1991 , pp. 77 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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