Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:05:07.965Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Overview: sacrificial and elite burials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Saburo Sugiyama
Affiliation:
Aichi Prefectural University, Japan
Get access

Summary

An overview of several burial patterns found in Teotihuacan or Teotihuacan-related sites may be relevant to my conclusions in the final chapter of this volume. First, I briefly discuss sacrificial burials found elsewhere in Teotihuacan besides the Feathered Serpent Pyramid since several examples of this burial type have been reported previously from the city, primarily in residential areas; they include the remains of possible infanticides, decapitations, and other types of dismemberment. The Sun Pyramid and platforms at Oztoyahualco also seem to have contained sacrificial burials, somewhat similar to those of the FSP, as they were discovered in association with monuments. Recent discoveries at the Moon Pyramid are providing new insights about the meanings and functions of sacrificial burials associated with monuments. However, since the fieldwork is still underway, I only summarize the data from the Moon Pyramid very briefly here, citing preliminary excavation reports. I describe and discuss available information from these previous excavations to elucidate some features of the FSP burials through comparison.

In the following section, I review elite graves found in Teotihuacan and Teotihuacan-related sites to ask whether any FSP graves can be designated elite burials through comparison. Special attention is paid to graves discovered at Mounds A and B in Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala. At this urban center of the highland Maya, elite burials have been uncovered in association with Teotihuacan-type pyramids, and abundant offerings have also indicated strong Teotihuacan influence.

Type
Chapter
Information
Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership
Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan
, pp. 200 - 219
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×