The large series of sacrificial victims excavated from the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid (ca. a.d. 200) includes 72 males identified as
soldiers. Although most of these wore pendants of imitation human
maxillae, four soldiers each had between seven and eleven real human
maxillae. Dental dimensions indicate that most, and perhaps all, of
these trophies were from males. Dental attrition levels suggest a
broader and flatter age profile for the pendants than for the soldiers,
with a significantly higher mean age. The oxygen-isotope ratios in the
dental phosphate of the pendant teeth, which indicate the geographic
origins of those individuals, point to their derivation from three
different regions, one of them probably in or near the Basin of Mexico
itself. Apparently the soldiers had fought in more than one campaign,
and the early interactions of Teotihuacan with more distant societies
had sometimes involved an element of violence.