Manzanilla 2000 Chapter 3. Houses and Ancestors, Altars and Relics: Mortuary Patterns at Teotihuacan, Central Mexico (original) (raw)

Chapter 3. Houses and Ancestors, Altars and Relics: Mortuary Patterns at Teotihuacan, Central Mexico

Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 2008

This chapter reviews the mortuary program at Teotihuacan, one of the largest prehispanic cities in Mesoamerica during the Classic Period (ca. A.D. 150-750). Three different types of practices are identified: (1) domestic funerary rites and ancestors' care; (2) special individuals and relic care; and (3) human sacrifices. In terms of the first practice-which is the most common at Teotihuacan-the location, type of container, position, funerary goods, and funerary rites are examined. With respect to the second practice, mortuary bundles and human relics are considered. The problem of human sacrifice along its distinct parameters (sacrificial victims related to the main pyramidal structures; decapitation; defleshing and dismemberment; heart extraction) is treated in the third section.

Postclassic and Early Colonial mortuary practices in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico

2017

To date, we have documented or recovered the remains of over 15 individuals in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca. This paper summarizes these finds and takes a first step in comparing the mortuary practices of Nejapa to those in other regions of Oaxaca. Eight individuals were found buried nearby one another at the site of Majaltepec, an early Colonial period town in the mountains surrounding Nejapa. Morphoscopic dental analyses indicate the presence of at least 4 younger individuals between 15 and 21 years old, 3 infants, and 1 individual of undetermined age. Though poorly preserved, the burials provide us clear examples of Early Colonial indigenous mortuary practices. Notably, residents of Majaltepec buried their dead below floors of houses with grave offerings , similar to practices in Prehispanic Oaxaca. The persistence of these practices alongside the presence of Catholicism and Dominican clergy suggests that there were limits to Spanish oversight. Prehispanic burials in Nejapa, by comparison, are uncommon in spite of extensive excavation. The lack of sub-floor burial in Nejapa might signal a difference in identity between the Prehispanic residents of Nejapa and the residents of Majaltepec in the late sixteenth century.

Mortuary practices and the social order at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico

Latin American Antiquity, 1992

Epiclassic occupants of the site of La Quemada left the disarticulated remains of 11-14 humans in an apparently sacred structure outside the monumental core of the site. Several lines of evidence are reviewed to generate propositions about the ritual meanings andfunctions of the bones. A comparative analysis reveals the complexity of mortuary practices in northern and western Mexico, and permits the suggestion that these particular remains were those of revered ancestors or community members. The sacred structure is seen as a charnel house, in which the more ancient tradition of ancestor worship expressed in shaft tombs was essentially perpetuated above ground. Hostile social relations are clearly suggested, however, by other categories of bone deposits. Recognition of the rich variability of mortuary displays leads to questions about their role in the maintenance of the social order.

HUMAN SACRIFICE DURING THE EPICLASSIC PERIOD IN THE NORTHERN BASIN OF MEXICO

2012

This article examines changes in ritual practices during the Epiclassic period in central Mexico. It presents data recovered from recent excavations of a shrine discovered in Lake Xaltocan in the northern Basin of Mexico. Pottery and AMS dates place the construction and use of the shrine in the Epiclassic period. The shrine was first built during or soon after the collapse of the Teotihuacan state. With the decline of Teotihuacan and the emergence of competing centers, ritual practitioners began human sacrifice: the remains of over 30 individuals were documented, including 13 complete severed crania. This practice suggests conflict as the political landscape became decentralized. Despite how broader processes may have affected behavior, the shrine, ritual practice was fundamentally local. We present archaeobotanical evidence of offerings of food, incense, and flowers that elucidates the microlevel nature of ritual at the shrine. Este artículo examina los cambios en las prácticas rituales durante el período Epiclásico en el centro de México. Presenta datos recuperados de excavaciones recientes de un lugar sagrado descubierto en el Lago de Xaltocan, situado al norte de la Cuenca de México. Las cerámicas y las fechas de radiocarbano 14 el santuario en el período Epiclásico. Este hallazgo consiste en una plataforma construida y utilizada cuando el estado de Teotihuacan se encontraba dominado por la tensión que conllevó al colapso. Con la caída de Teotihuacán y la aparición de otros centros políticos, la práctica del sacrificio humano se inició; en este caso se ejemplifica con la presencia de los restos de más de 30 individuos, incluyendo 13 cráneos decapitados completos, hallados en el contexto ceremonial. Esta costumbre sugiere la existencia de conflicto cuando el paisaje político se volvió más descentralizado. Aunque los procesos regionales afectaron las actividades en el sitio, el ritual era, sobre todo, un fenómeno local. Presentamos datos arqueobotánicos que indican que los practicantes del ritual realizaron ritos asociados con el agua y la fertilidad e hicieron ofrendas de comida, incienso, y flores.

THE STREET OF THE DEAD . . . IT REALLY WAS: Mortuary bundles at Teotihuacan

The name " Street of the Dead " used to designate Teotihuacan's main avenue originates from a Nahuatl notation on a sixteenth-century map. Though this " story " is often deemed apocryphal, I argue in this paper that oral tradition preserved conceptual information that may not be archaeologically recoverable. Support for this position comes from comparative cultural analysis of Mesoamerican mortuary bundles as they are expressed in ritual and iconography. Crucial to this argument are the well-known stone masks of Teotihuacan. A case is made that the masks originally served as the faces of oracular mortuary bundles. The likely existence of mortuary bundles at Teotihuacan generates organizational models for the city in which lineage emerges as a fundamental element and suggests new insight into status differentiation and the iconography of power at Teotihuacan. A debate on whether the much later Aztecs are a reliable source of information for Teotihuacan has always characterized research on the site (

Gender and Mortuary Ritual at Ancient Teotihuacan, Mexico: a Study of Intrasocietal Diversity

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2011

Archaeologists increasingly recognize a need to revise the scales at which we investigate identities such as gender, class and faction in ancient complex societies. In this article I present research on the expression of gender roles and ideologies in the performance of mortuary ritual in four distinctive residential areas of Classic Teotihuacan, including the urban compounds of La Ventilla 3, Tlajinga 33 and Tlailotlacan 6 and the hinterland settlement of Axotlan. Results indicate that gender was constructed and experienced differently across Teotihuacan society. This research demonstrates that multiscalar, comparative approaches to social identity make possible a fuller understanding of the significance of social heterogeneity in structuring early states.

Knowing the dead in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca: Yucuita phase burials at Etlatongo

2017

We explore burials from the first of a series of Mixtec households at Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico, that appear to have been located in the same space for several generations, shifting both horizontally and vertically through time. These burials, dating from between 500 and 300 BCE (the later part of the Middle Formative period) represent a variety of positions, including extended and seated, as well as placements, from features dug below the house to features placed directly on the house floor. The health of these individuals was generally robust, with the exception of dental attrition and caries. The presence of corporeal modification, in the form of cranial manipulation , is also evinced from the Etlatongo sample. Exploring the placements of these burials, it is possible to reconstruct the sequence in which they were interred. We argue that parallel burials placed on the house floor belonged to the founders of this household. Upon their death and interment, the house was terminated and occupation shifted. Prior to this space being filled in, however, a shaft was built that provided access, both physical and spiritual, to one of the burials. Successive generations lived on their ancestors, who played an important foundational role in establishing this lineage or House.