Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership: Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan [Hardcover]

An archaeological examination of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid as a symbol of power in Teotihuacan.In the first two centuries AD, Teotihuacan was the largest urban centre in the New World and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid a spectacular symbol of state power. In the first substantial archaeological analysis of the political institutions of Teotihuacan to be based on stratigraphically recorded evidence, Saburo Sugiyama investigates the ritual sacrifice of some 200 men and women that marked the erection of the Pyramid. In the process, he illuminates our understanding of urbanization, the ritual behaviour of elites, and the role of warfare and sacrifice in early Teotihuacan statecraft.In the first two centuries AD, Teotihuacan was the largest urban centre in the New World and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid a spectacular symbol of state power. In the first substantial archaeological analysis of the political institutions of Teotihuacan to be based on stratigraphically recorded evidence, Saburo Sugiyama investigates the ritual sacrifice of some 200 men and women that marked the erection of the Pyramid. In the process, he illuminates our understanding of urbanization, the ritual behaviour of elites, and the role of warfare and sacrifice in early Teotihuacan statecraft.Teotihuacan was the largest urban center in the New World in the first two centuries AD, and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid was a spectacular symbol of state power. Saburo Sugiyama investigates the ritual sacrifice of some 200 men and women that marked the erection of the Pyramid in this volume, the first substantial archaeological analysis of the political institutions of Teotihuacan based on stratigraphically recorded evidence. In the process, he illuminates our understanding of urbanization, the ritual behavior of elites, and the role of warfare and sacrifice in early Teotihuacan statecraft.1. Introduction: cognition of state symbols and polity; 2. Background: data and ideation; 3. The Ciudadela and the citylÃr