Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership

Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan

Author Saburo Sugiyama

Teotihuacan was the largest urban center in the New World in the first two centuries A.D., 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.

Bio

Saburo Sugiyama is research professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. His major research focuses on the Mesoamerican social histories, particularly of Teotihuacan, ancient urbanism, iconography and symbolism; theory; and method, particularly cognitive archaeology.

Praise for this book

This is a remarkable achievement and will be a deeply influential contribution to all future discussions of Teotihuacan.

David Freidel Southern Methodist University
Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership book cover image
Date published
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISBN
978-0521780568
Genres
Archaeology and anthropology
College or unit
School of Human Evolution and Social Change

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