6 - Offerings

Summary

Before the mass-sacrificial burial complex at the FSP was discovered in the 1980s, the uniqueness of the offerings associated with it was pointed out by Sempowski (1983, 1994: 47–50, 177–78). In her systematic mortuary analysis, which focused on social differentiation reflected in the variety and quantity of objects, Sempowski noted that offerings found at the pyramid early in the twentieth century were distinct from those found in residential areas, especially in quality.

Excavations in the 1980s substantially increased the number and variety of offerings known from the FSP. As we have seen, the cohesiveness of the graves in and around the pyramid indicates that they comprised a single burial complex dedicated to the pyramid. The offerings connected with the burials are exceptionally rich in quality, quantity, and diversity compared to any found to date in Teotihuacan. Their exceptional quality is only comparable to those being discovered recently in the Moon Pyramid.

It was noted in 1989 that the offerings were combined quite differently from those previously known in Teotihuacan, and that some materials were highly unusual for Mesoamerica, consisting mainly of objects of personal adornment and ritual objects and not including pottery, except for some Storm God jars and vessels that might have contained liquid or organic materials.

In this chapter, I describe and analyze these offerings, emphasizing their symbolic nature. I focus on the offerings' morphological features and spatial distribution to elucidate the meanings of the pyramid's burial contexts.