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An Extraordinary Composite Stela from Teotihuacán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Luis Aveleyra Arroyo de Anda
Luis Aveleyra Arroyo de Anda*
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D. F.
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Abstract

In February, 1963, an unusual discovery was made at La Ventilla, less than a mile from the “Ciudadela” in Teotihuacán, Mexico. This find is a composite or sectional stela made up of four superimposed elements that fit into each other by means of stems and orifices. All elements are different in form and are, from top to bottom, discoidal, globular, conical, and cylindrical, the last fitting into a platform base. This piece is unique in Mesoamerican archaeology and seems to have no significant parallels elsewhere. This stela was carved during the Classic period of Teotihuacán. Its function has been clarified through comparison with mural paintings of the Tlalocan in Tepantitla, Teotihuacán, where a ball-game scene is portrayed, and at each end is a stela that is almost identical with that of La Ventilla. It seems evident that the La Ventilla monument is a ball-court stela-marker.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , October 1963 , pp. 235 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1963

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References

Bathes, Leopoldo 1908 Exploraciones y consolidation de los monumentos arqueologicos de Teotihuacán. Imprenta de Buznego y Leon, Mexico, D. F.Google Scholar
Gamio, Manuel and Others 1922 La poblacion del Valle de Teotihuacán, Vol. 1, Pt. 1. Secretaria de Agricultura y Fomento, Direccion de Antropologia, Mexico, D. F.Google Scholar