Ancient Mesoamerica, 15 (2004), 1–15

Copyright © 2004 Cambridge University Press. Printed in the U.S.A.

DOI: 10.1017/S0956536104151018

VICTIMS OF THE VICTIMS

Human trophies worn by sacrificed soldiers from the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan

Michael W. Spence,a Christine D. White,a Fred J. Longstaffe,b and Kimberley R. Law b

a
Department of Anthropology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5C2, Canada
b
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada

Abstract
The large series of sacrificial victims excavated from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (ca. a.d. 200) includes 72 males identified
as soldiers. Although most of these wore pendants of imitation human maxillae, four soldiers each had between seven and eleven
real human maxillae. Dental dimensions indicate that most, and perhaps all, of these trophies were from males. Dental attrition
levels suggest a broader and flatter age profile for the pendants than for the soldiers, with a significantly higher mean age. The
oxygen-isotope ratios in the dental phosphate of the pendant teeth, which indicate the geographic origins of those individuals,
point to their derivation from three different regions, one of them probably in or near the Basin of Mexico itself. Apparently
the soldiers had fought in more than one campaign, and the early interactions of Teotihuacan with more distant societies had
sometimes involved an element of violence.

The ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan, the remains of which lie in
the Basin of Mexico about 45 km northeast of Mexico City, rose
around 150 b.c. and grew to become the center of one of the
earliest state-level societies in the Americas (Millon 1981, 1992).
Teotihuacan drew inhabitants from many different regions (Go-
méz 1998; Rattray 1987, 1993; Spence 1992) and exerted a strong
influence over much of the Mesoamerican world until about a.d.
650, when it fell in a conflagration. The nature of its power is,
however, still poorly understood. Scholars have long debated
whether it was based on economic, military, or ideological domi-
nance (Cowgill 1997; Demarest and Foias 1993; Hassig 1992;
Millon 1992).
One of the many archaeological discoveries at the site, and
perhaps the most significant and useful for addressing the issue of
Teotihuacan’s power, is the mass sacrifice of more than 200 indi-
viduals at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (also known as the Tem-
ple of Quetzalcoatl). The victims were buried in a series of highly
structured and symmetrically placed graves, beneath and just out-
side the pyramid, the whole probably patterned on the basis of
calendrical and cosmological principles (Cabrera and Cabrera 1991,
1993). Details of the burials are available in Cabrera et al. (1991),
Cabrera and Serrano (1999), and Sugiyama (1989, 1991, 1995).
The rich iconography of the pyramid suggests strong ideological
significance, but interpretations of its meaning vary. These in-
clude representations of the myth of creation (Coe 1981), the myth
of the origin of time (López Austin et al. 1991), calendric succes-
sion (Coggins 1983; Drucker 1974; López Austin et al. 1991),
E-mail correspondence to: spence@uwo.ca
rulership (Grove 1987; Taube 1992), and an expression of “cos-
mic values” (Pasztory 1988). A number of researchers have also
suggested that the iconography represents war and the military
(Carlson 1991; Sugiyama 1989, 1995; Taube 1992).
Several linear graves (Graves 4– 6, 190, and 204), each con-
taining 18 males identified as soldiers, have been excavated just
outside the north, south, and east faces of the pyramid and inside
its south edge (Figure 1). The symmetry of these and other graves
suggests that analogous graves containing the same number of
soldiers would be found on the other interior faces of the pyramid.
The skeletons in the soldiers’ graves had been placed facing out-
ward from the pyramid with their arms behind their backs and
crossed at their wrists, suggesting that they were bound at the time
of death (Cabrera et al. 1991:79, 89). The artifacts that identify
them as soldiers include many obsidian projectile points, “neck-
laces” of both imitation and real human maxillae and mandibles,
shell beads in the form of human teeth, and slate disks behind their
lower backs like those seen in Teotihuacan and later Postclassic-
period representations of military figures (Cabrera et al. 1991:78;
Sugiyama 1989:98, 1991:319). Furthermore, their elaborate and
rich regalia, incorporating quantities of marine shell, indicates
that they were an elite corps of professional or semiprofessional
soldiers rather than some sort of peasant levy (Cowgill 1997:145).
The ethnic identity of the soldiers is not entirely clear. Al-
though some investigators believe that they were probably Teoti-
huacan soldiers selected for sacrifice (e.g., Cowgill 1997:145),
others raise the possibility that they were foreign war captives
from Oaxaca, the Maya region, or the Gulf Coast (Serrano et al.
1993:274–275; Sugiyama 1995:222–226). The analysis of oxygen-
isotope ratios (see below) indicates that they were certainly not

1
2 Spence et al.
Figure 1. Plan of soldiers’ graves, Feathered Serpent Pyramid.
captives taken from Oaxacan, Maya, or Gulf Coast military forces,
although some soldiers may originally have been recruited from
those regions. Their isotopic bone signatures indicate that they
had spent considerable time in the region of the Basin of Mexico
before their deaths (White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams,
and Law 2002). It remains possible that they were taken from
some closer neighboring region (e.g., Tlaxcala or southern Hi-
dalgo) where oxygen-isotope ratios overlap more with those of the
Basin of Mexico. However, the numerous projectile points asso-
ciated with the soldiers (see Sugiyama 1995:139–142, Figure 96)
are products of the obsidian workshops of Teotihuacan, to judge
by their materials, forms, and working. In the absence of any
convincing evidence to the contrary, we view the soldiers as mem-
bers of a Teotihuacan, not foreign, military force.
The role of the military in the emergence of the city and the
maintenance of its political structure is not yet well understood.
War among the polities in the Basin of Mexico may have played a
role in the rise of Teotihuacan between about 200 and 150 b.c.
(Sanders et al. 1979), and military force may have been involved
in its subsequent rapid growth during the Patlachique phase be-
tween 150 b.c. and a.d. 0 (Cowgill 1992). The Feathered Serpent
Pyramid is perhaps the most dramatic expression of military sym-
bolism, but, notably, it was not constructed until about a.d. 200
(Cowgill 1997). The organization of the military and its member-
ship are thus important considerations for understanding the po-
litical structure of the state. Was the army composed of Teotihuacan
“citizens” alone, or did it include mercenaries or rely on tribute
service? Was it centralized or composed of legions from various
areas? Were soldiers stationed in foreign lands to maintain state
control?
The analysis of oxygen-isotope ratios is an important tech-
nique for investigating questions of this sort (Stuart-Williams et al.
1996). The oxygen-isotope composition of bones and teeth is de-
rived ultimately from the isotopic content of the local water con-
sumed by a region’s inhabitants. Isotopic ratios in the water in turn
depend on a variety of geographic and climatic factors, including
temperature, humidity, and latitude. Different regions are thus likely
to have distinguishable isotopic “signatures,” which are then ex-
pressed in the bones and teeth of the people living in them. Fur-
thermore, the isotopic composition of each tooth is fixed when
that tooth develops and remains unchanged subsequently because
dental tissue does not remodel. However, bone constantly remod-
els through an individual’s lifetime, so the isotopic composition of
the bone will be continually equilibrating to the individual’s most
recent environment. It is thus possible to detect movement over
the course of an individual’s lifetime and to identify the region(s)
where that individual spent his or her early years and also the
region where he or she passed the final years of life.
Previous analyses of oxygen-isotope ratios in skeletal and den-
tal phosphate from a sample of the soldiers sacrificed at the Feath-
ered Serpent Pyramid indicated that some soldiers probably spent
most of their lives at Teotihuacan, but more had come from for-
eign locations to reside in Teotihuacan for some years before their
deaths (White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002).
As many as four foreign lands of origin were indicated, and those
who had relocated to Teotihuacan had done so at a fairly early age,
probably in adolescence. These data raise the possibility that the
military membership contained a strong mercenary or tribute-
service component. Alternatively, immigration into Teotihuacan
at this time may have been at a high level, and military recruit-
ment may have followed the principle of citizenship—that is, all
residents of the state were eligible regardless of their origin (Has-
sig 1992:49–50). However, the fact that foreign-born soldiers make
up about two-thirds of those we tested from this elite corps sug-
gests that some additional factor was involved. Perhaps military
service offered a “fast track” to elevated status for newcomers,
attracting them in disproportionate numbers. Or perhaps the Teo-
tihuacan state deliberately sought out and recruited elite foreign-
ers (often youthful ones) in their homelands as a way of solidifying
support—or, at least, defusing hostility—in those regions. The
variable isotopic composition of each of the soldiers’ graves sug-
gests that foreign-born recruits were then mixed with individuals
from other regions, including native Teotihuacanos. They did not
form ethnically distinct troops.
This raises the further question of the nature of the unit repre-
sented by each of the soldiers’ graves. Morphological data and
oxygen-isotope ratios indicate no simple mode of recruitment to
these units. Individuals from one or more foreign regions, as well
as from Teotihuacan itself, are represented in each of Graves 4– 6
(White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002), and
nonmetric trait data suggest that, in some cases, related individu-
als occur in the same grave. For example, soldiers 190M, 190P,
204L, and 204Ñ all have rare supernumerary teeth, single-rooted
teeth with oval crowns located immediately adjacent to the max-
illary midline. Also, soldiers 5C, 5D, 5G, and 5H have retained
deciduous teeth, although this feature does not appear in any of
the other soldiers (Spence 1996a, 1997). While it is possible that
the assignment of individuals to a particular grave was done ran-
domly by those overseeing the sacrifice, rather than based on mem-
Victims of the victims
bership in a particular military unit, this seems unlikely. Saburo
Sugiyama (1995:115) has suggested that military units in the Te-
otihuacan army were structured numerically on the basis of cos-
mological principles and that the uniform numbers in the graves
reflect this. While the varying dental oxygen-isotope values in
each grave indicate the disparate origins of the soldiers, their skel-
etal values show somewhat more intra-grave homogeneity. In terms
of their more recent antemortem residence, then, the soldiers of
each grave unit were more uniform than their dental values would
suggest (White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law
2002). Also, those few individuals with real human maxilla pen-
dants, the subjects of this article, are not evenly distributed among
the graves (Figure 1). A more regular distribution would be ex-
pected if they had simply been assigned to graves without refer-
ence to their actual affiliations.
THE PENDANTS
Distributions
All of the 72 soldiers excavated to date wore complex collars
formed of rows of numerous marine shell elements. Hanging from
these collars were replicas of human maxillae, usually seven to
nine for each soldier (Pasztory 1993:269, Catalogue No. 172; Sug-
iyama 1995:176–183). The replicas were formed on a base of
perishable material, perhaps stucco and/or wood, that represented
the bony parts of the maxilla. Set into these bases were marine-
shell imitations of the teeth. When made realistically enough to be
identifiable, these are always maxillary teeth. The perishable bases
were often painted.
However, in a few cases the pendants were real rather that
imitation human maxillae. Individuals Ñ of Grave 4, H of Grave 5,
and A and F of Grave 190 all wore collars with a total of 36 real
maxillae (including, in the case of 190F, three real human mandi-
bles; Figure 1). In addition, individuals A and O of Grave 4 had
real maxillae of canids, possibly coyotes, while individual H of
Grave 6 wore pendants with shell imitations of canid teeth (Fig-
ure 1). Our primary concern here is with the human pendants
associated with soldiers 4Ñ, 5H, 190A, and 190F.
Individual 4Ñ was a young male, 20–22 years old at death
(Serrano et al. 1991:Table 3). He was located third from the east
end of the row of 18 soldiers in Grave 4, which extends east–west
on the south interior of the pyramid (Figure 1). Eleven human
maxillae were hanging from his collar. None of the other Grave 4
Table 1. Phosphate oxygen-isotope values for bone and enamel from soldiers bearing pendants
Bone ! 18 O a Yield b
Soldier Age ID VSMOW CO 2
4Ñ 20–22
5H 18–20 rib 14.2 — —
190A 21–35 rib 16.1 4.6
190F 17–19 rib 15.3 4.3
a 18
! O values have been adjusted downward by .7‰ for canines and by .35‰ for premolars to correct for the nursing effect.
b
Yield " mmoles CO2 /mg Ag3 PO4 .
c
Yield " mg produced/mg of starting material.
Note: CI, Crystallinity Index; LLPM1, left lower first premolar; LUPM1, left upper first premolar; RLC, right lower canine; VSMOW, Vienna Stan-
dard Mean Ocean Water.
3
individuals wore human maxillae, but 4O (the adjacent individual
to the west) and 4A (the seventh individual from the east end of
the grave, and the fourth beyond 4Ñ) both had canid maxillae
pendants (Figure 1; Sugiyama 1995:180). Oxygen-isotope analy-
sis of teeth (Table 1; White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams,
and Law 2002) indicates that soldier 4Ñ spent his earliest years in
a foreign land. Adjacent soldier 4O (25–29 years old), with canid
maxillae, seems to have passed his first years in the same region
(White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002). In
contrast, 4A (35–39 years old) has dental and bone values that
indicate continued residence in the Teotihuacan area throughout
his life (White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law
2002).
Graves 5 and 6 are oriented north–south on the eastern exterior
of the pyramid, separated from each other by only a narrow trench
that follows the extended east–west center line of the structure
(Cabrera and Cabrera 1991:Figure 4). Each grave holds nine sol-
diers; thus, the two together hold the normal complement of 18
soldiers seen in the other excavated soldiers’ graves (Graves 4,
190, and 204). Individual 5H, with eight human maxilla pendants,
is the second individual from the north end of Grave 5, the more
northerly of the two graves (Figure 1; Cabrera and Cabrera
1991:Figures 8, 12–13; Cabrera 1993:100). He was only 18–20
years old at the time of his death (Serrano et al. 1991:Table 3).
Although his considerable degree of cranial modification and his
unusually small and gracile skeleton seem to set him apart phys-
ically from the other soldiers (Cabrera et al. 1991:80, 89), his
dental and skeletal oxygen-isotope values indicate lifelong resi-
dence in the Teotihuacan area (Table 1; White, Spence, Long-
staffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002).
Although none of the other Grave 5 and 6 soldiers wear real
human or canid maxillae, soldier 6H has shell copies of canid
teeth in his pendants. His location, second from the south end of
Grave 6, is the mirror image of that of 5H (Figure 1). We have no
samples for oxygen-isotope analysis from 6H and so can say noth-
ing of his origins or movements during life. He was 30–34 years
old at death (Serrano et al. 1991:Table 3).
In Grave 190, on the south exterior of the pyramid, soldier
190A has ten human maxilla pendants, while 190F has seven max-
illa and three mandible pendants. Individual 190A was 21–35 years
old at death, but 190F was only 17–19 years old (Serrano et al.
1991:Table 3). Their placement in the grave is symmetrical, with
190A seventh from its east end and 190F seventh from the west;
the two are separated by four individuals in the center (Figure 1).
Yield c Tooth ! 18 O a Yield b Yield c
Ag 3PO 4 CI ID VSMOW CO 2 Ag 3PO 4 CI
LLPM1 17.8 4.8 1.0 3.5
4.1 LUPM1 14.9 4.8 1.2 3.4
0.8 4.8
0.6 3.5 RLC 15.5 3.7 0.9 2.9
4 Spence et al.
The only oxygen-isotope value for 190A is for a rib and is just
beyond the upper end of the Teotihuacan range of 14–16 parts per
thousand (Table 1; White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams,
and Law 2002). It may indicate incomplete isotopic equilibration
to Teotihuacan values after movement to the city from a foreign
locale, or it may be simply a Teotihuacan value from the extreme
of the city’s range. Soldier 190F has skeletal and dental oxygen-
isotopic values indicating residence in the Teotihuacan area through-
out his relatively brief life (Table 1).
In terms of their wider distribution among the graves, these
individuals are not placed in any clear pattern. The 18 soldiers of
Grave 204, on the north exterior, have only shell replicas of hu-
man maxillae. However, the corresponding grave on the south
exterior, Grave 190, includes two individuals with real human
maxillae. Grave 4 has only one person with real human maxillae
but two others with canid maxillae, while Graves 5 and 6 include
only one soldier with real human maxillae and one with shell
replicas of canid maxillae.
Within most of the graves there is a certain degree of symme-
try. Individual 5H is balanced spatially by 6H, and 190A and
190F are symmetrically placed. However, the locations of 4Ñ,
4O, and 4A show no obvious pattern other than the adjacent
locations of 4Ñ and 4O. Also, none of those with real maxillae,
human or canid, stand out from the rest of the soldiers in terms
of regalia, positioning, or treatment (Sugiyama 1995:180). Al-
though variations do occur in the distribution of particular items
among individuals in each grave, no one person seems to have
been exceptional, and all were of the same general social cat-
egory (Sugiyama 1989:93, 98, 1991:307–308, 312, 320).
Two possible explanations can be suggested for the real human
maxilla pendants. They may be either relics or trophies (Spence
1996a). If relics, two further possibilities occur. They could be
relics of either kin-group ancestors or comrades fallen in battle.
The former seems improbable, given that the oxygen-isotope val-
ues indicate that each grave includes soldiers from a variety of
geographic—and thus presumably social—origins (White, Spence,
Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002). They are unlikely to
have formed a kin group with a commonly recognized set of an-
cestors. It also seems unlikely that the pendants were taken from
fellow soldiers killed in warfare. Dental attrition (see later) shows
a broader, and generally older, age range than for the soldiers.
Most probably then, the pendants are trophies taken from
victims of the soldiers (Sugiyama 1989:98). Our initial assump-
tion was that they had been taken from enemies vanquished by
the soldiers who were wearing them—that is, they represented
individual combat records. However, this begs the question of
the imitation maxilla pendants worn by the vast majority of the
soldiers. Why did so few soldiers sport the real thing? It seems
somewhat unlikely that these four individuals had been able to
accumulate such impressive records while the others had no pre-
sentable conquests. Soldier 5H, besides being the smallest of all
the soldiers, was, at 18–20 years old, one of the youngest in
Graves 5 and 6. Soldier 190F at 17–19 years old was among the
youngest in Grave 190, although 190A was somewhere between
21 and 35 years old. Soldier 4Ñ was among the three youngest in
Grave 4 (Serrano et al. 1991:Table 3). It seems more probable
that these four had been selected to bear the records of their
units’ victories—that is, the real maxillae represent “kills” accu-
mulated by all of the soldiers in that grave. This honor may also
have placed the bearers in a noncombatant role, thus serving to
keep the more vulnerable (smaller and younger) members of the
unit out of harm’s way. The later Aztec were equally solicitous of
the safety of the younger and more inexperienced members of
their armies (Hassig 1988:36, 56–57). The fact that the four
trophy bearers were nevertheless included in the sacrifice sug-
gests that those responsible for the selection of the victims were
somewhat removed from these military units and either did not
share their concern for the younger members or had overriding
concerns of their own.
Manufacture
The maxillae had initially been separated from the rest of the face
by cutting along two major planes (Figures 2a, 3a). A posterior cut
passed vertically (in the coronal plane) along the posterior edges
of the maxillary tuberosities or a few millimeters into the pyrami-
dal processes. The area was then ground smooth. The second ma-
jor plane of separation passed horizontally through the lower face,
along the superior edge of the alveolus and just a few millimeters
above the nasal floor. Again, the area was then ground to produce
a relatively smooth surface.
Two-thirds of the maxillae were then further altered to facili-
tate their suspension. Two methods were employed with about
equal frequency. In one, a hole was drilled diagonally down from
the exposed floor of the maxillary sinus, to exit on the internal
side of the alveolus at or just below the level of the palate and in
the vicinity of the second or third molar-root apices. In some
cases, the drilling started in the palate and proceeded upward to
the sinus floor. The roots of the molars were occasionally cut in
this process. In most cases these holes were drilled bilaterally. The
alternative method was simply to enlarge the greater palatine ca-
nal to accommodate a cord. Where there was no working of either
kind, we presume that suspension was accomplished through the
unaltered greater palatine canals.
The three mandible pendants of soldier 190F were worked in
such a way that their form generally matched that of the maxilla
pendants, although of course without the bony base provided by
the palate (Figures 2b, 3b). They appear to have been deliberately
fashioned to imitate the maxilla pendants—and, perhaps, to be
mistaken for them (Sugiyama 1995:182, Footnote 48; Luis Al-
fonso González, personal communication 1996). The entire infe-
rior border of the corpus has been cut off from just below the level
of the mental spines. The lower part of the remaining corpus was
then beveled on the exterior, completely removing the mental em-
inence. The ascending rami were removed by cutting through the
corpus just posterior to the area of the third molars. The cut areas
were then ground smooth. Also, in two of the three mandibles the
superior surface of the corpus at about the area of the third molar
(just anterior to the cut) was ground to produce a slight hollow.
This was apparently done to facilitate suspension. A wear facet
from a cord can be seen by the hollow in one mandible.
It is not clear why mandibular copies of the maxilla pendants
were worn by soldier 190F. Their alteration, especially with the
addition of pigment and a false base, would have made them vir-
tually indistinguishable from the maxillae to the unpracticed eye.
Their occlusal fit indicates that Pendant 10 (Mandible Pendant 3)
and Maxilla Pendant 2 of soldier 190F were from the same indi-
vidual. Pendant 9 (Mandible Pendant 2) may go with Maxilla
Pendant 7, but the fit is not as convincing. Mandible Pendant 1
(Pendant 8) does not seem to fit any of the maxilla pendants of
190F, but postmortem tooth loss and deterioration do not permit
any conclusive statement. The match between Pendants 2 and 10
is intriguing but difficult to explain. Perhaps the soldiers of Grave
190 were inflating their record of battlefield success? More likely,
Victims of the victims 5

Figure 2. (a) Superior view, maxilla pendant 190F 6; (b) inferior view, mandible pendant 190F 8.

Figure 3. (a) Inferior view, maxilla pendant 190F 6; (b) superior view, mandible pendant 190F 8.
6 Spence et al.
though, the purpose was to maintain symmetry with soldier 190A,
who had ten maxilla pendants.
Neither the mandibles nor the maxillae bear the scraping and
cutting that would be expected with defleshing. This suggests ei-
ther that the soft tissue had already naturally decayed from the
crania and mandibles by the time that they were modified to pro-
duce the pendants or that it was removed by some process other
than manual defleshing. The alveolus of Maxilla Pendant 190F 2
had been ground after the postmortem loss of the left third molar,
suggesting some time for postmortem tooth loss before modifica-
tion. Also, deliberately applied pigment occurs in the sockets of
incisors that had been lost postmortem from Pendants 190F 3
and 6. The enamel of the crowns of some teeth in Pendants 190F
2 and 3 had been broken off and lost postmortem, but pigment was
visible on the exposed dentin, again indicating that the pendants
were fashioned from crania that had been fleshless for some time.
Sugiyama (1995:179) has suggested that the imitation
pendants—those with shell copies of human teeth—may have been
manufactured specifically for the sacrificial ceremony. However,
this does not appear to have been the case with the real maxilla
pendants. There had been a good deal more tooth loss after their
manufacture but before their interment with the soldiers; most of
the empty tooth sockets did not have pigment in them. In one case,
a lost tooth in one of 5H’s pendants had been replaced with one
made of marine shell, painted red (Cabrera and Serrano 1999:11).
The pendants may thus have been curated for some time as part of
the ceremonial regalia of the military units.
The cutting, drilling, and grinding described earlier were the
processes used to free and shape the pendants. The distribution of
these technological traits shows no obvious patterning among the
burials. Pendants with drilled suspension holes occur with all four
of the soldiers, as do those with artificially enlarged greater pala-
tine canals and those with no special alteration at all for suspen-
sion. Each soldier thus presents a mix of these technological
attributes.
After they were fashioned, pigment was applied to at least
some of the pendants. In most cases only traces survive, and sev-
eral pendants do not show even this much. No evidence of pig-
ment occurs on the 5H pendants, and only one of the 190A pendants
has a few spots of black on the external surface of the alveolus.
The 4Ñ and 190F pendants show considerable evidence of
pigment, though sometimes only as traces. The archaeological
evidence indicates that the pendants were worn suspended from
the shell collars, around the chests of the soldiers, with the palate
and dental arcade facing outward (Cabrera 1993:100; Cabrera and
Serrano 1999:374; Cabrera et al. 1991:Figures 12–13). The evi-
dence of coloring is most intense on the palate and internal sur-
face of the alveolus, but it also often occurs on the external alveolus.
Of the 4Ñ pendants, two have traces of red, two are painted
green, and four are black. All seven of the 190F maxilla pendants
have green palates and internal alveoli, and two of the three man-
dibular pendants have green pigment on the upper interior surface
of the corpus. Pendants 190F 2, 5, 6, and 7 also have traces of
stucco on the alveolus, while 3–8 have traces of black pigment,
usually on the external alveolus. Pendant 190F 3 has a dark red
pigment around the anterior teeth and in some of the empty sock-
ets, but red is not visible on any of 190F ’s other pendants.
Some patterns seem to differentiate the pendants of the various
soldiers, although, because of the condition of much of the mate-
rial, these are not as clear as could be desired. The 4Ñ palatal areas
are red, green, or black. The 190F palates, and at least two of the
mandibles, are all green, but black is common on the exterior and
some stucco appears. The apparent absence of pigment on 5H’s
pendants may be real, because the state of preservation in this area
of the excavations was better than in the areas of Graves 4 and
190. However, the imitation maxillae worn by the other Grave 5
soldiers were painted green (Cabrera and Serrano 1999:369–375).
If these patterns can be trusted, the pendants of each soldier
displayed somewhat different colors, although in the case of 4Ñ’s
pendants (and in contrast to those of 190F), the colors within the
collar were not all uniform. It is possible that these are the unit’s
colors, but the appearance of green in the imitation maxillae of
Grave 5 as well as in the trophies of 4Ñ and 190F makes this
somewhat questionable.
Only one other maxilla pendant has been found in Teotihua-
can. This single specimen was recovered from a mixed secondary
context during an excavation of the Proyecto de Investigación
Arqueológica en la Pirámide de la Luna (directed by Rubén Ca-
brera and Saburo Sugiyama) in structure 44:N4E1, the small cen-
tral platform in the plaza of the Moon Pyramid. It displays the
same alterations as the Feathered Serpent Pyramid specimens, and
the palate shows traces of red pigment (Spence 2001). Unfortu-
nately, the secondary context severely limits the information that
can be drawn from it.
Biological Characteristics
With only these radically altered elements, the age and sex of the
individuals from whom the pendants were derived are difficult to
establish. However, two techniques can be applied. Dental attri-
tion can be used as a measure of age (Brothwell 1981:71–72;
Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994:49, 52–53), and dental dimensions
have been shown to reflect sex in some cases (Hillson 1996:81–82).
For both techniques a standard is needed for comparison. The
baselines used here are the dental dimensions and attrition levels
of the sacrificial victims of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid; these
include both males and females of a variety of ages (Serrano et al.
1991). Also, they apparently derive from a number of sources
(White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002) and
so provide models whose origins, although still Mesoamerican,
are nevertheless biologically and culturally diverse enough to serve
as appropriate comparators for the pendants.
The buccolingual crown diameters were measured for each
maxillary tooth category except third molars, both in the sacrifi-
cial victims and in the pendants. Mesiodistal dimensions were not
used because of the greater difficulty of obtaining an accurate
measurement and because of the distorting effect of contact fac-
ets. Where present, the left side tooth was used; otherwise, the
right was measured. The identified male burials (Graves 4– 6, 14,
and 190) and female burials (Graves 2, 10, 11, 16, and 17; Cabrera
and Serrano 1999:Figure 5) provided a sample of securely sexed
maxillary dental measurements to compare with those of the pen-
dants. The female means were tested against the male means and
against the trophy means, using the t-test to determine signifi-
cance (Table 2). In all tooth categories except the medial incisors,
the mean dimensions for the pendant teeth are significantly above
those for the identified females. For the medial incisors, the pen-
dant mean is higher than the female mean, but the level of signif-
icance is only .10. The great majority, if not all, of the pendants
had apparently been taken from males.
The age spans for the pendants were compared with those of
the soldiers (Graves 4– 6 and 190) through attrition values, fol-
lowing the system adopted from B. H. Smith (1984) and E. C.
Scott (1979) by Jane Buikstra and Douglas Ubelaker (1994:Fig-
Victims of the victims 7

Table 2. T-test comparisons of maxillary buccolingual dental dimensions

Tooth Comparison N Mean S.D. df t p

medial incisor females 29 7.72 0.65

versus males 35 8.60 0.54 62 2.286 .05
versus trophies 12 8.17 0.83 39 1.748 .10
lateral incisor females 23 6.83 0.58
versus males 37 7.19 0.57 58 2.363 .05
versus trophies 9 7.33 0.50 30 2.273 .05
canines females 25 8.54 0.80
versus males 46 9.39 0.75 69 4.456 .001
versus trophies 20 9.55 0.76 43 4.301 .001
first premolars females 25 9.72 0.54
versus males 44 10.07 0.73 67 2.091 .05
versus trophies 25 10.36 0.57 48 5.761 .001
second premolars females 25 9.60 0.58
versus males 41 9.83 0.80 64 6.789 .001
versus trophies 23 10.22 0.67 46 3.436 .01
first molars females 29 11.97 0.63
versus males 45 12.36 0.71 72 2.408 .02
versus trophies 24 12.54 0.66 51 3.208 .01
second molars females 31 11.67 0.65
versus males 44 12.36 0.81 73 3.932 .001
versus trophies 26 12.46 0.71 55 4.381 .001

Note: df, degrees of freedom; N, number of individuals; p, probability, S.D., standard deviation; t, t score.

ure 25). The data are presented in Table 3 (see also Figure 4). Note
that the attrition of the incisors, canines, and premolars is mea-
sured on a 1–8 scale, while the scale for molars is 0– 40 (the
higher values representing greater attrition and thus presumably
greater age).
The attrition values for the pendants generally cover a broader
range than those for the soldiers and are spread somewhat more
evenly across that range. The mean attrition values for the soldiers
are lower in all tooth categories. The soldiers’ values also have a
smaller standard deviation and variance in all categories except

Table 3. Maxillary dental attrition scores (after Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994:Table 25)

G Statistic Williams’
N Mean S.D. v Range Score Correction

I1 .0107 a .0246 a
soldiers 32 2.28 0.95 0.91 1–5
trophies 12 4.16 1.99 3.96 1–7
I2 .0928 .1646
soldiers 36 2.27 1.18 1.40 1–5
trophies 13 3.61 1.60 2.58 1–7
C .0111 a .0287 a
soldiers 42 2.69 1.31 1.73 1– 6
trophies 21 4.23 1.44 2.09 1–7
PM1 .0386 a .0868
soldiers 41 2.70 1.07 1.16 1– 6
trophies 25 3.56 1.47 2.17 1–7
PM2 .0043 a .0183 a
soldiers 41 2.73 1.09 1.20 2– 6
trophies 27 3.55 1.47 2.17 1–7
M1 .1085 .3159
soldiers 42 17.73 4.60 21.90 10–36
trophies 31 20.70 6.20 38.55 14–37
M2 .2503 .5121
soldiers 41 14.56 4.88 23.85 8–32
trophies 30 16.23 4.54 20.66 8–29

a
Difference significant at or below .05.
Note: Metric data are in millimeters. N, number of individuals; S.D., standard deviation; v, variance.
8 Spence et al.

Figure 4. Dental attrition of soldiers and trophies; x-axes are attrition values (from Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994:Figure 25).

the second molars. The differences were tested for each category
using the G statistic. To reduce the possibility of a Type I error and
better approximate a chi-squared distribution, the Williams’ cor-
rection was applied (Sokal and Rohlf 1995:698). The G statistic
scores indicate that the soldiers’ and trophies’ attrition values have
significantly different distributions for the medial incisors, ca-
nines, and first and second premolars (Table 3). However, the
more rigorous Williams’ correction raises the score for the first
premolars above the level of significance (!5%). The difference
in the second molars may be less pronounced because, as the latest
Victims of the victims
of these teeth to erupt, they have less time to register wear. In any
case, these data indicate that the trophies include a broader age
range than the soldiers, with less of a concentration in the younger
age categories.
Some remarkably young people are represented among the tro-
phies. Very few concrete, developmentally based age indicators
are visible in the pendants. One such case is Pendant 190A Num-
ber B-1, in which the apex of the second molar root is still open.
This corresponds to developmental stage 10 in Bonnie Trodden’s
system, and in her sample of Canadian Indians this stage is reached
at 14 # 1.65 years of age (Trodden 1982:Table XII). Pendant
190F 5, with the lowest attrition scores for all tooth categories
among both soldiers and trophies, is likely to have come from an
even younger individual. In contrast, Pendant 190F 3, in the collar
of the same soldier, has the highest attrition scores and is probably
from the oldest individual in the series.
The unfortunate individuals who provided the pendants thus
seem to have been predominantly, perhaps exclusively, male and
to have included a wide age range. However, their identities re-
main to be established. Dental-modification data for the soldiers
have been used to suggest that some of them may have been
foreigners—or, at least, foreign-born (Serrano et al. 1993, 1997;
Serrano and Martínez 1989). Oxygen-isotope data from dental
samples offer some support for that suggestion (White, Spence,
Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002). Unfortunately, many
of the pendants lack the anterior teeth, where such modification
generally appears; these single-rooted teeth were more susceptible
to loss with the curation and manipulation of the pendants. Nev-
ertheless, of the twelve pendants that were complete enough for
observation, dental modification could be observed in five. All the
anterior teeth had been lost or damaged in another sixteen pen-
dants, while eight others showed no modification but were miss-
ing one or more anterior tooth categories.
Of the five pendants with modification, three are too incom-
plete to identify the full pattern. The canines of 190F 2 have B1
modification (Romero 1986:Figure 1), while the medial incisors
are unaltered and the lateral incisors have been lost. The 4Ñ 1
pendant has type D9 modification of the medial incisors; the lat-
eral incisors and canines are not observable. Pendant 4Ñ 2 has B2
modification of the medial incisors and no change to the canines,
but the lateral incisors are unobservable.
Two 5H pendants present a full pattern. Pendant 5H 2 has type
B5 alteration of the medial incisors and type C1 of the lateral
incisors and canines. Pendant 5H 3 has A4 modification of all the
incisors but no change to the canines.
Of the types of modification represented in the pendants, only
C1 and D9 have not been previously reported from Teotihuacan
and so might offer clues to the areas of origin of those individuals
(Cid and Torres Sanders 1999; Romero 1986; Serrano and Mar-
tínez 1989; Serrano et al. 1993, 1997). However, type C1 has a
long history and wide distribution in Mesoamerica, while D9 has
so far only been identified in Postclassic Cholula (Romero
1986:Table 5). The dental modification, then, does not point to
any particular place of origin for the pendants. The analysis of
oxygen-isotope ratios offers a more productive approach (White,
Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002).
OXYGEN-ISOTOPE ANALYSIS
Theoretical Background
The interpretation of oxygen-isotope ratios derived from human
remains is based on the facts that (1) environmental variables
9
create regional differences in the oxygen-isotope ratios of water;
and (2) the isotopic signature of water is passed on to those who
drink it. This method is therefore a means of determining relative
geographic identity. An analogous method based on the propor-
tions of strontium isotopes, which are incorporated primarily
through the consumption of foods, has also been successful in
determining geographic origins in Mesoamerican samples but has
not yet been applied to the Feathered Serpent material (Price et al.
2000).
Oxygen-isotope ratios (! 18 O) are measured relative to the VS-
MOW (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water) standard and are
expressed in parts per thousand (‰) using the standard notation:
( 18 O/ 16 Osample $ 18 O/ 16 Ostandard )
! 18 O " % 1,000
( 18 O/ 16 Ostandard )
The oxygen-isotope composition of local meteoric water is af-
fected by climatic and physiographic variables such as tempera-
ture, humidity, distance from the ocean, and latitude (Ayliffe and
Chivas 1990; Yurtsever and Gat 1981). The oxygen-isotope com-
position of animal body water equilibrates to that of the environ-
mental water when body temperature is normal and constant. In
turn, the oxygen-isotope composition of skeletal phosphate equil-
ibrates with that of body water. Although most consumed water is
imbibed, other sources can also include food (Longinelli and Per-
etti Paladino 1980; Luz et al. 1984). Imported foods could have
different oxygen-isotope signatures that would be passed on to
their consumers. In ancient populations, however, access to im-
ported foods would probably have been restricted to high-status
individuals, and even among these they would have formed a
relatively minor part of the diet. Therefore, this source of error is
unlikely to affect the data in this study.
The oxygen-isotope composition of body water is determined
not only by water consumption, but also by metabolic rate and the
expulsion of physiologically produced substances such as breath
(water vapor), sweat, urine, and feces (Bryant and Froelich 1995;
Kohn 1996; Kohn et al. 1996). We assume no significant differ-
ences in the effects of these variables among the individuals in our
sample. Early research indicated that the degree of intrapopula-
tional variability in oxygen-isotope ratios of skeletal phosphate
was extremely low (1‰; Longinelli 1984). Previously analyzed
archaeological samples of skeletal phosphate from Mesoamerica
have resulted in a slightly larger range of approximately 2‰ for
control groups representing different time periods and social sta-
tuses (White, Spence, and Longstaffe 2000; White, Spence, Long-
staffe, and Law 2000; White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams,
and Law 2002).
Tooth enamel, the tissue analyzed in this study, acquires its
! 18 O values from body water during the mineralization of the
tooth crown (Luz et al. 1984). Because enamel does not remodel,
a permanent isotopic record of tooth formation is created. This
makes teeth a particularly sensitive means of reconstructing envi-
ronmental changes during their period of growth and develop-
ment. For example, variability among the teeth of an individual
has been used to reconstruct the weaning process in humans (White,
Longstaffe, and Law 2004; White, Williams, and Longstaffe 2002;
White, Spence, Longstaffe, and Law 2000; Wright and Schwarcz
1998), and in nonhuman mammals variations in ! 18 O values within
teeth have been used to reconstruct seasonality (Cerling and Sharp
1996; Fricke and O’Neil 1996; Koch et al. 1989; Stuart-Williams
and Schwarcz 1997).
10 Spence et al.

Analytical Procedure et al. 1992; Reinhard et al. 1996). Nevertheless, there is a chance
that phosphate in the mineral (bioapatite) structure of the enamel
To remove calcium and organic material, approximately 30–35
may have dissolved and been recrystallized or substituted in part
mg of enamel from the entire length of the crown were dissolved
by carbonate (Bryant et al. 1994; Elliot 1997; McArthur and Her-
and processed using lead phosphate and lead sulphate after the
czeg 1990; Shemesh et al. 1988). The Crystallinity Index (CI) is
method of Stuart-Williams and Schwarcz (1995). The enamel
used to detect recrystallization and is calculated from carbonate
was therefore homogenous, and any intra-tooth variation in ! 18 O
and phosphate absorbances produced using Fourier transform infra-
due to seasonality or geographic relocations would be obscured.
red (FTIR) spectrometry (Shemesh 1990) using the formula
F. Henry Firsching’s (1961) method was used to prepare silver
phosphate (Ag 3PO 4 ). The yield of Ag 3PO 4 using this process has
ranged from .5 to 1.5 mg produced/mg starting material in past CI " (A565 & A605 )/A595
studies (White, Longstaffe, and Law 2001; White, Spence, Long-
staffe, and Law 2000; White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, where A represents absorbances at 565 cm$1 (v4PO 4 ), 605 cm$1
and Law 2002), with poorly preserved bones at the low end of this (v4PO 4 ), and '595 cm$1, which is the valley between these two
range and enamel yields commonly at the high end. Because bone peaks. A Nicolet 205 FTIR machine and data-processing software
is non-stoichiometric, the absolute yield of Ag 3PO 4 is unknown. were used to obtain the CI data.
Oxygen was extracted from the Ag 3PO 4 by reacting the samples
with bromine pentafluoride (BrF5 ) at 6008C for "16 hours and
then converted to CO 2 over red-hot graphite using a procedure RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
modified from Clayton and Mayeda (1963) and Crowson et al.
(1991). Oxygen was released from the Ag 3PO 4 in an average Sample Description
amount equal to the theoretical yield for Ag 3PO 4 (4.7 mmoles The selection of teeth for both the soldiers and the trophies was
CO 2 /mg Ag 3PO 4 ; Table 4). The oxygen-isotope measurements limited by preservation. The teeth used in this analysis were all
were made using a dual-inlet, triple-collecting, gas-source, stable permanent. They include canines and premolars, which form be-
isotope ratio Micromass 602C mass spectrometer. tween six months and six years of age and two and six years of
Because enamel is highly crystallized during its formation, it is age, respectively, and second and third molars, which form be-
quite resistant to postmortem alteration (Bryant et al. 1996; Quade tween three and seven years of age and nine and fifteen years of
age, respectively (Massler et al. 1941; Ubelaker 1978). Although
there is little doubt that variability in timing of weaning and wean-
ing foods would have existed within and between Mesoamerican
Table 4. Phosphate oxygen-isotope values for enamel from trophies,
cultures, an elevation of ! 18 O values resulting from the consump-
Feathered Serpent Pyramid
tion of mother’s milk has been found consistently where the ques-
Tooth ! 18 O a Yield b Yield c tion has been examined (White, Longstaffe, and Law 2004; White,
Sample ID VSMOW CO 2 Ag 3PO 4 CI Williams, and Longstaffe 2002). To avoid misinterpreting the res-
idence of nursing children and to be consistent with the way breast-
4Ñ feeding was factored into the interpretation of the larger body of
3 LUPM1 17.4 4.6 1.5 3.3 data on the soldiers in the Feathered Serpent Pyramid sacrifice,
5 LUM3 15.9 4.6 1.3 3.7 the ! 18 O values of canines were adjusted downward by .7‰, and
6 RUM3 17.4 4.9 1.4 3.6 those of premolars by .35‰, to correct for this probable nursing
6 RUC 15.6 4.7 1.1 3.1 effect (White, Spence, Longstaffe, and Law 2000; White, Spence,
7 RUM3 16.9 4.6 1.1 2.9 Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002). The ! 18 O values of
7 RUC 15.7 4.8 1.3 3.5
second and third molars reflect the residence location of middle
10 RUM3 17.5 4.8 1.0 3.4
O-1 LUM2 15.8 4.7 1.3 3.6
and late childhood. Bone samples would probably have provided
5H values for a somewhat later point in the lives of those from whom
2 LUM3 16.3 4.6 1.1 3.2 the pendants were derived. However, the bony parts of most of the
4 LUM3 15.1 4.8 1.2 3.2 pendants were either intact or had been carefully restored. Be-
6 LUM3 15.4 4.7 1.4 3.3 cause our current technology would have resulted in an unaccept-
8 LUM3 16.3 4.7 1.3 3.3 able amount of destruction, we chose not to sample them.
190F
1 LUC 14.9 4.5 0.9 3.3
5 RUC 14.8 4.9 1.3 3.5 Postmortem Alteration
10 LLC 14.9 4.8 1.1 3.2
— — — No evidence for postmortem alteration was found either in previ-
Mean 4.71 1.22 3.34 ous analyses of skeletal phosphate from Teotihuacan (Stuart-
S.D. 0.11 0.16 0.21 Williams et al. 1996) or in the sample of teeth analyzed from all
other locations of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (White, Spence,
a 18
! O values have been adjusted downward by .7‰ for canines and by .35‰ for Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002). The average CI for
premolars to correct for the nursing effect. the enamel samples analyzed here is 3.3 # .21 (Table 4), the same
b
Yield " mmoles CO2 /mg Ag3 PO4 . as it is for the entire enamel sample from the Feathered Serpent
c
Yield " mg produced/mg of starting material. Pyramid (3.3 # .26; White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams,
Note: CI, Crystallinity Index; LLC, left lower canine; LUM2, left upper second
molar; LUM3, left upper third molar; LUPM1, left upper first premolar; RUC,
and Law 2002). Also, there is no correlation between CI values
right upper canine; RUM3, right upper third molar; S.D., standard deviation; and ! 18 O values (Pearson’s r " .010, n " 15) for the trophy pen-
VSMOW, Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water. dants, suggesting that the original biogenic ! 18 O values have not
Victims of the victims
been modified by recrystallization. Similarly, there is no correla-
tion between ! 18 O values and phosphate yield (Ag 3PO 4 ; Pear-
son’s r " $.24, n " 15).
The Soldiers and Their Trophies
We broadly define a range of 14–16‰ for the Teotihuacan envi-
ronment based on our analyses of oxygen-isotope values from
Tlajinga 33:S3W1 (White, Spence, Stuart-Williams, and Schwarcz
1998; White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002).
The ! 18 O value (15‰) of a modern sample of tooth enamel from
Mexico City (Levinson et al. 1987) also falls within this range.
The ! 18 O values of individuals thought to have been long-term
inhabitants of sites in other Mesoamerican environments also
show a natural range of about 2‰ and are generally distinct from
Teotihuacan values (White, Longstaffe, and Law 2001; White,
Spence, and Longstaffe 2000; White, Spence, Longstaffe, and
Law 2000; White, Spence, Stuart-Williams, and Schwarcz 1998;
White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002; Fig-
ure 5). However, the 14–16‰ range defined for Teotihuacan,
and more generally for the Basin of Mexico, may overlap to a
considerable degree with the ranges of neighboring regions that
share similar geographic and climatic conditions—for example,
southern Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, and perhaps parts of Puebla and the
Valley of Toluca. At the time of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid
sacrifice, some of these areas may have been outside the political
borders of the Teotihuacan state. The proportions of the distinc-
tive Sierra de las Navajas obsidian in various contexts in Teoti-
huacan, for example, indicate that the Teotihuacan state extended
its dominion over the source area in southern Hidalgo in the
Miccaotli phase, ca. a.d. 150–200, not long before the sacrifice
(Spence 1996b:34–35).
11
The ! 18 O values of the bone samples from soldiers 5H, 190A,
and 190F are within or very near the Teotihuacan range, suggest-
ing residence in the Teotihuacan area for some time before their
selection for sacrifice (Table 1). We have no bone sample for
soldier 4Ñ. The dental samples, which indicate geographic loca-
tion at an earlier point in the lifespan (usually infancy or early
childhood), suggest that soldiers 5H and 190F were born in or
near Teotihuacan. In contrast, soldier 4Ñ came from a different
region (Table 1). His enamel ! 18 O value of 17.8‰ falls at the
high end of the range for samples we have analyzed from Kami-
naljuyu (White, Spence, Longstaffe, and Law 2000) and at the
low end of a sample from Altun Ha (White, Longstaffe, and Law
2001; Figure 5). However, it is likely that there are other regions,
as yet untested, with a similar range of ! 18 O values.
Among the pendants of soldier 4Ñ there are two individuals
(Trophies 6 and 7) who appear to have relocated during their
lifetime (Table 4). Both of these victims have ! 18 O values for
their canines that are consistent with an early childhood in the
Basin of Mexico or perhaps some nearby region, but their third
molar ! 18 O values indicate a move to the area from which soldier
4Ñ originated. Only one tooth was analyzed from each of those
other pendants of soldier 4Ñ’s collar that were included in the
oxygen-isotope analysis. Of these, two (3 and 10) come from the
same area as soldier 4Ñ, and two (5 and O-1) have ! 18 O values
that lie in the higher part of the range for Teotihuacan, similar to
the canine ! 18 O values for Trophies 6 and 7.
The three canine ! 18 O values for 190F ’s trophies show a very
tight cluster at the center of the Teotihuacan range (Table 4). They
differ from the dental and bone values of soldier 190F by only a
small amount (Table 1), suggesting that the youthful soldier (and
his unit) did active service in or near his own natal region, the
Basin of Mexico. Nevertheless, some caution is required here,
Figure 5. Distribution of ! 18 O values
in bioapatite phosphate from teeth and
bone samples of the Feathered Ser-
pent sacrifices and trophies compared
with those from elsewhere in Teotihua-
can and a variety of other Mesoamer-
ican sites (bars represent ranges). See
White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-
Williams, and Law (2002) for Feath-
ered Serpent Pyramid values. See White,
Longstaffe, and Law (2001), White,
Spence, and Longstaffe (2000), White,
Spence, Longstaffe, and Law (2000),
and White, Spence, Stuart-Williams, and
Schwarcz (1998) for those of other sites.
12
given the shift in ! 18 O values between the canines and the third
molars of Trophies 4Ñ 6 and 7. It is possible that third molar or
bone samples from 190F ’s trophies would reveal a similar shift in
residence.
The trophies worn by a particular soldier were probably not
from his victims alone but represented the conquests of his mili-
tary unit as a whole. In that case, it would be more appropriate to
compare the oxygen-isotope values of the trophies with those of
all the soldiers in that grave (Figure 6). The bone ! 18 O values for
the soldiers in Graves 5 and 6, who will be treated here as a unit,
indicate that most of them had been living in the Teotihuacan area
when they were selected for sacrifice, although a few individuals
have non-Teotihuacan values (White, Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-
Williams, and Law 2002). The dental ! 18 O values, by compari-
son, vary widely, with most of them higher than the Teotihuacan
range. The ! 18 O values for the trophies worn by soldier 5H (but
presumably reflecting the military service of his whole unit) fall
into two sets, one commensurate with the Teotihuacan area but the
other higher (16.3‰), matching the values for teeth from two of
the other soldiers of Graves 5 and 6 and falling in the range of
samples from other regions—for example, highland Guatemala
(Kaminaljuyu) and Michoacan (Tzintzuntzan; Figure 5). The 4Ñ
trophies include two with probable residence in or near the Basin
of Mexico but four others with ! 18 O values in the 16.9–17.5‰
range. The bone ! 18 O values of the Grave 4 soldiers are largely in
the Teotihuacan range (Figure 6). Their dental ! 18 O values, how-
ever, vary considerably. One soldier has an ! 18 O value compatible
with Teotihuacan, two are much lower, and three, including 4Ñ,
have values of 16.8–17.8‰, suggesting their birth in the same
region as most of their victims. These values are compatible with
Kaminaljuyu, Tzintzuntzan, and perhaps other areas (Figure 5).
However, they are unlikely to be from the same area as those 5H
trophies that have ! 18 O values of 16.3‰.
Figure 6. Distribution of ! 18 O values for bone and tooth phosphate from the soldiers and trophies. Data for soldiers are from White,
Spence, Longstaffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law (2002).
Spence et al.
It is unfortunate that we have no samples from the trophies of
soldier 190A. However, the three ! 18 O values from 190F ’s pen-
dants are all in the center of the Teotihuacan range. The bone ! 18 O
values for the Grave 190 soldiers also match the Teotihuacan val-
ues, as does the one value for enamel, which is from soldier 190F
(Table 1).
CONCLUSIONS
Oxygen-isotope results for tooth enamel from the trophy jaws
worn by some of the soldiers sacrificed at the Feathered Serpent
Pyramid have provided insights into the military behavior of Te-
otihuacan. Recruitment of foreign-born individuals and a strong
multiethnic membership for the military have been established
previously using oxygen-isotope ratios (White, Spence, Long-
staffe, Stuart-Williams, and Law 2002). The ratios of some of the
trophy teeth allow a further investigation into the issue of military
deployment ordered by the ancient state. The ! 18 O values of the
trophy teeth indicate that these soldiers not only took part in for-
eign campaigns in relatively distant lands but also served in or
near the Basin of Mexico, perhaps even taking the lives of some
fellow Teotihuacanos. In some cases, they appear also to have
slain individuals from their own homelands.
Of particular interest are two trophy victims (6 and 7 of 4Ñ)
who probably spent their early childhood in or near the Basin of
Mexico and then moved to the same foreign location, where they
both became victims of 4Ñ’s military unit. Because these were the
only two dentitions from which more than one tooth was sampled,
it is quite likely that more trophy victims would show similar
geographic displacement during their lifetimes.
The variability in ! 18 O values of both the sacrificed soldiers
and their victims indicates not only the multiethnic nature of mem-
bership in the Teotihuacan military but also the use of force in
Victims of the victims
more than one foreign region. Some of the victims represented by
the trophies were from the vicinity of the Basin of Mexico, per-
haps from Teotihuacan itself, but the range of values suggests two
other regions of origin, as well. One of these, with ! 18 O values
around 16.9–17.5‰, would have been at some considerable dis-
tance from the city. The trophies of 4Ñ and 5H also suggest active
service for each unit in two different areas, one local and one
“abroad,” indicating that military units often served in more than
one campaign.
It is unfortunate that we cannot precisely specify the regions re-
flected in the various ! 18 O values of the trophies. In particular, it
would be important to determine whether the values commensurate
with those of the Teotihuacan area actually indicate the use of state
RESUMEN
El gran número de víctimas del sacrificio asociado con la construcción de
la pirámide de la Serpiente Emplumada en los años 200 d.C. incluye al
menos 72 individuos identificados como soldados. La mayor parte de los
soldados llevó pendientes fabricados con materiales como yeso y concha
en la forma de maxilares superiores humanos pero cuatro soldados lle-
varon maxilares humanos auténticos. Los maxilares humanos fueron cor-
tados, alisados, pintados y modificados para facilitar su suspensión. Las
dimensiones dentales de estos trofeos, en comparación con las dimen-
siones de la serie más grande de sacrificados, indican que la mayoría de, y
quizás todos, los trofeos son de varones. El desgaste de sus dientes pre-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to the Consejo de Arqueología of the Instituto Nacional de
Antropología e Historia of Mexico and to its presidents (Joaquín García-
Bárcena, Linda Manzanilla, and Lorena Mirambell) for permission to ex-
port to Canada and analyze the various samples discussed in this article.
Rubén Cabrera, George Cowgill, and Saburo Sugiyama have generously
helped us with many aspects of the project. Andrés del Ángel, Alfonso
Gallardo, Luis Alfonso González, Martha Pimienta, Carlos Serrano, En-
rique Serrano, and Miguel Trinidad have been of assistance with skeletal
and dental analyses. We also thank Jennifer Blitz, Rubén Cabrera, Linda
Manzanilla, Patricia Plunket, Evelyn Rattray, Carlos Serrano, Rebecca
Storey, Gabriela Uruñuela, and Mark Winter for providing additional sam-
REFERENCES
Ayliffe, Linda K., and Allen R. Chivas
1990 Oxygen Isotope Composition of the Bone Phosphate of Austra-
lian Kangaroos: Potential as a Palaeoenvironmental Recorder.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 54:2603–2609.
Brothwell, Don R.
1981 Digging Up Bones. 3rd ed. British Museum, London.
Bryant, J. Daniel, and Philip N. Froelich
1995 A Model of Oxygen Isotope Fractionation in Body Water of
Large Mammals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59:4523– 4537.
Bryant, J. Daniel, Boaz Luz, and Philip N. Froelich
1994 Oxygen Isotope Composition of Fossil Horse Phosphate as a
Record of Continental Palaeoclimate. Palaeogeography, Palaeocli-
matology, Palaeoecology 107:303–316.
Bryant, J. Daniel, Paul L. Koch, Philip N. Froelich, William J. Showers,
and Bernard J. Genna
1996 Biologic and Climatic Signals in the Oxygen Isotope Composi-
tion of Eocene-Oligocene Equid Enamel Phosphate. Palaeogeogra-
phy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 126:75–89.
Buikstra, Jane, and Douglas Ubelaker
1994 Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains.
Arkansas Archeological Survey Research Series No.44. Arkansas Ar-
cheological Survey, Fayetteville.
13
military force internally or instead are evidence of early Teotihua-
can campaigns in neighboring regions as it extended its control be-
yond the Basin of Mexico. At the moment, we cannot resolve this
question with the oxygen-isotope data. Perhaps the addition of other
techniques, such as strontium stable-isotope analysis (Price et al.
2000), will allow us to triangulate chemically areas of origin.
Most of the archaeological evidence for sustained interaction
between Teotihuacan and other Mesoamerican regions does not
show up until a century or more after the construction of the
Feathered Serpent Pyramid. The geographic identities of both sol-
diers and victims not only provide direct evidence that such inter-
action was already well established by a.d. 200; it also suggest
that on some occasions, violence was involved.
senta un rango más amplio, con una media más alta, que el de los solda-
dos, e indica que los individuos de los trofeos tuvieron una distribución
más regular de edades, con más personas de edades mayores. Las propor-
ciones de los isótopos estables del oxígeno en el fosfato de los dientes de
los trofeos demuestran que procedieron de tres regiones geográficas dis-
tintas, incluyendo dentro o cerca del valle de México. Concluimos que los
soldados participaron en más que una campaña y que las relaciones tem-
pranas entre Teotihuacan y las sociedades foráneas a veces involucraron
conflictos militares.
ples from Mexican archaeological sites. Statistical analyses of dental at-
trition were performed by Dori Rainey and of dental measurements by
Adam Jackson. Figure 1 is by Spence and Chris Dodd; Figures 2 and 3 are
by Saburo Sugiyama; and Figures 4– 6 are by Adam Jackson. We thank
Fernando Larrea for his assistance with the Spanish abstract. White is also
grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Can-
ada and the Bioanthropology Foundation for financial support, and Long-
staffe thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada for its support. Rebecca Storey, Lori Wright, and one anonymous
reviewer provided helpful comments that substantially improved and clar-
ified the article.
Cabrera, Rubén
1993 Human Sacrifice at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent: Recent
Discoveries at Teotihuacan. In Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the
Gods, edited by Kathleen Berrin and Esther Pasztory, pp. 100–107.
Thames-Hudson, New York.
Cabrera, Rubén, and Oralia Cabrera
1991 El Proyecto Templo de Quetzalcoatl: Plantemientos generales y
resultados preliminares. Arqueología 6:19–31.
1993 El significado calendárico de los entierros del Templo de Quetza-
lcoatl. In II Coloquio Pedro Bosch-Gimpera, edited by María Teresa
Cabrero, pp. 277–297. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,
Mexico City.
Cabrera, Rubén, and Carlos Serrano
1999 Los entierros de la Pirámide del Sol y del Templo de Quetzal-
cóatl, Teotihuacan. In Prácticas funerarias en la Ciudad de los Di-
oses: Los enterramientos humanos de la antigua Teotihuacan, edited
by Linda Manzanilla and Carlos Serrano, pp. 345–397. Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
Cabrera, Rubén, Saburo Sugiyama, and George L. Cowgill
1991 The Templo de Quetzalcoatl Project at Teotihuacan: A Prelimi-
nary Report. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:77–92.
14
Carlson, John B.
1991 Venus-Regulated Warfare and Ritual Sacrifice in Mesoamerica:
Teotihuacan and the Cacaxtla “Star Wars” Connection. Center for
Archaeoastronomy Technical Publication 7, College Park, MD.
Cerling, Thure E., and Zachary D. Sharp
1996 Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis of Fossil Tooth
Enamel Using Laser Ablation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology 126:173–186.
Cid, José Rodolfo, and Liliana Torres Sanders
1999 Patrones de mutilación dental en el sector oeste de Teotihuacan.
Estudios de antropología biológica IX:281–294.
Clayton, Robert N., and Toshiko K. Mayeda
1963 The Use of Bromine Pentafluoride in the Extraction of Oxygen
from Oxides and Silicate for Isotopic Analysis. Geochimica et Cos-
mochimica Acta 27:43–52.
Coe, Michael
1981 Religion and the Rise of Mesoamerican States. In The Transi-
tion to Statehood in the New World, edited by Grant Jones and Robert
Kautz, pp. 157–171. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Coggins, Clemency
1983 An Instrument of Expansion: Monte Alban, Teotihuacan, and
Tikal. In Highland–Lowland Interaction in Mesoamerica: Interdisci-
plinary Approaches, edited by Arthur Miller, pp. 49– 68. Dumbarton
Oaks, Washington, DC.
Cowgill, George L.
1992 Toward a Political History of Teotihuacan. In Ideology and Pre-
Columbian Civilizations, edited by Arthur A. Demarest and Geoffrey
W. Conrad, pp. 87–114. School of American Research Press, Santa
Fe, NM.
1997 State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of
Anthropology 26:129–161.
Crowson, R.A, William J. Showers, E.K. Wright, and Thomas C. Hoering
1991 Preparation of Phosphate Samples for Oxygen Isotope Analysis.
Analytical Chemistry 63:2397–2400.
Demarest, Arthur, and A. Foias
1993 Mesoamerican Horizons and the Cultural Transformation of Maya
Civilization. In Latin American Horizons, edited by Don S. Rice,
pp. 147–191. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Drucker, R. David
1974 Renovating a Reconstruction: The Ciudadela at Teotihuacan,
Mexico: Construction Sequence, Layout and Possible Uses of this
Structure. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthro-
pology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
Elliot, J.C.
1997 Structure, Crystal Chemistry and Density of Enamel Apatites. In
Dental Enamel, edited by D.J. Chadwick and G. Cardew, pp. 54–80.
John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Firsching, F. Henry
1961 Precipitation of Silver Phosphate from Homogeneous Solution.
Analytical Chemistry 33:873–887.
Fricke, Henry C., and James R. O’Neil
1996 Inter- and Intra-tooth Variation in the Oxygen Isotope Compo-
sition of Mammalian Tooth Enamel Phosphate: Implications for Palae-
oclimatological and Palaeobiological Research. Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 126:91–99.
Gómez, Sergio
1998 Nuevos datos sobre la relación de Teotihuacan y el occidente de
México. In Antropología e historia del occidente de México: XXIV
Mesa redonda de la Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, pp. 1461–
1493. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Mexico City.
Grove, David C.
1987 Torches, “Knuckle Dusters” and the Legitimization of Forma-
tive Period Leadership. Mexicon 9:60– 65.
Hassig, Ross
1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Uni-
versity of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
1992 War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica. University of Califor-
nia Press, Berkeley.
Hillson, Simon
1996 Dental Anthropology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Koch, Paul L., D.C. Fisher, and D. Dettman
1989 Oxygen Isotope Variation in the Tusks of Extinct Proboscide-
ans: A Measure of Season of Death and Seasonality. Geology
17:515–519.
Spence et al.
Kohn, Matthew J.
1996 Predicting Animal ! 18 O: Accounting for Diet and Physiological
Adaptation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60:4811– 4829.
Kohn, Matthew J., Margaret J. Schoeninger, and John W. Valley
1996 Herbivore Tooth Oxygen Isotope Compositions: Effects of Diet
and Physiology. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60:3889–3896.
Levinson, Alfred A., Boaz Luz, and Yehoshua Kolodny
1987 Variations in Oxygen Isotopic Compositions of Human Teeth
and Urinary Stones. Applied Geochemistry 2:367–371.
Longinelli, Antonio
1984 Oxygen Isotopes in Mammal Bone Phosphate: A New Tool for
Paleohydrological and Paleoclimatological Research? Geochimica et
Cosmochimica Acta 48:385–390.
Longinelli, Antonio, and A. Peretti Paladino
1980 Oxygen Isotope Composition of Water from Mammal Blood:
First Results. Mass Spectrometry in Biomedical, Medical and Envi-
ronmental Research 1:135–139.
López Austin, Alfredo, Leonardo López Luján, and Saburo Sugiyama
1991 The Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan: Its Possible Ideo-
logical Significance. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:93–105.
Luz, Boaz, Yehoshua Kolodny, and Michal Horowitz
1984 Fractionation of Oxygen Isotopes between Mammalian Bone-
Phosphate and Environmental Drinking Water. Geochimica et Cos-
mochimica Acta 48:1689–1693.
Massler, Maury, Isaac Schour, and H.G. Poncher
1941 Developmental Pattern of the Child as Reflected in the Calcifi-
cation Pattern of Teeth. American Journal of Diseases of Children
62:33– 67.
McArthur, J.M., and A. Herczeg
1990 Diagenetic Stability of the Isotopic Composition of Phosphate-
Oxygen: Paleoenvironmental Implications. Phosphorite Research and
Development, Geological Society Special Publication No. 52,
pp. 119–124. London.
Millon, René
1981 Teotihuacan: City, State and Civilization. In Supplement to the
Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 1, Archaeology, edited
by Jeremy A. Sabloff, pp. 198–243. University of Texas Press, Austin.
1992 Teotihuacan Studies: From 1950 to 1990 and Beyond. In Art,
Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Janet C. Berlo,
pp. 339– 429. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Pasztory, Esther
1988 A Reinterpretation of Teotihuacan and Its Mural Painting Tradi-
tion. In Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the
Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Kathleen Berrin, pp. 45–77. Fine
Arts Museum of San Francisco and University of Washington Press,
Seattle.
1993 An Image Is Worth a Thousand Words: Teotihuacan and the
Meanings of Style in Classic Mesoamerica. In Latin American Hori-
zons, edited by Don S. Rice, pp. 113–145. Dumbarton Oaks, Wash-
ington, DC.
Price, T. Douglas, Linda Manzanilla, and William D. Middleton
2000 Immigration and the Ancient City of Teotihuacan in Mexico: A
Study Using Strontium Isotope Ratios in Human Bone and Teeth.
Journal of Archaeological Science 27:903–913.
Quade, Jay, Thure E. Cerling, John C. Barry, Michele E. Morgan, David R.
Pilbeam,Allan R. Chivas, JuliaA. Lee-Thorp, and Nikolaas J. van der Merwe
1992 A 16-Ma Record of Paleodiet Using Carbon and Oxygen Iso-
topes in Fossil Teeth from Pakistan. Chemical Geology 94:183–192.
Rattray, Evelyn
1987 Los barrios foráneos de Teotihuacan. In Teotihuacan: Nuevos
datos, nuevas síntesis, nuevos problemas, edited by Emily McClung
de Tapia and Evelyn C. Rattray, pp. 243–273. Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
1993 The Oaxaca Barrio at Teotihuacan. Monografías Mesoameri-
canas No. 1. Universidad de las Américas-Puebla, Cholula.
Reinhard, Ella, Trinidad de Torres, and James R. O’Neil
1996 18 O/ 16 O Ratios of Cave Bear Tooth Enamel: A Record of Cli-
mate Variability during the Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeocli-
matology, Palaeoecology 126:45–59.
Romero, Javier
1986 Catálogo de la colección de dientes mutilados prehispánicos, IV
parte. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Sanders, William T., Jeffrey Parsons, and Robert Santley
1979 The Basin of Mexico. Academic Press, New York.
Victims of the victims
Scott, E.C.
1979 Dental Wear Scoring Technique. American Journal of Physical
Anthropology 51:213–218.
Serrano, Carlos, and Enrique Martínez
1989 Nuevos patrones de mutilación dentaria en Teotihuacan. Estu-
dios de antropología biológica IV:585–598.
Serrano, Carlos, Martha Pimienta, and Alfonso Gallardo
1991 Los entierros del Templo de Quetzalcoatl. Patrón de distribución
por edad y sexo. Arqueología 6:53– 67.
1993 Mutilación dentaria y filiación étnica en los entierros del Tem-
plo de Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan. In II Coloquio Pedro Bosch-
Gimpera, edited by María Teresa Cabrero, pp. 263–276. Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.
1997 Mutilaciones e incrustaciones dentarias en un entierro colectivo
del Templo de Quetzalcóatl, Teotihuacan. Estudios de antropología
biológica VI:295–308.
Shemesh, Aldo
1990 Crystallinity and Diagenesis of Sedimentary Apatites. Geochim-
ica et Cosmochimica Acta 54:2433–2438.
Shemesh, Aldo, Yehoshua Kolodny, and Boaz Luz
1988 Isotope Geochemistry of Oxygen and Carbon in Phosphate and
Carbonate of Phosphorite Francolite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica
Acta 52:2565–2572.
Smith, B.H.
1984 Patterns of Molar Wear in Hunter–Gatherers and Agricultural-
ists. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 63:39–56.
Sokal, Robert, and F.J. Rohlf
1995 Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological
Research. 3rd ed. W.H. Freeman, New York.
Spence, Michael W.
1992 Tlailotlacan, a Zapotec Enclave in Teotihuacan. In Art, Ideol-
ogy, and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Janet C. Berlo, pp. 59–88.
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
1996a A Preliminary Report on the Nonmetric Traits of the Temple of
Quetzalcoatl Skeletons. Unpublished manuscript on file, Department
of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario.
1996b Commodity or Gift? Teotihuacan Obsidian in the Maya Re-
gion. Latin American Antiquity 7:21–39.
1997 Further Morphological Analyses of the Quetzalcoatl Series. Un-
published manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Univer-
sity of Western Ontario.
2001 Los restos humanos de la segunda temporada de excavaciones
en la Pirámide de la Luna. Report to Instituto Nacional de Antropología
e Historia, Mexico City.
Stuart-Williams, Hilary LeQ., and Henry P. Schwarcz
1995 Oxygen Isotope Analysis of Silver Orthophosphate Using a
Reaction with Bromine. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58:
3837–3841.
1997 Oxygen Isotope Determination of Climatic Variation Using Phos-
phate from Beaver Bone, Tooth Enamel and Dentine. Geochimica et
Cosmochimica Acta 61:2539–2550.
Stuart-Williams, Hilary LeQ., Henry P. Schwarcz, Christine D. White, and
Michael W. Spence
1996 The Isotopic Composition and Diagenesis of Human Bone from
Teotihuacán and Oaxaca, Mexico. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatol-
ogy, Palaeoecology 126:1–14.
Sugiyama, Saburo
1989 Burials Dedicated to the Old Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teoti-
huacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 54:85–106.
15
1991 Descubrimientos de entierros y ofrendas dedicados al Templo
Viejo de Quetzalcoatl. In Teotihuacan 1980–1982: Nuevas inter-
pretaciones, edited by Rubén Cabrera, Ignacio Rodríguez, and Noel
Morelos, pp. 275–326. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia,
Mexico City.
1995 Mass Human Sacrifice and Symbolism of the Feathered Serpent
Pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.
Taube, Karl A.
1992 The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of Sacred War at Teo-
tihuacan. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 21:53–87.
Trodden, Bonnie
1982 A Radiographic Study of the Calcification and Eruption of the
Permanent Teeth in Inuit and Indian Children. Archaeological Sur-
vey of Canada Paper 112. Hull, Quebec.
Ubelaker, Douglas H.
1978 Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis and Interpreta-
tion. Aldine, Chicago.
White, Christine D., Fred J. Longstaffe, and Kimberley R. Law
2001 Revisiting the Teotihuacan Connection at Altun Ha: Oxygen-
isotope Analysis of Tomb F-8/1. Ancient Mesoamerica 12:65–72.
2004 Exploring the Effects of Environment, Physiology and Diet on
Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Ancient Nubian Bones and Teeth. Journal
of Archaeological Science 31:223–250.
White, Christine D., Michael W. Spence, and Fred J. Longstaffe
2000 The Identification of Foreigners in Mortuary Contexts Using
Oxygen-Isotope Ratios: Some Mesoamerican Examples. Paper pre-
sented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Association of
Physical Anthropologists, San Antonio
White, Christine D., Michael W. Spence, Fred J. Longstaffe, and Kimber-
ley R. Law
2000 Testing the Nature of Teotihuacán Imperialism at Kaminaljuyú
Using Phosphate Oxygen-isotope Ratios. Journal of Anthropological
Research 56:535–558.
White, Christine D., Michael W. Spence, Fred J. Longstaffe, Hilary Stuart-
Williams, and Kimberley R. Law
2002 Geographical Identities of the Sacrificial Victims from the Feath-
ered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Implications for the Nature of
State Power. Latin American Antiquity 13:217–236.
White, Christine D., Michael W. Spence, Hilary Le-Q. Stuart-Williams,
and Henry P. Schwarcz
1998 Oxygen Isotopes and the Identification of Geographical Origins:
The Valley of Oaxaca versus the Valley of Mexico. Journal of Ar-
chaeological Science 25:643– 655.
White, Christine D., Jocelyn Williams, and Fred J. Longstaffe
2002 Oxygen Isotopic Composition of Bone Phosphate: An Addi-
tional Tool to Investigate Weaning in the Maya Postclassic. Paper
presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for
Physical Anthropology, Ottawa.
Wright, Lori E., and Henry P. Schwarcz
1998 Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes in Human Tooth Enamel:
Identifying Breastfeeding and Weaning in Prehistory. American Jour-
nal of Physical Anthropology 106:1–18.
Yurtsever, Yuecel, and Joel R. Gat
1981 Atmospheric Waters. In Stable Isotope Hydrology: Deuterium
and Oxygen-18 in the Water Cycle, Technical Report Series, No. 210,
edited by Joel R. Gat and Roberto Gonfiantini, pp. 103–142. Inter-
national Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.