Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

REVISITING THE TEOTIHUACAN CONNECTION AT ALTUN HA

2001; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0956536101121103

1469-1787

Christine D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe, Kimberley R. Law,

Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

An analysis of oxygen-isotope ratios in skeletal phosphate was used to assess the possibility that the Early Classic period ( a.d. 280–550) Maya elite male in Tomb F/8-1 from the eastern Belizean site of Altun Ha had originally come from Teotihuacan, Mexico. When compared with four other individuals used as controls for spatial and temporal variability in δ 18 O p values at Altun Ha, this individual falls at the high end of the expected range of local intrasite variation but does not have a δ 18 O p value consistent with that of Teotihuacan. The mortuary and isotopic data have been compared with those from the previously analyzed Maya site of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, in order to examine regional and temporal differences in the influence of the powerful state of Teotihuacan. It appears that Teotihuacan was not the homeland of any of the tomb individuals analyzed from either site. Thus, models of ideological or symbolic power are supported over those of political or military imperialism.