The meaning of the plants around the death: the case of the Offer 149

Summary

Each offer in the Tenochtitlan Sacred Enclosure is the representation of a microcosmos that can be understood through the analysis and interpretation of each one of its compounds. An important part of them are the vegetal microremains, floral remains that did not endure trough the pass of the time for its own organic nature but that in the Aztec period had multiple meanings that allowed them to be an frequent material of offering.

The Offer 149 is an exceptional case up to the moment, not only for the wealth of the materials, which include braziers, olive seashells, flint knives, bone awls, copal, obsidian objects, bone remains of snakes and birds. The presence of two infants decapitated and dismembered are the elements that give a relevant meaning to the discourse of the offer. The quantity and the excellent conservation state of the pollen remains, identified as part of the Cheno-Am pollinical group, can be indicative of the intentional deposition of these plants that keep a strong symbolical meaning, possibly making an allusion of the child´s sacrifice because it is a special consecration offer.

In this paper we will present the preliminary results of the pollinical content of the Offer 149.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Use of Plants in Ancient Rituals: New Perspectives from Paleoethnobotany   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17275