Maya-Teotihuacan Relations Viewed from Front D at the Plaza of the Columns

Summary

Two distinct excavation contexts from Front D in the Plaza of the Columns Complex yielded pictorial representations in different artistic media that strongly suggest the presence of Maya artists in Plaza 50, decades prior to the famous Teotihuacan "Entrada" of 378 C.E. in the Petén. Excavations at this civic-administrative structure at the heart of the ceremonial core of Teotihuacan have revealed a sequence of numerous plaster floors in Plaza 50 associated with Structure 44, whose form is reminiscent of Classic Maya "palace" structures. Hundreds of small mural fragments painted in Maya style were scattered beneath the deeper plaza floors, suggesting they were discarded there after the ritual destruction of at least one elaborately decorated earlier building. A contemporaraneous termination ritual offering found nearby, adjacent to Structure 25C, contained incised ceramics that are also clearly executed in Early Classic Maya style, with seated human figures bearing elaborate adornments and plumed headdresses. Together these new data and their dating and contexts will allow scholars to address the problem of Maya-Teotihuacan relations in greater specificity and with more time depth than had previously been possible.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20497