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REVISITING THE TEOTIHUACAN CONNECTION AT ALTUN HA

Oxygen-isotope analysis of Tomb F-8/1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2001

Christine D. White
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5C2, Canada
Fred J. Longstaffe
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
Kimberley R. Law
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada

Abstract

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 δ18Op values at Altun Ha, this individual falls at the high end of the expected range of local intrasite variation but does not have a δ18Op 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.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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