All posts by Archaeology World Team

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Iron Age and Roman Skeletons Discovered on Alderney

Iron Age and Roman Skeletons Discovered on Alderney

A Cemetery used for centuries has started giving up its secrets, after radiocarbon dating on some of the skeletons came back showing the graves were from the Iron Age and Roman eras.

States archaeologist Phil de Jersey, in the straw hat, examines one of the Alderney skeletons.

States archaeologist Phil de Jersey said the site on Longis Common in Alderney was one of the most exciting archaeological sites in the Channel Islands because the two metres of sand over the graves has helped preserve the bones and protect the site from being disturbed.

In 2017 the laying of an electricity cable on Rue des Mielles, near Longis Bay, uncovered human bones. It led to exploration by the Guernsey Museum and the Alderney Society.

Archaeologists already knew that Longis was a Roman burial ground, in 2017 they found human remains, headstones, and tombs from the Roman period.

Radiocarbon dating for eight of the bones has now been carried out – five from the service trench along the Rue des Mielles and three from the excavation of a paddock field.

They date from about 750BC up to 238AD.

Dr de Jersey said they had expected the bones to be from the late Iron Age, based on the pottery finds, but the surprise was the wide timespan covered.

‘It does imply that the site was used for a long time – hundreds of years,’ he said.

A settlement from around the same era was excavated up the hill from the site in the 1970s and Dr de Jersey said the inhabitants possibly lived on the hill and buried their dead at its foot.

Among the bone finds was a human female, who was likely to be from between 590 and 380BC. The iron and bronze torc around her neck corresponds well with these dates.

Another adult female was also found, but she was likely to be from between 170BC and AD90. The pot buried at her head is characteristically late Iron Age, which fits in with the range of second century BC and the turn of the millennium.

Dr de Jersey said the date range was very wide and indicated that the burials were over a much larger area than they had expected. He also noted that there was likely to be a lot more to find.

‘It’s all been protected by two metres of sand and it’s never been developed. The sand is great for preserving and the bones were in very good condition for their age.’

He would be interested to carry out a large scale excavation, but the Guernsey archaeology department has a very limited budget and the area presents challenges. The sand that so well preserves the bones makes digging down two metres very difficult because the sides of the trenches are hard to stabilise, meaning large pits have to be dug.

‘You can’t dig small trenches,’ said Dr de Jersey.

‘So logistically it’s a very challenging site to dig. And we just don’t have the resources.’

However, there is some hope. If a university took on the project it would have students to help with excavating the dig, although travel restrictions due to Covid and the ordinary challenges with getting to Alderney would make it difficult.

An individual in the UK has secured a grant to carry out a ground-penetrating radar scan of the common, which would help determine the scale of the cemetery. Dr de Jersey said they were conscious there are also Second World War graves on the common, but the scan would not disturb them.

With the current travel restrictions, it is not clear when this can take place. Dr de Jersey said when they finally dig the site, it was important to do it right.

‘I would rather not dig it than dig it badly,’ he said.

‘It can only ever be dug once, as digging is very destructive, so we need to make sure we do a good job of it.’

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Fortunately, there is time to ensure it is done right.

‘It’s not threatened,’ he said.

‘It’s about as safe as it can be. So if we have to wait another 10 years, it will not make a difference.’

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

New pyramid discovered in Mexico

New pyramid discovered in Mexico

Archaeologists have found a new pyramid in Tlacochcalco (modern-day Mexico). The town was a political centre during the pre-Hispanic period.

According to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, the ruins of Tlacochcalco are located in the modern-day town of Tlalmanalco.

According to the archaeologist of INAH, Herve Victor Monterrosa Desruelle”This area,” he explained, “is a continuum of platforms and levellings, reflecting a pre-Hispanic occupation, but unfortunately, houses have been built on them, although in this case, the owner of the property where the remains were located, when he wanted to build, turned to the Institute in order to examine a mound found on his land, which when analysed revealed the structure.”

Detail of some spindle whorls found between levelling walls

Monterrosa explained that the elements of the foundation discovered are only a third of the volume of the construction, the rest was razed to the ground by the urban sprawl.

The pyramid was buried under a mound. Its base was 12 to 18 meters long and 9 meters tall. The pyramid had three levels, but only a third of the original structure has been preserved. Thus, the base originally measured 35 meters by 45 meters.

New pyramid discovered in Mexico

“In the clearance of the building, by means of approach shafts, we located different elements such as the walls, which are being attended to along the length of each facade.

Once this intervention is done, the second phase will be to give volume and solidity to the structure, which is deteriorated, especially in the north-western part, by means of consolidation and restitution works”.

Another of the specialists involved in the project, developed by the Ministry of Culture through the Centro INAH Estado de Mexico, the archaeologist and architect Ricardo Arredondo Rojas, pointed out that in the first section, a number of rooms were found with the remains of stucco floors, with which the height of the walls could be determined.

Architecturally, he said, the structure shows two phases of occupation: the first, from 1350 to 1465 – during Chalco’s hegemonic period – shows a clear Chalca influence, with a construction system that uses mortar based on lime and crushed tezontle, as well as mud from the lake as a binder, with the stone quarry work standing out for its technical work.

View of the northwest corner of the pyramidal base

The second stage, with the occupation of the Mexica Empire in this region (from 1465 until the time of contact with the Spaniards), corresponds to the phase of expansion of the base, which can be seen in the series of caissons for the foundation fillings that were constructed in this area.

“However, the quality of the work declines completely, it becomes coarser, which indicates changes in the occupation and the sense of urban space.”

“The latter shows us how they gained land from the nearby ravine, filling the structure with these small structures that supported it, which they filled with waste ceramic material from an earlier period.”

Arredondo Rojas commented that, if the original volume of the pyramidal base were restored, “we would be talking about approximate dimensions of between 35 and 45 metres on a side, in its first level”.

Detail of the tripod plate found in front of the wall of the third section on the north facade

According to the archaeological data obtained so far, both researchers suggest that it is an elite housing structure, perhaps a palace area, given that the ceramic material found at the site is fine, although it remains to be analysed.

They stressed that it is also necessary to corroborate the sequences of occupation, because even when the remains of the building are available, the archaeological material, mainly ceramics (sherds and spindle whorls), are found mixed up with the construction fills or in the deposits of the rubble.

“We need to locate and excavate more sealed contexts to determine these, so the excavations will conclude in September, and then the archaeological materials will be analysed in the office,” they added.

Herve Monterrosa explained that when people talk about sites from the Postclassic period, such as this one, they are approached with an ethnocentric view of the Mexica; “however, the one being excavated is Chalca, whose importance lies in having been, like Tlacochcalco, the head of the altepetl (in the Mexica period) and one of the five original lordships of Chalco, along with Tenango-Tepopula, Xico-Chalco-Atenco, Amecameca and Xochimilco-Chimalhuacan.

Tlalmanalco was one of the late-founded Chalco kingdoms, established in the mid-14th century, which, at the end of the Mexica incursion at the site, in the Contact stage, became the main socio-political entity of the Chalcayotl, the league of villages in the region.

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“It was in this settlement where Hernan Cortes, according to his Third Letter of Relation, spent the night to negotiate the alliance with the lords of Chalco, who would lead him to the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan,” he concluded.

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

Sassanid-Era Tables and Chairs Unearthed in Iran

Sassanid-Era Tables and Chairs Unearthed in Iran

According to a Tehran Times report, tables and chairs carved from gypsum have been unearthed at the site of a Zoroastrian fire temple in central Iran by a team of researchers from the University of Isfahan and the University of Tehran. 

Available evidence suggests the furniture was once used for traditional rituals during the Sassanid era (224-651), according to the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism.

A joint team of archaeologists from the universities of Isfahan, Tehran discovered the objects at a fire temple in Vigol, which is located approximately 10 km north of Aran-Bidgol near Kashan.

In many ways, Iran under Sassanian rule witnessed tremendous achievements of Persian civilization. Experts say that during the Sassanid era, the art and architecture of the nation experienced a general renaissance.

In that era, crafts such as metalwork and gem-engraving grew highly sophisticated, as scholarship was encouraged by the state; many works from both the East and West were translated into Pahlavi, the official language of the Sassanians.

Encyclopedia Britannica states that a revival of Iranian nationalism took place under the Sassanid rule.

Zoroastrianism became the state religion, and at various times followers of other faiths suffered official persecution.

The government was centralized, with provincial officials directly responsible to the throne, and roads, city building, and even agriculture were financed by the government.

The dynasty was destroyed by Arab invaders during a span from 637 to 651.

Aran-Bidgol is the gateway to the Maranjab desert and caravansary, which also draws thousands of domestic travellers each year.

The desert, which is a top destination for off-roaders, lead to salt lake from the north, Band-e Rig and Desert National Park from the east, Masileh Desert, Hoz-e sultan and Moreh Lakes from the west and eventually Aran and Bidgol from the south.

Situated in Isfahan province, the town is surrounded by desert from the north and east, and thus it has a typical climate of hot and dry in summer, cold and dry in winter, and very little rainfall during the year.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Somersham headless bodies were victims of Roman executions

Somersham headless bodies were victims of Roman executions

“ an “exceptionally high’ number which experts think were the result of judicial executions.

Archaeologists believe a group of beheaded bodies discovered at a burial site were likely victims of Roman military executions. A military supply farm in Somersham, Cambridgeshire, was discovered with an “unusually significant” number of beheaded remains from the third century.

Several were on their knees when they arrived. been struck from behind with a sword.

Archaeologist Isabel Lisboa said 33% of those found were executed, compared to 6% in most British Roman cemeteries.

Somersham headless bodies were victims of Roman executions

Three cemeteries were excavated revealing 52 graves, of which 17 were beheaded.

At least one of those executed – one more woman found face down – application the ears were tortured just before death or mutilated afterwards.

Their heads were found placed at their feet or at the bottom of their legs.

Dr Lisboa, of Archaeologica, said they dated back to a time of increasing instability forrl ‘Roman Empire, when the legal penalties became more severe.

“The number of capital crimes doubled in the 3rd Century and quadrupled in the 4th century, ” she says.

“As it was part of the Roman army, directly or indirectly, the severity of punishments and the application of Roman law would have been more severe in the settlements of Somersham,” he said.

The colony is believed to have supplied the Roman army, being part of a larger network of military farms at Camp Ground and Langdale Hale.

A “lack of genetic relationships ” between the bodies suggests that they were either in military service or in slavery.

At least two of those found were born in Scotland or Ireland, and one in the Alps.

Dr Lisboa said that “Knobb ‘s Farm has an unusually high proportion of beheaded bodies – 33% of those found – compared to at cemeteries locally and throughout Roman Britain. “

Elsewhere, decapitated bodies account for between 2.5% and 6% of burials.

The unit University of Cambridge Archeology Institute excavated the Knobb farm between 2001 and 2010, before gravel mining by Tarmac Trading.

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Analysis of the finds has just been published.

legend of the ‘image Most of those found were buried in separate graves with many in poor condition and some reduced to sand shadows

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Prehistoric animal carvings found for the first time in Scotland

Prehistoric animal carvings found for the first time in Scotland

Prehistoric animal carvings thought to be thousands of years old have been found for the first time in Scotland.

Prehistoric animal carvings found for the first time in Scotland
Historic Environment Scotland has said there are deer carvings visible on this rock

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said the carvings – thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old – were discovered inside Dunchraigaig Cairn in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll.

They are thought to date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age and include images of deer. Hamish Fenton, who has an archaeology background, found them by chance.

Kilmartin Glen is viewed as one of the most important concentrations of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland.

Valuable as sources of meat, hides, and with bones and antlers used for a variety of tools, HES said deer would have been very important to local communities at the time.

Historic Environment Scotland has created a graphic to show where the animals can be seen on the rock
Two stags can be seen with large antlers

Dr Tertia Barnett, the principal investigator for Scotland’s Rock Art Project at HES, said: “It was previously thought that prehistoric animal carvings of this date didn’t exist in Scotland, although they are known in parts of Europe.

“So it is very exciting that they have now been discovered here for the first time in the historic Kilmartin Glen.

“This extremely rare discovery completely changes the assumption that prehistoric rock art in Britain was mainly geometric and non-figurative.”

Dr Barnett said there were a few other prehistoric carvings of deer in the UK, but the only others created in the Early Bronze Age were “very schematic”.

“It is remarkable that these carvings in Dunchraigaig Cairn show such great anatomical detail and there is no doubt about which animal species they represent.”

Mr Fenton said he had been passing the cairn at dusk when he noticed the burial chamber in the side of the cairn and decided to slide inside with a torch.

“As I shone the torch around, I noticed a pattern on the underside of the roof slab which didn’t appear to be natural markings in the rock.,” he said.

“As I shone the light around further, I could see that I was looking at a deer stag upside down, and as I continued looking around, more animals appeared on the rock.”

He said the discovery had been completely unexpected.

“To me, discoveries like this are the real treasure of archaeology, helping to reshape our understanding of the past,” he added.

The cairn is currently closed while HES carries out further evaluation and puts measures in place to protect the carvings.

CROATIA, EUROPE, WORLD

Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of Ancient, Indiscriminate Mass Murder

Why were dozens of people butchered 6,200 years ago and buried in a Neolithic death pit?

According to a fresh examination of the bones, 41 individuals were slaughtered and buried in a mass grave around 6,200 years ago in what is now Croatia, and members of their own community may have murdered them.

Adult men and women were among the dead, but ages in the group ranged from 2 years old to 50 years old, and about half of the skeletons belonged to children. Many of the killing blows were strikes to the skull that landed from behind, and there were no marks on the arm bones that indicated the victims tried to defend themselves from their attackers, scientists reported in a new study. 

Genetic analysis showed that about 70% of the deceased were not closely related to other victims, but all shared common ancestry. Researchers suspect that the massacre may have been prompted by a sudden population boom or shift in climate conditions that depleted resources and led to indiscriminately mass murder.

The grave was discovered in 2007, when a man who lived in a small village in the hills of Potočani, Croatia, was digging a foundation for a garage, and heavy rains exposed a pit holding dozens of skeletons. Archaeologists with the University of Zagreb happened to be conducting a survey nearby, and they were able to start investigating the mass grave on the day it was discovered, said Mario Novak, lead author of the new study and head of the Laboratory for Evolutionary Anthropology and Bioarchaeology at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia.

The pit is small, measuring about 6.5 feet (2 meters) in diameter and 3 feet (1 m) deep, and at least 41 bodies had been unceremoniously dumped there. At first, the archaeologists thought that the remains were modern, either from World War II or the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s, Novak told Live Science.

But there were no contemporary objects in the pit — just fragments of pottery that looked to be prehistoric. And when researchers inspected the victims’ teeth, they found no dental fillings. Radiocarbon dating of bones, soil and pottery fragments confirmed the age of the burial, dating it to around 4200 B.C.

The researchers identified 21 of the victims as children between the ages of 2 years and 17 years old, and 20 as adults between 18 years and 50 years old; 21 of the dead were male and 20 were female.

The Potočani mass burial, with the upper layers of the pit showing numerous commingled skeletons.

“Just random killing”

But how did they end up buried together? For the new study, Novak and his colleagues sampled DNA from remains and analyzed the bones of 38 individuals. When the researchers inspected the bodies, they found that most had at least one traumatic injury at the back of the skull, and some skulls had as many as four punctures.

Mass graves in medieval Europe frequently contained people of all ages and sexes who succumbed to the Black Death, but the victims in the Potočani pit died by violence, not of infectious disease, Novak explained. 

“The only plausible scenario was a massacre,” he said.

Distribution of men and women, and of adults and children, were roughly equal, and there were no wounds to their limbs or faces, so they likely weren’t killed in a skirmish during combat. It is unknown if the victims were restrained or otherwise incapable of defending themselves — “if someone attacks you with a club or a sword, you reflexively raise up your forearm to protect the head,” which would have left at least some remains with cut marks on the arm bones, Novak said. “But we didn’t see any facial injuries, and no defensive injuries whatsoever.”

Three penetrating injuries on the right side of the skull of a young adult female from Potočani.

Genetic data showed that only 11 of the victims were close relatives, so the massacre wasn’t targeting a specific family group. Neither did it look like a planned discriminatory killing, in which foes tended to murder older men while taking women captive. 

“In this case, it was just random killing, without any concern for sex and age,” Novak said.

A Neolithic death pit that was recently described in Spain also held a jumble of skeletons — male and female, young and old. DNA showed that the victims were recent arrivals to the region, so they may have been slaughtered by locals protecting their territory, Live Science previously reported. But genetic evidence from the site in Potočani indicated that even though most of the dead weren’t closely related, they shared common ancestry. This means that they weren’t newcomers; rather, they came from a local population that was homogenous and stable, “so we can exclude that this massacre was associated with the influx of new immigrants,” Novak said.

The most likely explanation is one that archaeologists and climatologists have suggested for other ancient massacre sites in Germany and Austria dating to about 5,000 years ago, in which adults and children were also killed indiscriminately and thrown into shallow mass graves. In those scenarios, prolonged climate change that caused flooding or droughts — perhaps combined with an unexpected population boom — could have led to squabbles over precious resources. 

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And in Potočani, one of those struggles turned deadly.

“By studying such ancient massacres, we might try to get a glimpse into the psychology of these people, and maybe try to prevent similar events today,” Novak said. “We have evidence of ancient massacres going back to 10,000 years ago, at least. Today, we also have modern massacres — the only thing that’s changed is we now have more efficient means and weapons to do such things. But I don’t think human nature or human psychology has changed much.”

ASIA, SYRIA, WORLD

A pyramid-shaped mound holding 30 corpses may be the world’s oldest war monument

A pyramid-shaped mound holding 30 corpses may be the world’s oldest war monument

The massive burial mound, which includes the corpses of at least 30 Syrian warriors and is now underwater, may be the oldest battle monument ever uncovered, according to experts. Tel Banat’s ruins stretch back at least 4,300 years.

Here’s what the ancient memorial looked like before it was flooded from the construction of a dam.

This monument is also the first example of a particular type of monument found in ancient inscriptions. Mesopotamia The corpses of either the enemy or the local war dead are piled up to form a highly organized structure.

The finding also shows that “as we did, ancient people paid homage to those who died in the war,” said Anne Porter, a professor of ancient Middle Eastern civilization at the University of Toronto. “I don’t know if they are the winners or losers of the battle. [the people from Tell Banat] Perhaps sometime after the incident, he took the body of the dead from another location and buried it in a huge mound that could be seen miles around, “Porter said in a statement.

A monument a little like the Step Pyramid of King Jezel Djoser To Egypt Archaeologists wrote in a paper published in the journal on May 28, except that the layers of the monument are made of earth and plaster instead of stone.

A pyramid-shaped mound holding 30 corpses may be the world's oldest war monument
The ancient war monument looked a bit like the step pyramid of Djoser in Egypt.

AncientArchaeologists write that people who lived in the area today called this mound a “white monument” because plaster shines the monument in the sun.

The site was excavated between 1988 and 1999 by a team led by Porter and Thomas McClelland, both of whom were archaeologists of the Euphrates Salvage Project at the time, but researchers have so far They did not fully understand the purpose. They carried out these excavations before the site was flooded by the construction of the Tishrin Dam.

Since then, the same archaeologist, along with an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, scrutinized the findings and determined that the location was probably the oldest known example of the war monument in the world. They also discovered that the monument was built on top of a previous building.

Dead military

Researchers were able to learn that the body was buried with great care. “Collection Human bone Deposited on Phil as a horizontal step [of the monument] It was built up. The research team placed the ancient treatises directly on the soil, without any special coverings or boundaries. “Bones are small, fragmented, somewhat diffuse, but still intentionally separate groups. It was divided into “.

The bodies were fragmented, and in many cases, the age and gender of the deceased could not be determined. Males could be identified, ranging from adults to ages 8-10. It is not clear why people between the ages of 8 and 10 are placed at the war monument.

The bones seem to have been dug out and re-buried in the monument. In his treatise, archaeologists said, “Bones may have come from old battlefields and graveyards. Nevertheless, they were selected, organized, and finally carefully preserved in the monument long after death. I did. ”

Some of the dead were buried with Kanga, a “donkey-like horse breed that pulls vehicles in ancient art,” the statement said. According to archaeologists, the soldiers buried with Kunga You may have worked as a wagon driver.

In addition, the team found pellets buried near the dead. In the ancient world, pellets fired from slings are often used as weapons, which may symbolize the role the deceased played when he was alive.

In a statement, Porter said, “I realized that there is a clear pattern of burial. A pair of bodies with horse skin on one part of the monument and pellets of soil on the other.

It’s a single individual, “he added, adding that the placement suggests individual bodies. It belonged to the ancient army. The organized ancient army could have been divided into various units, such as wagon units and infantry units equipped with slings and pellets.

A pattern suggesting an individual placed in “appears. [the memorial] Not only did they participate in the battle, but they also participated in a formal way: they were part of an organized army and were divided into infantry and infantry, “the archaeologist wrote.

The team also found a model of a covered wagon, a figurine depicting a clay kunga and wheels with the dead. The pyramid-shaped mound containing 30 bodies may be the oldest war monument in the world

Source link The pyramid-shaped mound containing 30 bodies may be the oldest war monument in the world

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

2,000-Year-Old Realistic Green Mask Found Nestled Inside an Ancient Pyramid

2,000-Year-Old Realistic Green Mask Found Nestled Inside an Ancient Pyramid

Alejandro Sarabia, Saburo Sugiyama, Enrique Perez Cortes & Nawa Sugiyama have reported this discovery,  announced this finding registered during explorations conducted in the 65-meters high pyramidal structure from 2008 to 2011.

The 116-meter-long tunnel drilled in 1930 by the archaeologist Eduardo Noguera was used to excavate 59 stratigraphic wells and 3 short tunnels by the Pyramid of the Sun project led by Alejandro Sarabia in order to enter the mother rock floor, to check the existence of burials and offerings.

“We know if the Teotihuacan’s had put anything inside the monument they would have happened at the tepetate level, so we did a quick test right at the end of the tunnel and a short conduct to reach the centre of the pyramid since Noguera tunnel was carved approximately 6 metres to the west of the centre of the monument”, said Perez Cortes. During the course of the excavation, 3 architectural structures built before the Pyramid of the Sun and 7 human burials, some of them referring to infants, were found, which were buried before the completion of the building, as well as 2 offerings, one of the great richness.

The sumptuous offering was discovered at the meter 85 of the tunnel, inside the constructive filling, “so we know it was deposited as part of a consecration ceremony of the structure, probably at the beginning of its construction more than 1900 years ago” mentioned Perez Cortes, the researcher at Zacatecas INAH Center.

The rich deposit, where a greenstone mask outstands, was integrated by several levels of objects; since the area of archaeological material extended to the south of the limits of the probing well, they decided to expand the exploration.

Objects that integrate the offering “were elaborated with different materials and techniques; a considerable amount of obsidian pieces outstand, such as projectile heads, small knives, an anthropomorphic eccentric artefact and 3 anthropomorphic figures adorned with shell and pyrite eyes, also accompanied by projectile heads”.

Among the 3 greenstone sculptures found, outstands an extraordinary anthropomorphic mask carved out in one piece, with eyes inlayed in pyrite and shell, declared Perez Cortes; the serpentine mask, according to studies conducted by Dr Jose Luis Ruvalcaba, from the National University Physics Institute (IF UNAM), is the only greenstone mask discovered until now in the ritual context of Teotihuacan.

The 11 centimetres high, 11.5 wide and 7.8 cm deep mask is different to other Teotihuacan masks because it presents smaller dimensions and has volume; it is possible that it was a portrait. A seashell was found next to the sculpture.

2,000-Year-Old Realistic Green Mask Found Nestled Inside an Ancient Pyramid

The offering also contained 11 Tlaloc vessels, most of them fragmented, placed in the centre of it. Other objects deposited include 3 pyrite discs, being the one with 45 centimetres diameter mounted on a slate slab the greatest recovered until now in Teotihuacan.

An important amount of animal skeletons was found. The skull of a feline was placed to the northeast; a canine to the south and an eagle covered with volcanic rock, to the southeast. The bird was fed before the sacrifice with 2 rabbits, as analyses reveal.  This kind of fauna is similar to the one found at offerings of the Pyramid of Moon. Researchers from the Pyramid of Sun Project at Teotihuacan Archaeological Zone (ZAT) remarked that the offering remained underwater since the humidity of the monumental structure concentrates on the base and central area.

Dr Saburo Sugiyama, professor at Aichi University, Japan, and Alejandro Sarabia, director of the archaeological zone located in Estado de Mexico, indicated that for a long time before the discovery, the function of the pyramid was linked to the underworld because of the tunnel excavated by Teotihuacan people.

“Nevertheless, objects found would be indicating that the Pyramid of the Sun –which covers an approximate area of 5.6 hectares- was possibly offered to a rain deity, an early version of Tlaloc, during the first 50 years of the Common Era”.

“Until now, we can only offer a general interpretation of the findings, although it is evident that some of them present the same distribution pattern already observed at the Pyramid of the Moon burials”, concluded the specialists.

History of “Pyramid of Sun”:

The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan and one of the largest in Mesoamerica. Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela, and in the shadow of the massive mountain Cerro Gordo, the pyramid is part of a large complex in the heart of the city.

The name Pyramid of the Sun comes from the Aztecs, who visited the city of Teotihuacán centuries after it was abandoned; the name given to the pyramid by the Teotihuacanos is unknown. It was constructed in two phases. The first construction stage, around 100 A.D., brought the pyramid to nearly the size it is today.

The second round of construction resulted in its completed size of 738 feet (225 meters) across and 246 feet (75 meters) high, making it the third-largest pyramid in the world, but being much shorter than the Great Pyramid of Giza (146 meters). The second phase also saw the construction of an altar atop the pyramid, which has not survived into modern times. The Adosada platform was added to the pyramid in the early third century, at around the same time that the Ciudadela and Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent were constructed.

Over the structure, the ancient Teotihuacanos finished their pyramid with lime plaster imported from surrounding areas, on which they painted brilliantly coloured murals. While the pyramid has endured for centuries, the paint and plaster have not and are no longer visible. Few images are thought to have been included in the mural decorations on the sides of the pyramid. Jaguar heads and paws, stars, and snake rattles are among the few images associated with the pyramids.

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It is thought that the pyramid venerated a deity within Teotihuacan society but the destruction of the temple on top of the pyramid, by both deliberate and natural forces prior to the archaeological study of the site, has so far prevented identification of the pyramid with any particular deity. However, little evidence exists to support this theory.