Archaeology of Teotihuacan, Mexico
Shell beads and small pendants were found in almost
all graves at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. They vary greatly in
size and form. The majority of shell beads were discovered in
association with individuals interred in the peripheral areas. The
original forms of necklaces and maxilla pendants were better
preserved in Graves 5 and 6 than in the others, because of their
upward facing body positions and the grave conditions (Photo). These
shell objects, in addition to shell imitation of human teeth, formed
part of necklace complexes. Real human and animal maxillae also have
been integrated in the maxilla necklace complexes.
Shell objects of this family were classified into
four large categories; shell beads, small pendants, teeth imitations,
and others, and were further sub-divided in 122 types by form and
size. In total, more than 21,383 shell pieces worked in the form of
beads, pendants, teeth, and others were found at the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid. The original forms of necklaces and maxilla pendants
are intended to be reconstructed by the individual wearing it based
on the typology and field data (See photos of three different
combination of necklace).
All maxilla collar complexes found in peripheral
graves shared the same compositional structure. They consisted of
upper and lower sections. The upper sections were subdivided into
left, center, and right parts, and the lower sections were composed
of a series of real or false maxillae. All beads, pendants and
certain types of tooth imitations with holes were used only for the
upper section, while other types of tooth imitations with or without
holes exclusively comprised maxilla pendants (photos left and right).
Among distinctly different types of maxilla pendants, a few were of
real humans, real canids, and false maxillae of canids made with
shell.
