A Teotihuacan altar, which, according to archaeologists, was used for sacrifices, was determined in Tikal National Park in Guatemala, the center of Maya civilization, throwing new lighting on the interactions between the two ancient cultures.
The discovery, announced on Monday by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Guatemala, was made in the ancient city of Tikal – a huge city -state which fought for centuries with the Kaanul dynasty for the domination of the Mayan world.
Far to the north in Mexico, just outside Mexico City, Teotihuacan – “The city of the gods” or “the place where men become gods” – is best known for its twin temples of the sun and the moon. It was actually a big city that housed more than 100,000 inhabitants and covered about eight square miles (20 square kilometers).
The still mysterious city was one of the largest in the world at its peak between 100 BC and 750 AD. However, it was abandoned before the rise of the Aztecs in the 14th century.
Lorena Paiz, the archaeologist who directed the discovery, said that the altar of Teotihuacan would have been used for sacrifices, “in particular children”.
It took archaeologists for a year and a half to discover the altar in accommodation and analyze it before the announcement.
“The remains of three children, no four -year -olds, were found on three sides of the altar,” said PAIZ.
“The Teotihuacan were merchants who traveled throughout the country (Guatemala),” said Paiz. “The residential complexes of Teotihuacan were houses with rooms and in the altars of the center; This is what the residence was found to be found, with an altar with the figure representing the goddess of the storm. ”
Edwin Román, who directs the South Tikal archaeological project in the park, said that the discovery shows the socio -political and cultural interaction between the Mayans of Tikal and the Teotihuacan elite between 300 and 500 AD
Román said the discovery also strengthens the idea that Tikal was a cosmopolitan center at the time, a place where people visited other cultures, affirming its importance as a cultural convergence center.
María Belén Méndez, an archaeologist who was not involved in the project, said that the discovery confirms “that there was an interconnection between the two cultures and what their relationships with their gods and their celestial bodies were.”
“We see how the question of sacrifice exists in the two cultures. It was a practice; it is not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies,” she said.
The altar is just over a meter (1 m) wide from east to west and almost 2 meters (2 m) from north to south. It measures approximately a courtyard (1 m) high and covered with limestone.
The accommodation where it was found had anthropomorphic figures with acorns in red tones, a detail of the Teotihuacan culture, according to the Department of the Ministry.
Tikal’s National Park is around 325 miles (525 kilometers) north of the city of Guatemala, the site is kept and it is not planned to open it to the public.