The Taphonomy of a Sacrifice: Burial 6 of the Patio Hundido at el Teul

El Teul’s eighteen centuries of continuous occupation, from ca. 200 b. c. e. till the Spanish conquest in 1531 offers a unique opportunity to understand aspects of ancient society in Southern Zacatecas. This poster focuses on a ritually-sacrificed male whose body was deposited as an offering in one of the main architectural complexes of the site during the early to mid-Classic (ca. 200 d.C. – 400/450 d.C.). Ritual landscape models currently applied to larger sites such as Teotihuacán using Huichol cosmology suggest the possible correspondence of this building with ritual sacrifice related to winter solstice with Venus playing an active role