Animal Management, preparation and sacrifice: reconstructing burial 6 at the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan, México

In 2004 the Moon Pyramid Project uncovered Burial 6, a massive offering cache at the core of the monument located at Teotihuacan’s central ceremonial precinct. This dedicatory chamber included the remains of over fifty animals, the majority representing the most dangerous carnivores on the landscape such as eagles, felines (jaguars and pumas), canines (wolves, coyotes and hybrids between wolves and dogs) and rattlesnake. Faced with this extraordinary faunal assemblage, we investigate the dynamic ritual processes which took place during the dedication ceremony. We reconstruct not only the chaîne opératoire, the acquisition, preparation, use and deposition of each animal, but also attempt to recreate individual life histories of some of the animals deposited in this burial.