"When I compared frontal sinuses-a bone so distinctive and unique that it works like a fingerprint-used in the artifacts with those from buried skeletons, they were identical," Meza Peñaloza said. What's more, the bones used to make the artifacts appear to be from locals, who were traditionally buried under the floors of their family homes. 200 and 400-show only marks left by the defleshing process and no signs of ritual sacrifice, the UNAM researchers found. The fragments, which date to the Classic period-the city's heyday, between A.D. The newly analyzed bones were found across a neighborhood of the city called Ventilla. (See pictures of sacrificial victims unearthed in Teotihuacan.) The pre-Hispanic culture is known to have practiced human and animal sacrifices, as evidenced by bones buried in the city's temples that are thought to have been offerings to the gods. (See "New Digs Decoding Mexico's 'Pyramids of Fire.'") The Teotihuacan metropolis in Mexico, also known as the City of the Gods, is one of the largest ancient urban centers in the Americas. (Related: "Ancient Pyramid Found at Mexico City Christian Site.") "They buried the members of their family under and around their houses and manipulated their bones." "They were not particularly afraid of death," said Storey, who was not involved in the discovery. Rebecca Storey, a Teotihuacan expert at the University of Houston, said that making utensils out of human bone fits with the ancient culture. The bodies had to be as fresh as possible, she added, because after a person dies, his or her bone quickly becomes too fragile to sculpt. "The Teotihuacanos used different stones as knives to finely remove the flesh and muscles from the bones," Meza Peñaloza said. The discovery comes from a new analysis of 5,000 bone fragments found in the ancient city of Teotihuacan, a large archaeological site about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Mexico City ( see map).įemurs (thigh bones), tibias (shinbones), and human skulls were transformed into household items shortly after death, noted team leader Abigail Meza Peñaloza of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Members of a pre-Aztec civilization used human bones-likely from their freshly dead relatives-to make buttons, combs, needles, spatulas, and dozens of other everyday utensils, Mexican archeologists say.
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