Circle of Life

Digs & Discoveries May/June 2018

(Courtesy Mauricio Marat/INAH)
SHARE:

A rare circular burial found at the site of Tlalpan in southern Mexico City holds the remains of 10 males and females ranging in age from infancy to adulthood. The burial dates to approximately 2,400 years ago, a period when state-level societies were beginning to take shape in the Valley of Mexico. Some of the skeletons in the 6.5-foot-diameter grave show signs of intentional skull deformation and tooth filing, which were common practices in later Mesoamerican civilizations. The arrangement of the skeletons suggests to archaeologists that the burial could symbolize the stages of life, progressing from young to old.

  • Features May/June 2018

    Global Cargo

    Found in the waters off a small Dutch island, a seventeenth-century shipwreck provides an unparalleled view of the golden age of European trade

    Read Article
    (Kees Zwaan/Courtesy Province of North Holland)
  • Letter From the Philippines May/June 2018

    One Grain at a Time

    Archaeologists uncover evidence suggesting rice terraces helped the Ifugao resist Spanish colonization

    Read Article
    (Jon Arnold Images Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)
  • Artifacts May/June 2018

    Roman Sundial

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Alessandro Launaro)
  • Digs & Discoveries May/June 2018

    Norwegian Knight

    Read Article
    (NIKU)