Tomb 7 Summary

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During the Post-Classic period of Mexico, the Mixtec people accumulated a great amount of wealth, and became highly talented in artistry. The development of these art practices helped reflect on their political organization, religious practices, and social structure. In particular, Tomb 7 at Monte Alban has revealed a multitude of fascinating artifacts and remains from the Mixtec peoples. Tomb 7 at Monte Alban is one of the richest and most famous archaeological discoveries made in the New World (McCafferty and McCafferty: 1994) Along with a central noble figure and a few sacrificed servants, there lay many gold treasures, such as the famous Gold Pectorals, silver artifacts, turquoise mosaics, and fine jewelry (Coe and Koontz: 2013).These Gold Pectorals discovered both show the dedicated time it took to create such an intricate design, and significance it has to its …show more content…

Particularly, the largest of all the gold pectorals, is thought to represent Mictlantecuhtli, the Mixtec’s God of Death. Many scholars believe that some of the other pectorals represent a variety of gods, such as the God of Rain, the God of Intelligence/Self-reflection, and the God of Summer/Pleasure/Souls (McCafferty and McCafferty: 1994). The Mixtec people show evidence of very advanced religious organization from their elaborate burials to their spiritual significance of their deities. Many of these “elites” who are buried, are thought to once hold religious status in society, like priests or divine elders. Specifically, in Tomb 7, it is now coming to attention that the human buried, known to be central noble figure, might as well be female (McCafferty and McCafferty: 1994). This idea could give evidence to a female’s religious and social power in the Mixtec civilization, which has gone unknown till very