Media Coverage
This 1,700-year-old sacrificial monkey has a surprising tale (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Romey, Kristin
Publication: National Geographic
Date: 11/21/2022
Abstract: This playful primate may have been a diplomatic gift to Teotihuacan from the Maya at a time of murky relations between two powerful Mesoamerican groups.
URL: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/spider-monkey-sacrifice-discovery-maya-teotihuacan
Sacriced monkey suggests peaceful ties between ancient Mesoamerican powers (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Alex, Bridget
Publication: Science
Date: 11/21/2022
Abstract: A spider monkey may have been a diplomatic gift from the Maya to Teotihuacan
URL: https://www.science.org/content/article/sacrificed-monkey-suggests-peaceful-ties-between-ancient-mesoamerican-powers
Monkey sacrifice is a gift for historians (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Whipple, Tom
Publication: The Times
Date: 11/22/2022
Abstract: Write up in London's The Times (in print and online formats)
URL: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/monkey-sacrifice-is-a-gift-for-historians-0bxcjq0s9
Remains of a Spider Monkey Traded by Ancient Maya Elites Found in Mexico (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Schultz, Isaac
Publication: Gizmodo
Date: 11/23/2022
Abstract: Online publication in Gizmodo
URL: https://gizmodo.com/spider-monkey-traded-by-ancient-mayans-found-in-mexico-1849815927
Chanal 22 Noticias (Media Coverage)
Publication: Chanal 22
Date: 8/22/2023
Abstract: News coverage about excavations at Project Plaza of the Columns Complex on Channel 22, a National TV program in Mexico.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nye_P1PLewA
Destacan labor de arqueólogo japonés en Teotihuacan (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Javier Salinas Cesáreo
Publication: La Jornada
Date: 8/27/2023
Abstract: Describes Project Plaza of the Columns Complex excavations and lab analysis alongside the political visit by the ambassador of Japan in Mexico. This was released in the La Jornada newspaper in print, and online.
URL: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2023/08/23/cultura/destacan-labor-de-arqueologo-japones-en-teotihuacan/
Teotihuacan: The City of the Gods and the Pyramids of Secrets (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Matthieu Jean-Toscani, Sophie Jeaneau, Fabrice Buysschaert
Publication: A La Famiglia production
Date: 6/6/2025
Abstract: Documentary series about the Maya and Teotihuacan. Sugiyama is interviewed extensively and Project is showcased in the interview.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIgW1FqC37k&t=3393s
Realizan homenaje luctuoso al arqueólogo Rubén Cabrera Castro (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Javier Salinas Cesáreo
Publication: La Jornada
Date: 8/27/2023
Abstract: Summary of conference in memory of Ruben Cabrera Castro.
URL: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2023/08/24/cultura/realizan-homenaje-luctuoso-a-antropologo-ruben-cabrera-castro/
Uncovering Teotihuacan Mysteries (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Baltazar Martínez, Sandra
Publication: UCR YouTube Channel
Date: 3/5/2024
Abstract: Video about N. Sugiyama's work at Project Plaza of the Columns Complex
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFVSJmyUCTU
Unearthing the Mysteries of Teotihuacan (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Baltazar Martínez, Sandra
Publication: UCR News
Date: 3/5/2024
Abstract: UCR news article about excavations at Plaza of the Columns Complex.
URL: https://news.ucr.edu/ucr-magazine/winter-2024/unearthing-the-mysteries-of-teotihuacan
More Scientists (Media Coverage)
Publication: Netflix series, Ada Twist Scientist, Season 4, Episode 20
Date: 4/22/2024
Abstract: Spotlight on N. Sugiyama's zooarchaeological work at UCR in children's animated series on Netflix, Ada Twist Scientist.
Animal Remains Found In Teotihuacán Help Reconstruct History (Media Coverage)
Author(s): UCR Media
Publication: UCR YouTube Channel
Date: 1/15/2025
Abstract: Promotional video about Sugiyama's monograph, Animal Matter
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrVajHu0GUY
Golden eagles, wolves, jaguars, and pumas were sacrificed in Teotihuacán Moon Pyramid rituals (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jerusalem Post Staff
Publication: The Jerusalem Post
Date: 1/21/2025
Abstract: Summary of Sugiyama's monograph, Animal Matter (Oxford University Press)
URL: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/archaeology-around-the-world/article-838507
Associated Products
Earliest Evidence of Primate Captivity and Translocation Supports Gift Diplomacy Between Teotihuacan and the Maya (Article)Title: Earliest Evidence of Primate Captivity and Translocation Supports Gift Diplomacy Between Teotihuacan and the Maya
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Author: Sugiyama, Saburo
Author: Cagnato, Clarissa
Author: France, Christine A.M.
Author: Iriki, Atsushi
Author: Hughes, Karissa
Author: Singleton, Robin R.
Author: Thornton, Erin
Author: Hofman, Courtney A.
Abstract: A multimethod archaeometry study (zooarchaeological, isotopic, ancient DNA, paleobotanical, and radiocarbon dating) of a spider monkey sacrificed in the ceremonial center of Teotihuacan, Mexico (1 to 550 CE) is interpreted as a diplomatic gift exchange with neighboring Maya. Not only does this spider monkey provide the earliest known instance of primate translocation and captivity in Mesoamerica, it helps date incipient modes of interregional diplomacy between two major powers during Early Classic Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan and the Maya. Details of human–primate interaction include age at capture and transport (before ∼3 y of age), captive duration (over 2 y), anthropogenic diet (staple was maize, though secondary resources unique to anthropogenic diet including arrowroot and chili pepper were also found), context of sacrifice
(tethered and associated with complete golden eagle and an array of other statecrafts), and general site context (including presence of Maya vessels and Maya-style murals). The timing of the spider monkey’s sacrifice (250 to 300 CE) and its life history suggest a reconsideration of epigraphically attested militaristic involvement of Teotihuacan at certain Maya sites. We propose that a period of more multilateral and fluid ritual exchange with Maya dignitaries preceded the Teotihuacan state’s eventual ascent to prominence.
Year: 2022
Primary URL:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2212431119Primary URL Description: Open access link to the article
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: PNAS
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Plaza of the Columns Complex, Results 2022 (Web Resource)Title: Plaza of the Columns Complex, Results 2022
Author: Yolanda Pealez
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Abstract: Summary of results form the the 2022 excavation seasons published on our website, built since 2017. There are many other additional pages, including bios of new project participants, and blogs and feeds from project-related conferences and events.
Year: 2023
Primary URL:
http://ppcteotihuacan.org/en/results/results-2022/Primary URL Description: Page within the Project Plaza of the Columns Complex website that is administrated by PI N. Sugiyama. We provide regular updates on project activities, including conference presentations, etc. Here is a new page we created summarizing the results of the two field seasons that were covered by the NEH grant.
Revisiting “Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage”: Updates from Teotihuacan (Article)Title: Revisiting “Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage”: Updates from Teotihuacan
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Abstract: The chapter revisits the ideas explored in the volume, Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage (2000). Teotihuacan sustained a pan-Mesoamerican worldview conspicuously materialized into the form and layout of the city. The chapter provides an update on the timing and nature of multi-regional interaction, and how innovative intellectual knowledge was materialized into key symbols. It highlights new finds from Project Plaza of the Columns Complex within this grand synthesis of data since this seminal publication two decades ago.
Year: 2023
Primary URL:
https://www.barpublishing.com/when-east-meets-west-volumes-i-and-ii.htmlAccess Model: E-book and in print
Format: Other
Publisher: BAR Publishing
Proyecto Complejo Plaza de las Columnas, Teotihuacan: Informe Parcial de la Sexta Temporada (2022) (Report)Title: Proyecto Complejo Plaza de las Columnas, Teotihuacan: Informe Parcial de la Sexta Temporada (2022)
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Author: Saburo Sugiyama
Author: Luis Rogelio Rivero Chong
Abstract: Federal report reviewed and approved by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), that is archived at the National Archive of INAH. Includes nine chapters written by project members and collaborators of the results from the two field seasons in 2022 and laboratory work. This report includes many student authors and co-authors.
Date: 06/13/2023
Access Model: National Archive of INAH, Mexican federal agency
Teotihuacan and the Missing Staple: An Analysis of Deer Use at Plaza of the Columns Complex (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Teotihuacan and the Missing Staple: An Analysis of Deer Use at Plaza of the Columns Complex
Author: Esther Aguayo
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Author: Yen-Shin Hsu
Author: Christine France
Abstract: This poster investigates the dynamic, complex food system of Teotihuacan (150 BCE-550 CE) in central Mexico and how white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) played an unusual, supporting dietary role for the Teotihuacan elite and its people. While deer was the largest mammal in the Pre-Columbian world and a staple food source for numerous Mesoamerican urban centers, they are virtually absent at Teotihuacan, representing just 3.9% of the city’s faunal assemblage. Previous research in Teotihuacan determined that, despite an estimated population of over 100,000 people at its height, even commoners had access to adequate amounts of protein. This investigation details the abnormal distribution of deer bones at Plaza of the Columns Complex (PCC), a palatial-administrative complex within the ceremonial center of Teotihuacan. The distribution (NISP 425) at PCC demonstrates that deer were not underutilized as a food source but instead limited to specific ritual contexts, with the best evidence for food consumption located at an offering and feast. Outside of these contexts, deer elements were more suitable for tool making than for consumption. Comparative analyses using bone surfaces, stable isotopes indicating diet and provenance, and element distribution evaluating deer usage to more abundant fauna provide a comprehensive view of food acquisition and animal exploitation at Teotihuacan and broaden our understanding of the food system necessary to feed a large population.
Date: 4/2/2022
Teotihuacan-Maya Diplomacy: Updates from Project Plaza of the Columns Complex & Ciudades Cosmicas (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Teotihuacan-Maya Diplomacy: Updates from Project Plaza of the Columns Complex & Ciudades Cosmicas
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Author: Saburo Sugiyama
Abstract: Synthesis of Maya-Teotihuacan interaction from the Project Plaza of the Columns Complex, Teotihuacan, including the results of analysis of Offering D4 where a spider monkey was found was presented. Paper presented as part of the Being Maya: Identity, Ontology, Agency Workshop held at the Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico.
Date: 08/03/2022
Conference Name: Santa Fe Institute, Behing Maya: Identity, Ontology, Agency Workshop
Hallazgos Recientes en la Plaza de las Columnas (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Hallazgos Recientes en la Plaza de las Columnas
Abstract: Updated summary of preliminary results from Project Plaza of the Columns Complex excavations presented for tour guides that are trying to obtain their certificate to become guides at archaeological sites within Mexico. It directly educates the guides who will be able to provide updated information to tourists throughout Mexico.
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Date: 8/28/2021
Location: Online
Proyecto Complejo Plaza de las Columnas: Homenaje a Rubén Cabrera Castro (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Proyecto Complejo Plaza de las Columnas: Homenaje a Rubén Cabrera Castro
Author: Nawa Sugiyama
Abstract: Reflections on the legacy of archaeologist Ruben Cabrera Castro in research at Teotihuacan in light of the new discoveries of Project Plaza of the Columns Complex. This was a public event organized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History at the Teotihuacan Archaeological Park open to the public.
Date: 8/23/2023
Conference Name: National Instite of Anthropology and History (INAH)
メキシコ、テオティワカンで発見されたクモザルが意味するもの (The Significance of the Spider Monkey Discovered at Teotihuacan, Mexico) (Article)Title: メキシコ、テオティワカンで発見されたクモザルが意味するもの (The Significance of the Spider Monkey Discovered at Teotihuacan, Mexico)
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Author: Sugiyama, Saburo
Abstract: Dissemination article about the spider monkey discovery and the broader implications of the find.
Year: 2023
Primary URL:
https://out-of-eurasia.jp/images/newsletter3.pdfAccess Model: Open access
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: News Letter出ゆーらしあ (Out of Eurasia News Letter) 3:4-6
Publisher: News Letter出ゆーらしあ (Out of Eurasia News Letter)
Proyecto Complejo Plaza de las Columnas, Teotihuacan: Informe Parcial de la Séptima Temporada (2023) (Report)Title: Proyecto Complejo Plaza de las Columnas, Teotihuacan: Informe Parcial de la Séptima Temporada (2023)
Author: Suygiyama, Nawa
Author: Sugiyama, Saburo
Author: Rivero Chong, Rogelio Rivero
Abstract: Seventh excavation and laboratory report of the Project Plaza of the Columns Complex for work 2023-2024. Report 570 pages.
Date: 04/22/2024
Access Model: Archived at the Technical Archive, National Institute of Anthropology and History
Catálogo de fragmentos de pintura mural del PPCC (Report)Title: Catálogo de fragmentos de pintura mural del PPCC
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Author: Sugiyama, Saburo
Author: Rivero Chong, Luis Rogelio
Abstract: Mural catalog including scan, line drawing, and description of each fragment curated by the Project Plaza of the Columns Complex. Total 904 pages.
Date: 04/22/2024
Access Model: Stored in Technical Archive, National Institute of Anthropology and History
A Zooarchaeological Reconstruction of the Grand Feast of Plaza of the Columns, Teotihuacan (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: A Zooarchaeological Reconstruction of the Grand Feast of Plaza of the Columns, Teotihuacan
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Author: Hsu, Yen-Shin
Author: Robles Martínez, Edsel
Abstract: Offering D1 represents the residue of an extravagant feast, involving a plethora of artifacts, over 25,000 ceramic fragments, and more than 50,000 animal bones ceremoniously “killed” and discarded in a pit excavated in an old plaza floor. We present the zooarchaeological report of this assemblage, focusing on trying to understand the scale of public feasting at Teotihuacan. The volume and properties of the ceramics tells us this event was a state-sponsored feast that included many foreign diplomats, likely special guests, to commemorate the completion of the construction of Structure 25C, one of the three major pyramids at Plaza of the Columns. As most of the trash from this grand feast seems to be sealed in this offering cache, it provides an opportune context to reconstruct ancient cuisine and the role of feasting in alliance building, power negotiations, and social identity construction.
Date: 04/17/2024
Conference Name: 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology
Materialization of Time, Space, Nature, and Societies Denoted by New Lidar Maps at Teotihuacan. Saburo Sugiyama (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Materialization of Time, Space, Nature, and Societies Denoted by New Lidar Maps at Teotihuacan. Saburo Sugiyama
Author: Sugiyama, Saburo
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Author: Sekiguchi, Kazuhiro
Author: Iwashiro, Kuninori
Author: Chiba, Yuta
Abstract: Primary archaeological data indicate that the current reconstruction of the city of Teotihuacan was apparently built with a master plan around AD 200. Three major monuments were harmoniously integrated into a rigorously calculated city layout with functional and/or symbolic units including the Avenue of the Dead, plazas, administrative facilities, or residential compounds. We have mapped, excavated, and
consolidated buildings since the 1990s, recording architectural features, sculptures, or murals with total stations, drone-mounted lidar, Slam-lidar, 3D scanners, and photogrammetric devices. To explore architectural principles, artistic aesthetics, and integrated ideological factors like worldview or concepts of
time and space, we analyze populous urban zones, surrounding cultivation lands, and mountaintop areas of Cerro Gordo and Patlachique, where Teotihuacanos left their concerns to landscape and astronomy. Taking advantage of ArcAstroVR, a new astroarchaeology program built on Stellarium, we reconstruct ancient skyscapes with masonry buildings precisely defined by our maps and analyze the city’s standardized
orientations, dimensions, and spatial distributions, often reflecting astronomical phenomena of particular periods and time. We particularly test previous interpretations of the city’s N-S and E-W axes and argue in archaeological contexts the sociopolitical implications of advanced astronomical knowledge and the invention of Mesoamerican calendar systems blueprinted at Teotihuacan.
Date: 04/17/2022
Conference Name: 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology
Reconstructing Ancient Mesoamerican Cuisine through Innovative Imaging Techniques of Amorphous Carbonized Objects (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Reconstructing Ancient Mesoamerican Cuisine through Innovative Imaging Techniques of Amorphous Carbonized Objects
Author: Cagnato, Clarissa
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Author: Longo, Laura
Author: Longo, Elena
Author: Parisatto, Matteo
Abstract: Archaeobotanists (paleoethnobotanists) often come across small, amorphous carbonized objects (ACO) in their flotation samples. However, identifying ACO’s is often difficult, and as such, they mostly remain unidentified. New ways are therefore necessary to study these objects, which, we hypothesize are in some cases the remains of complex food preparations. One way is using nondestructive SR X-ray microtomography (μCT), a key
technique to consider for the imaging of archaeological materials. For the very first time, phase-contrast SR μCT
was applied to putative food remains from Mesoamerica and to experimentally prepared foods. In this paper we present the methods and preliminary results of the study of ACO’s from Mesoamerican contexts. These data provide novel information on the ingredients used and the ways in which foods were prepared by Classic period (AD 250–900) populations living at Teotihuacan in Central Mexico but also in the Lowland Maya region.
Date: 04/17/2024
Conference Name: 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology
Maya-Teotihuacan Updates from Plaza of the Columns Complex, Teotihuacan (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Maya-Teotihuacan Updates from Plaza of the Columns Complex, Teotihuacan
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Abstract: Updates of Maya-Teotihuacan relationships at Plaza of the Columns Complex and their broader implications.
Date: 11/29/2023
Conference Name: Being Maya: Identity, Ontology, Agency Workshop, Santa Fe Institute
Plaza of the Columns Complex, Results 2023 (Web Resource) (Web Resource)Title: Plaza of the Columns Complex, Results 2023 (Web Resource)
Author: Pelaez C, Yolanda
Author: Sugiyama, Nawa
Abstract: Summary of results from seventh field season, 2023.
Year: 2024
Primary URL:
http://ppcteotihuacan.org/en/results/results-2023/