A spider monkey sacrificed to the gods in the great Mesoamerican city-state of Teotihuacan in 300 AD may have originally been a gift of friendship from their rivals the Maya. At least this is what a study in the journal PNAS has concluded.
Spider monkeys were indigenous to Maya territory but did not live in the region around Teotihuacan, which is why the discovery of the animal’s bones during a recent excavation at Teotihuacan suggests that some type of diplomatic relationship must have existed between the two Mesoamerican superpowers at the beginning of the fourth century.
Spider Monkey Provides Insight into Mesoamerican Diplomacy
Previously, not much was known about the relationship between the awesome and powerful Maya Empire of the early Classic Period (250 to 350 AD) and the first-millennium imperial city-state of Teotihuacan, their mighty neighbors to the northwest, during this period.