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Ear Ornament
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Near Teotihuacán's largest palace is a small temple gorgeously ornamented with green-feathered serpents, symbols of the earth's fertility. Beneath the temple lie at least 120 human sacrifices, most men, many warriors, and some wearing greenstone ornaments like these, perhaps a set. The sacrifices, apparently laid out to mark the cardinal directions, may have consecrated the temple or a ruler's tomb, or both.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineEar Ornament, 150–200 CE. Central Mexico, Teotihuacán style, Classic period. Jadeite-albitite(?); diameter: 5.7 cm (2 1/4 in.); overall: 2.6 cm (1 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener, 1990.264.2
