Butterfly Nose Ornament
150–200
- Medium
- jadeite-albitite?
- Dimensions
- Overall: 4.8 x 6.5 x 0.4 cm (1 7/8 x 2 9/16 x 3/16 in.)
- Genre
- Stone
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Central Mexico, Teotihuacán, Classic period
About
Near Teotihuacán’s largest palace is a temple ornamented with green-feathered serpents, symbols of the earth’s fertility. Beneath the temple were at least 120 human sacrifices, most men, many warriors, and some wearing greenstone ornaments like these, perhaps a set. The sacrifices may have consecrated the temple or a ruler’s tomb, or both.