Earliest evidence of primate captivity and translocation supports gift diplomacy between Teotihuacan and the Maya

Abstract

We interpret the offering of a complete skeleton of a charismatic animal—a captively managed spider monkey—at Plaza of the Columns as the subject of a strategic gift exchange between Teotihuacan and the Maya that reified diplomatic ties between these two major regions of Classic Mesoamerica. We suggest a more multilateral mode of ritual exchange preceded the Teotihuacan state’s eventual ascent to prominence prior to the epigraphically attested militaristic involvement of Teotihuacan in local Maya politics. A multimethod archaeometry study of a spider monkey sacrificed at Teotihuacan provides the earliest evidence of primate captivity and translocation in the Americas over 1,500 y ago.