Teotihuacan
Coordinates: 19°41′33″N 98°50′38″W / 19.69250°N 98.84389°W
View of the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Sun, from the Pyramid of the Moon. | |
![]() ![]() Location of the site ![]() ![]() Teotihuacan (Mexico) ![]() ![]() Teotihuacan (State of Mexico) | |
Location | Teotihuacán, State of Mexico, Mexico |
---|---|
Coordinates | 19°41′33″N 98°50′38″W / 19.69250°N 98.84389°W |
History | |
Periods | Late Preclassic to Late Classic |
Site notes | |
Architecture | |
Architectural details | Feathered Serpent |
UNESCO World Heritage site | |
Official name | Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan |
Criteria | Cultural: i, ii, iii, iv, vi |
Reference | 414 |
Inscription | 1987 (11th Session) |
Area | 3,381.71 ha |
![](../I/m/Green_pog.svg.png)
Teotihuacan /teɪˌoʊtiːwəˈkɑːn/,[1] (in Spanish: Teotihuacán) (Spanish pronunciation: [teotiwa'kan] (
At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more,[2][3] making it at least the sixth largest city in the world during its epoch.[4]
Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead and its vibrant murals that have been exceptionally well-preserved. Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that are found throughout Mesoamerica.
The city is thought to have been established around 100 BCE, with major monuments continuously under construction until about 250 CE.[2] The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries CE, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 CE.
Teotihuacan began as a religious center in the Mexican Highlands around the first century CE. It became the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas. Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population.[2] The term Teotihuacan (or Teotihuacano) is also used for the whole civilization and cultural complex associated with the site.
Although it is a subject of debate whether Teotihuacan was the center of a state empire, its influence throughout Mesoamerica is well documented; evidence of Teotihuacano presence can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region. The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, modifying and adopting aspects of their culture. The ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is the subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua, Otomi or Totonac ethnic groups. Scholars have suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state.
The city and the archaeological site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Mexico City. The site covers a total surface area of 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.[5] It is the most visited archaeological site in Mexico, receiving 4,185,017 visitors in 2017.[6]
Name
The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 CE. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods", or "place where gods were born",[7] reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as "place of those who have the road of the gods."[8] This is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. The name is pronounced [te.oːtiːˈwakaːn] in Nahuatl, with the accent on the syllable wa. By normal Nahuatl orthographic conventions, a written accent would not appear in that position. Both this pronunciation and Spanish pronunciation: [te.otiwaˈkan] are used, and both spellings appear in this article.
The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in hieroglyphic texts from the Maya region as puh, or "Place of Reeds".[9] This suggests that, in the Maya civilization of the Classic period, Teotihuacan was understood as a Place of Reeds similar to other Postclassic Central Mexican settlements that took the name of Tollan, such as Tula-Hidalgo and Cholula.
This naming convention led to much confusion in the early 20th century, as scholars debated whether Teotihuacan or Tula-Hidalgo was the Tollan described by 16th-century chronicles. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement. In the Mesoamerican concept of urbanism, Tollan and other language equivalents serve as a metaphor, linking the bundles of reeds and rushes that formed part of the lacustrine environment of the Valley of Mexico and the large gathering of people in a city.[10]
History
Origins and foundation
![](../I/m/Classic_sites_1.png)
The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BCE, people of the central and southeastern area of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements.[11] Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch.[11] The city was already in ruins by the time of the Aztecs. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec. This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the Florentine Codex, which attributed the site to the Toltecs. However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" generally means "craftsman of the highest level" and may not always refer to the Toltec civilization centered at Tula, Hidalgo. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.
In the Late Formative era, a number of urban centers arose in central Mexico. The most prominent of these appears to have been Cuicuilco, on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the Xitle volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley. These settlers may have founded or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan.
Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan. There is evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacan immigrated from those areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Maya peoples. The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, called chinampas, creating high agricultural productivity despite old methods of cultivation.[11] This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic, to transport food from farms around the city. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BCE. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 CE.[12]
Year 378: "Conquest" of Tikal
In January 378, while Spearthrower Owl supposedly ruled in Teotihuacan, the warlord Siyah K'ak' "conquered" Tikal, removing and replacing the Maya king, with support from El Peru and Naachtun, as recorded by Stela 31 at Tikal and other monuments in the Maya region.[13]
In 378 a group of Teotihuacanos organized a coup d'etat in Tikal, Guatemala. This was not the Teotihuacan state; it was a group of the Feathered-Serpent people, thrown out from the city. The Feathered-Serpent Pyramid was burnt, all the sculptures were torn from the temple, and another platform was built to efface the facade ...[14]
Year 426: "Conquest" of Copán and Quiriguá
In 426, the Copán ruling dynasty was created with K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' as the first king. The Dynasty went on to have sixteen rulers.[15] Copán is located in modern-day Honduras, as described by Copán Altar Q(???).[16] Soon thereafter, Yax K'uk' Mo' installed Tok Casper as king of Quiriguá, about 50 km north of Copán.
Zenith
The city reached its peak in 450 CE, when it was the center of a powerful culture whose influence extended through much of the Mesoamerican region. At its peak, the city covered over 30 km² (over 11 1⁄2 square miles), and perhaps housed a population of 150,000 people, with one estimate reaching as high as 250,000.[17] Various districts in the city housed people from across the Teotihuacano region of influence, which spread south as far as Guatemala. Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures.
![](../I/m/Piramide_de_la_Luna_072006.jpg)
The nature of political and cultural interactions between Teotihuacan and the centers of the Maya region (as well as elsewhere in Mesoamerica) has been a long-standing and significant area for debate. Substantial exchange and interaction occurred over the centuries from the Terminal Preclassic to the Mid-Classic period. "Teotihuacan-inspired ideologies" and motifs persisted at Maya centers into the Late Classic, long after Teotihuacan itself had declined.[18] However, scholars debate the extent and degree of Teotihuacano influence. Some believe that it had direct and militaristic dominance; others that adoption of "foreign" traits was part of a selective, conscious, and bi-directional cultural diffusion. New discoveries have suggested that Teotihuacan was not much different in its interactions with other centers from the later empires, such as the Toltec and Aztec.[19][20] It is believed that Teotihuacan had a major influence on the Preclassic and Classic Maya, most likely by conquering several Maya centers and regions, including Tikal and the region of Peten, and influencing Maya culture.
![](../I/m/MW-Teotihuacan8.jpg)
![](../I/m/Facade_of_the_Temple_of_the_Feathered_Serpent_(Teotihuac%C3%A1n).jpg)
Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are found widely dispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researchers have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan's far-reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance.[21] A style particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero, in which an inwards-sloping external side of a structure (talud) is surmounted by a rectangular panel (tablero). Variants of the generic style are found in a number of Maya region sites, including Tikal, Kaminaljuyu, Copan, Becan, and Oxkintok, and particularly in the Petén Basin and the central Guatemalan highlands.[22] The talud-tablero style pre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic period; it appears to have originated in the Tlaxcala-Puebla region during the Preclassic.[23] Analyses have traced the development into local variants of the talud-tablero style at sites such as Tikal, where its use precedes the 5th-century appearance of iconographic motifs shared with Teotihuacan. The talud-tablero style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Preclassic period, and not specifically, or solely, via Teotihuacano influence. It is unclear how or from where the style spread into the Maya region. During the zenith main structures of the site, including the pyramids, were painted in dark-red (maroon to Burgundy) colors (only small spots remain now) and were a very impressionable view.[24]
The city was a center of industry, home to many potters, jewelers, and craftsmen. Teotihuacan is known for producing a great number of obsidian artifacts. No ancient Teotihuacano non-ideographic texts are known to exist (or known to have existed). Inscriptions from Maya cities show that Teotihuacan nobility traveled to, and perhaps conquered, local rulers as far away as Honduras. Maya inscriptions note an individual nicknamed by scholars as "Spearthrower Owl", apparently ruler of Teotihuacan, who reigned for over 60 years and installed his relatives as rulers of Tikal and Uaxactun in Guatemala.
Scholars have based interpretations about the culture at Teotihuacan on archaeology, the murals that adorn the site (and others, like the Wagner Murals, found in private collections), and hieroglyphic inscriptions made by the Maya describing their encounters with Teotihuacano conquerors. The creation of murals, perhaps tens of thousands of murals, reached its height between 450 and 650. The artistry of the painters was unrivaled in Mesoamerica and has been compared with that of painters in Renaissance Florence, Italy.[25]
Collapse
![](../I/m/Teotihuac%C3%A1n_mask.jpg)
Scholars had thought that invaders attacked the city in the 7th or 8th century, sacking and burning it. More recent evidence, however, seems to indicate that the burning was limited to the structures and dwellings associated primarily with the ruling class.[26] Some think this suggests that the burning was from an internal uprising. They say the invasion theory is flawed because early archaeological work on the city was focused exclusively on the palaces and temples, places used by the upper classes. Because all of these sites showed burning, archaeologists concluded that the whole city was burned. Instead, it is now known that the destruction was centered on major civic structures along the Avenue of the Dead. The sculptures inside palatial structures, such as Xalla, were shattered.[27] No traces of foreign invasion are visible at the site.[26]
Evidence for population decline beginning around the 6th century lends some support to the internal unrest hypothesis. The decline of Teotihuacan has been correlated to lengthy droughts related to the climate changes of 535–536. This theory of ecological decline is supported by archaeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during the 6th century. Which is why there is different evidence that helps indicate that famine is most likely one of the more possible reasons for the decline of Teotihuacan. The majority of their food came from agriculture, they grew things such as maize, bean, amaranth, green tomatoes(tomatillos?), and pumpkin. But their harvest was not nearly sufficient to feed a population as big as it is believed lived in Teotihuacan.[28] This finding does not conflict with either of the above theories, since both increased warfare and internal unrest can also be effects of a general period of drought and famine.[29] Other nearby centers such as Cholula, Xochicalco, and Cacaxtla competed to fill the power void left by Teotihuacan's decline. They may have aligned themselves against Teotihuacan to reduce its influence and power. The art and architecture at these sites emulate Teotihuacan forms, but also demonstrate an eclectic mix of motifs and iconography from other parts of Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya region.
The sudden destruction of Teotihuacan was common for Mesoamerican city-states of the Classic and Epi-Classic period. Many Maya states suffered similar fates in the coming centuries, a series of events often referred to as the Classic Maya collapse. Nearby in the Morelos valley, Xochicalco was sacked and burned in 900 and Tula met a similar fate around 1150.[30]
There is a theory[31] that the collapse of Teotihuacan was caused by its agriculture being devastated by the 535 CE eruption of the Ilopango volcano in El Salvador.
Culture
![](../I/m/Incensario_Lid%2CTeotihuacan_style%2C_400-700_C.E.%2C75.148.jpg)
Archaeological evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct quarters occupied by Otomi, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya, and Nahua peoples. The Totonacs have always maintained that they were the ones who built it. The Aztecs repeated that story, but it has not been corroborated by archaeological findings.
In 2001, Terrence Kaufman presented linguistic evidence suggesting that an important ethnic group in Teotihuacan was of Totonacan or Mixe–Zoquean linguistic affiliation.[32] He uses this to explain general influences from Totonacan and Mixe–Zoquean languages in many other Mesoamerican languages, whose people did not have any known history of contact with either of the above-mentioned groups. Other scholars maintain that the largest population group must have been of Otomi ethnicity, because the Otomi language is known to have been spoken in the area around Teotihuacan both before and after the Classic period and not during the middle period.[33]
Religion
In An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Miller and Taube list eight deities:[34]
- The Storm God[35]
- The Great Goddess
- The Feathered Serpent.[36] An important deity in Teotihuacan; most closely associated with the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (Temple of the Feathered Serpent).
- The Old God
- The War Serpent. Taube has differentiated two different serpent deities whose depictions alternate on the Feathered Serpent Pyramid: the Feathered Serpent and what he calls the "War Serpent". Other researchers are more skeptical.[37]
- The Netted Jaguar
- The Pulque God
- The Fat God. Known primarily from figurines and so assumed to be related to household rituals.[38]
Esther Pasztory adds one more:[39]
- The Flayed God. Known primarily from figurines and so assumed to be related to household rituals.[38]
![](../I/m/Great_Goddess_of_Teotihuacan_(T_Aleto).jpg)
The consensus among scholars is that the primary deity of Teotihuacan was the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan.[40] The dominant civic architecture is the pyramid. Politics were based on the state religion; religious leaders were the political leaders.[41] Religious leaders would commission artists to create religious artworks for ceremonies and rituals.The artwork likely commissioned would have been a mural or a censer depicting gods like the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan or the Feathered Serpent. Censers would be lit during religious rituals to invoke the gods including rituals with human sacrifice.[42]
Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice: human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of a dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper.[43] Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and military were also buried alive, imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.[44]
Numerous stone masks have been found at Teotihuacan, and have been generally believed to have been used during a funerary context,[45] although some scholars call this into question, noting that masks "do not seem to have come from burials".[46]
Population
Teotihuacan was a mix of residential and work areas. Upper-class homes were usually compounds that housed many such families, and one compound was found that was capable of housing between sixty and eighty families. Such superior residences were typically made of plaster, each wall in every section elaborately decorated with murals. These compounds or apartment complexes were typically found within the city center. The vast lakes of the Basin of Mexico provided the opportunity for people living around them to construct productive raised beds, or chinampas, from swampy muck, construction that also produced channels between the beds.
Different sections of the city housed particular ethnic groups and immigrants. Typically, multiple languages were spoken in these sections of the city.
Archaeological site
Knowledge of the huge ruins of Teotihuacan was never completely lost. After the fall of the city, various squatters lived on the site. During Aztec times, the city was a place of pilgrimage and identified with the myth of Tollan, the place where the sun was created. Today, Teotihuacan is one of the most noted archaeological attractions in Mexico.
Excavations and investigations
![](../I/m/SunPyramid.jpg)
In the late 17th century Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645–1700) made some excavations around the Pyramid of the Sun.[47] Minor archaeological excavations were conducted in the 19th century. In 1905 Mexican archaeologist and government official, in the regime of Porfirio Díaz, Leopoldo Batres[48] led a major project of excavation and restoration. The Pyramid of the Sun was restored to celebrate the centennial of the Mexican War of Independence in 1910. The site of Teotihuacan was the first to be expropriated for the national patrimony under the Law of Monuments (1897), giving jurisdiction under legislation for the Mexican state to take control. Some 250 plots were farmed on the site. Peasants who had been farming portions were ordered to leave and the Mexican government eventually paid some compensation to those individuals.[49] A feeder train line was built to the site in 1908, which allowed the efficient hauling of material from the excavations and later to bring tourists to the site.[50] In 1910, the International Congress of Americanists met in Mexico, coinciding with the centennial celebrations, and the distinguished delegates, such as its president Eduard Seler and vice president Franz Boas were taken to the newly finished excavations.[51]
Further excavations at the Ciudadela were carried out in the 1920s, supervised by Manuel Gamio. Other sections of the site were excavated in the 1940s and 1950s. The first site-wide project of restoration and excavation was carried out by INAH from 1960 to 1965, supervised by Jorge Acosta. This undertaking had the goals of clearing the Avenue of the Dead, consolidating the structures facing it, and excavating the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl.
- Sigvald Linné 1932 investigations, Statens museer för världskultur
During the installation of a "sound and light" show in 1971, workers discovered the entrance to a tunnel and cave system underneath the Pyramid of the Sun.[52] Although scholars long thought this to be a natural cave, more recent examinations have established the tunnel was entirely manmade.[53] The interior of the Pyramid of the Sun has never been fully excavated.
In 1980-82, another major program of excavation and restoration was carried out at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and the Avenue of the Dead complex. Most recently, a series of excavations at the Pyramid of the Moon have greatly expanded evidence of cultural practices.
Recent discoveries
In late 2003 a tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent was accidentally discovered by Sergio Gómez Chávez and Julie Gazzola, archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). After days of heavy rainstorm Gómez Chávez noticed that a nearly three-foot-wide sinkhole occurred near the foot of the temple pyramid.[54][55][56][57]
First trying to examine the hole with a flashlight from above Gómez could see only darkness, so tied with a line of heavy rope around his waist he was lowered by several colleagues, and descending into the murk he realized it was a perfectly cylindrical shaft. At the bottom he came to rest in apparently ancient construction – a man-made tunnel, blocked in both directions by immense stones. Gómez was aware that archaeologists had previously discovered a narrow tunnel underneath the Pyramid of the Sun, and supposed he was now observing a kind of similar mirror tunnel, leading to a subterranean chamber beneath Temple of the Feathered Serpent. He decided initially to elaborate clear hypothesis and to obtain approval. Meanwhile, he erected a tent over the sinkhole to preserve it from the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Teotihuacán. Researchers reported that the tunnel was believed to have been sealed in 200 CE.[55][56][58][59]
Preliminary planning of the exploration and fundraising took more than six years.[54]
Before the start of excavations, beginning in the early months of 2004, Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, from UNAM Institute of Geophysics, determined with the help of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and a team of some 20 archaeologists and workers the approximate length of the tunnel and the presence of internal chambers. They scanned the earth under the Ciudadela, returning every afternoon to upload the results to Gómez’s computers. By 2005, the digital map was complete. The archaeologists explored the tunnel with a remote-controlled robot called Tlaloc II-TC, equipped with an infrared camera and a laser scanner that generates 3D visualization to perform three dimensional register of the spaces beneath the temple. A small opening in the tunnel wall was made and the scanner captured the first images, 37 meters into the passage.[54][55][60][61]
In 2009, the government granted Gómez permission to dig. By the end of 2009 archaeologists of the INAH located the entrance to the tunnel that leads to galleries under the pyramid, where rests of rulers of the ancient city might have been deposited. In August 2010 Gómez Chávez, now director of Tlalocan Project: Underground Road, announced that INAH's investigation of the tunnel - closed nearly 1,800 years ago by Teotihuacan dwellers - will proceed. The INAH team, consisted of about 30 persons supported with national and international advisors at the highest scientific levels, intended to enter the tunnel in September–October 2010. This excavation, the deepest made at the Pre-Hispanic site, was part of the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of archaeological excavations at Teotihuacan and its opening to the public.[54][55]
It was mentioned that the underground passage runs under Feathered Serpent Temple, and the entrance is located a few meters away from the temple at the expected place, deliberately sealed with large boulders nearly 2,000 years ago. The hole that had appeared during the 2003 storms was not the actual entrance; a vertical shaft of almost 5 meters by side is the access to the tunnel. At 14 meters deep, the entrance leads to a nearly 100-meter long corridor that ends in a series of underground galleries in the rock. After archaeologists broke ground at the entrance of the tunnel, a staircase and ladders that would allow easy access to the subterranean site were installed. Works advanced slowly and with painstaking care; excavating was done manually, with spades. Nearly 1,000 tons of soil and debris were removed from the tunnel. There were large spiral seashells, cat bones, pottery, fragments of human skin. The rich array of objects unearthed included: wooden masks covered with inlaid rock jade and quartz, elaborate necklaces, rings, greenstone crocodile teeth and human figurines, crystals shaped into eyes, beetle wings arranged in a box, sculptures of jaguars, and hundreds of metallized spheres. The mysterious globes lay in both the north and south chambers. Ranging from 40 to 130 millimetres, the balls have a core of clay and are covered with a yellow jarosite formed by the oxidation of pyrite. According to George Cowgill of Arizona State University, the spheres are a fascinating find: "Pyrite was certainly used by the Teotihuacanos and other ancient Mesoamerican societies. Originally, the spheres would have shown brilliantly. They are indeed unique, but I have no idea what they mean."[61] All these artifacts were deposited deliberately and pointedly, as if in offering to appease the gods.[55][56]
One of the most remarkable findings in the tunnel chambers was a miniature mountainous landscape, 17 metres underground, with tiny pools of liquid mercury representing lakes.[55][56][62] The walls and ceiling of the tunnel were found to have been carefully impregnated with mineral powder composed of magnetite, pyrite (fool's gold), and hematite to provide a glittering brightness to the complex, and to create the effect of standing under the stars as a peculiar re-creation of the underworld.[61] At the end of the passage, Gómez Chávez’s team uncovered four greenstone statues, wearing garments and beads; their open eyes would have shone with precious minerals. Two of the figurines were still in their original positions, leaning back and appearing to contemplate up at the axis where the three planes of the universe meet - likely the founding shamans of Teotihuacan, guiding pilgrims to the sanctuary, and carrying bundles of sacred objects used to perform rituals, including pendants and pyrite mirrors, which were perceived as portals to other realms.[55][56]
After each new segment was cleared, the 3D scanner documented the progress. By 2015 nearly 75,000 fragments of artifacts have been discovered, studied, cataloged, analyzed and, when possible, restored.[55][56][60][61]
The significance of these new discoveries is publicly explored in a major exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, which opened in late September 2017.[56][57]
As of January 23, 2018 the name "Teotihuacan" has come under scrutiny by experts, who now feel that the site's name may have been changed by Spanish colonizers in the 16th century. Archaeologist Veronica Ortega of the National Institute of Anthropology and History states that the city appears to have actually been named "Teohuacan", meaning "City of the Sun" rather than "City of the Gods", as the current name suggests.[63]
Site layout
The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead" (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccoatli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (third largest in the World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula and the Great Pyramid of Giza). Pyramid of the Moon and The Ciudadela with Temple of the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl are placed at the both ends of Avenue while Palace-museum Quetzalpapálot, fourth basic structure of site, situated between two main pyramids. Along the Avenue are many smaller talud-tablero platforms also. The Aztecs believed they were tombs, inspiring the name of the avenue. Scholars have now established that these were ceremonial platforms that were topped with temples.
![](../I/m/Teotihucan_layout.gif)
The Avenue of the dead is roughly forty meters wide and four Kilometers long.[64] Further down the Avenue of the Dead, after small river, is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name "Citadel" was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city. Many of the buildings contained workshops where artisans produced pottery and other goods.
The urban layout of Teotihuacan exhibits two slightly different orientations, which resulted from a combination of astronomical and topographic criteria. The central part of the city, including the Avenue of the Dead, conforms to the orientation of the Sun Pyramid, while the southern part reproduces the orientation of the Ciudadela. The two constructions recorded sunrises and sunsets on particular dates, allowing the use of an observational calendar intended to facilitate a proper scheduling of agricultural labors and associated ceremonies. The fact that both orientations belong to alignment groups that are widespread in Mesoamerica can only be explained with the use of astronomical references at the horizon.[65] Furthermore, the Sun Pyramid is aligned to Cerro Gordo to the north, which means that the place for its construction must have been carefully selected. The artificial cave under the pyramid additionally attests to the importance of this spot.[66] Pecked-cross circles throughout the city and in the surrounding regions may have served for designing the urban grid.
The Ciudadela was completed during the Miccaotli phase, and the Pyramid of the Sun underwent a complex series of additions and renovations. The Great Compound was constructed across the Avenue of the Dead, west of Ciudadela. This was probably the city’s marketplace. The existence of a large market in an urban center of this size is strong evidence of state organization. Teotihuacan was at that point simply too large and too complex to have been politically viable as a chiefdom.
The Ciudadela is a great enclosed compound capable of holding 100,000 people. About 700,000 cubic meters (yards) of material was used to construct its buildings. Its central feature is the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, which was flanked by upper class apartments. The entire compound was designed to overwhelm visitors.
Threat from development
The archaeological park of Teotihuacan is under threat from development pressures. In 2004, the governor of Mexico state, Arturo Montiel, gave permission for Wal-Mart to build a large store in the third archaeological zone of the park. According to Sergio Gómez Chávez, an archaeologist and researcher for Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) fragments of ancient pottery were found where trucks dumped the soil from the site.[67]
More recently, Teotihuacan has become the center of controversy over Resplandor Teotihuacano, a massive light and sound spectacular installed to create a night time show for tourists.[68][69] Critics explain that the large number of perforations for the project have caused fractures in stones and irreversible damage, while the project will have limited benefit.
Gallery
- Front view of the Pyramid of the Sun
- Left side view of the Pyramid of the Sun
- Courtyard of the Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl
- Figurines at the local museum
- Puma mural in the Avenue of the Dead
- Marble mask, 3rd–7th century
- Serpentine mask, 3rd-6th century
- Alabaster statue of an Ocelot from Teotihuacan, 5th–6th century, possibly a ritual container to receive sacrificed human hearts (British Museum)[70]
- Detail of a collective burial of those slaughtered humans as part of the rites of consecration for the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent (phase Miccaotli, c. AD 200) In this case, all buried bodies had their hands tied behind their backs. The necklace is made of pieces that simulate human jaws, but other subjects buried wore necklaces with actual jaws.
- Detail of the murals of the palace of Atetelco, dated in Xolalpan phase (c. 450–650).
- A wall painting in Teotihuacan
- Green Bird Procession, Temple of Feathered Snails
See also
- Asteroid 293477 Teotihuacan
- Cerro de la Estrella, a large Teotihuacano-styled pyramid in what is now part of Mexico City
- List of archaeoastronomical sites by country
- List of megalithic sites
- List of Mesoamerican pyramids
- List of World Heritage Sites in Mexico
- Robert E. Lee Chadwick, an American anthropologist and archeologist
- Spring equinox in Teotihuacán
References
- ↑ "Teotihuacán". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- 1 2 3 "Teotihuacan". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- ↑ Millon, p. 18.
- ↑ Millon, p. 17, who says it was the sixth largest city in the world in AD 600.
- ↑ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
- ↑ "Estadística de Visitantes" (in Spanish). INAH. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ↑ Archaeology of Native North America by Dean R. Snow.
- ↑ Millon (1993), p. 34.
- ↑ Mathews and Schele (1997, p. 39)
- ↑ Miller and Taube (1993, p. 170)
- 1 2 3 Pollard, Elizabeth; Rosenberg, Clifford; Tignor, Robert (2015). Worlds Together Worlds Apart Volume 1 Concise Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-393-91847-2.
- ↑ Millon (1993), p. 24.
- ↑ Naachtun’s Stela 24 and the Entrada of 378, David Stuart, 2014
- ↑ Linda R. Manzanilla. Teotihuacan: An Exceptional Multiethnic City in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico, Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at UC Berkeley, April 15, 2015
- ↑ Fiallos, Maria (2006). Honduras and the Bay Islands. Hunter Publishing, Inc. ISBN 9781588436023.
- ↑ Carmack, Robert M.; Gasco, Janine L.; Gossen, Gary H. (2016-01-08). The Legacy of Mesoamerica: History and Culture of a Native American Civilization. Routledge. ISBN 9781317346791.
- ↑ Malmström (1978, p. 105) gives an estimate of 50,000 to 200,000 inhabitants. Coe et al. (1986) says it "might lie between 125,000 and 250,000". Millon, p. 18, lists 125,000 in AD 600. Taube, p. 1, says "perhaps as many as 150,000".
- ↑ Braswell (2003, p. 7)
- ↑ "Mexico's Pyramid of Death". National Geographic. 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
- ↑ "Sacrificial Burial Deepens Mystery At Teotihuacan, But Confirms The City's Militarism". ScienceDaily. 2004. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
- ↑ See for example Cheek (1977, passim.), who argues that much of Teotihuacan's influence stems from direct militaristic conquest.
- ↑ See Laporte (2003, p. 205); Varela Torrecilla and Braswell (2003, p. 261).
- ↑ Braswell (2003, p. 11)
- ↑ Braswell (2003, p. 11); for the analysis at Tikal, see Laporte (2003, pp. 200–205)
- ↑ Davies, p. 78.
- 1 2 Linda R. Manzanilla. Cooperation and tensions in multiethnic corporate societies using Teotihuacan, Central Mexico, as a case study, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS/PNAS Online), July 28, 2015, vol. 112 no. 30 (2015), pp. 9210–9215, doi:10.1073/pnas.1419881112
- ↑ Manzanilla L. (2003) The abandonment of Teotihuacan. The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America, Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry, eds Inomata T, Webb RW (Univ of Utah Press, Salt Lake City), pp 91–101/
- ↑ "Cultura Teotihuacana". www.historiacultural.com. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
- ↑ Kaufman (2001, p. 4)
- ↑ Snow, Dean R. (2010). Archaeology of Native North America. Prentice Hall. p. 156.
- ↑ Lost Kingdoms of Central America, BBC Four (British television, Saturday 28 January 2017)
- ↑ Terrence Kaufman, "Nawa linguistic prehistory", SUNY Albany
- ↑
- Wright Carr; David Charles (2005). "El papel de los otomies en las culturas del altiplano central 5000 a.C - 1650 d.C". Arqueología mexicana (in Spanish). XIII (73): 19.
- ↑ Miller & Taube, pp. 162–63.
- ↑ Instead of "Storm God", Miller and Taube call this deity "Tlaloc", the name of the much later Aztec storm god. Coe (1994), p. 101, uses the same term. However, the use of Nahuatl Aztec names to denote Teotihuacan deities has been in decline (see Berlo, p. 147).
- ↑ Instead of "the Feathered Serpent", Miller and Taube call this deity "Quetzalcoatl", the name of the much later Aztec feathered serpent god.
- ↑ Sugiyama (1992), p. 220.
- 1 2 Pasztory (1997), p. 84.
- ↑ Pasztory (1997), pp. 83–84.
- ↑ Cowgill (1997), p. 149. Pasztory (1992), p. 281.
- ↑ Sugiyama, p. 111.
- ↑ Manzanilla, Linda (1993). Berrin, Kathleen; Pasztory, Esther, eds. Teotihuacan : art from the city of the gods. New York, New York: Thames and Hudson. p. 95. ISBN 0500277672.
- ↑ Coe (1994), p. 98.
- ↑ Sugiyama: 109, 111
- ↑ Birmingham Museum of Art (2010). Birmingham Museum of Art : guide to the collection. Birmingham, AL: Birmingham Museum of Art. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-904832-77-5.
- ↑ Pasztory (1993), p. 54.
- ↑ Tunnel under Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent under exploration in 2010
- ↑ es:Leopoldo Batres
- ↑ Bueno, The Pursuit of Ruins, pp. 80, 192–95,
- ↑ Bueno, The Pursuit of Ruins, pp. 199–200.
- ↑ Bueno, The Pursuit of Ruins, 206–207.
- ↑ Heyden (1975, p. 131)
- ↑ Šprajc (2000), p. 410
- 1 2 3 4 National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Mexico. Press release, 3 August 2010. Teotihuacan tunnel – entrance located. Archaeologists Locate the Entrance to Teotihuacan Tunnel, Universes in Universe – Worlds of Art, 3 August 2010
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Matthew Shaer, Janet Jarman (photos). A Secret Tunnel Found in Mexico May Finally Solve the Mysteries of Teotihuacán, Smithsonian Magazine, June 2016
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Paul Laity. Lakes of mercury and human sacrifices – after 1,800 years, Teotihuacan reveals its treasures, The Guardian, 24 September 2017 18.52 BST
- 1 2 De Young Museum. Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire. De Young Museum, September 30, 2017–February 11, 2018, De Young Museum, 2017
- ↑ The Associated Press. Experts: Ancient Mexicans crossbred wolf-dogs, Phys.org (Science X network), December 16, 2010
- ↑ Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH. Tunnel found under temple in Mexico, Phys.org (Science X network), May 30, 2011
- 1 2 First Images of the Interior of Teotihuacan Tunnel Captured by Camera on Small Robot, ArtDaily, November 12, 2010
- 1 2 3 4 Rossella Lorenzi. Robot finds mysterious spheres in ancient temple, NBCNews.com, April 30, 2013
- ↑ Alan Yuhas. Liquid mercury found under Mexican pyramid could lead to king's tomb, The Guardian, 24 April 2015
- ↑ "Mexico's Teotihuacan ruins may have been 'Teohuacan'". National Post. January 23, 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ↑ "Calzada de los Muertos. Zona arqueológica de Teotihuacan". pueblosoriginarios.com. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
- ↑ Šprajc, Ivan (2018). "Astronomy, Architecture, and Landscape in Prehispanic Mesoamerica". Journal of Archaeological Research. 26 (2): 197–251. doi:10.1007/s10814-017-9109-z.
- ↑ Šprajc, Ivan (2000). "Astronomical alignments at Teotihuacan, Mexico". Latin American Antiquity. 11 (4): 403–415.
- ↑ David Barstow and Alejandra Xanix von Vertrab. December 17, 2012 The Bribery Aisle: How Wal-Mart Got Its Way in Mexico, New York Times Wal-Mart Abroad
- ↑ Prensa Latina, Protesters Demand Stop on Pyramid Project, Banderas News, February 2009.
- ↑ Prensa Latina, Tourists reject sound and light show at Mexican pyramids, TwoCircles.net, February 18, 2009.
- ↑ British Museum Collection
Further reading
- Berrin, Kathleen; Esther Pasztory (1993). Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-23653-4. OCLC 28423003.
- Braswell, Geoffrey E. (2003). "Introduction: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction". In Geoffrey E. Braswell. The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 1–44. ISBN 0-292-70587-5. OCLC 49936017.
- Brown, Dale M., ed. (1992). Aztecs: Reign of Blood and Splendor. Lost Civilizations series. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-8094-9854-5. OCLC 24848419.
- Bueno, Christina. The Pursuit of Ruins: Archeology, History, and the Making of Modern Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2016, ISBN 0826357318
- Cheek, Charles D. (1977). "Excavations at the Palangana and the Acropolis, Kaminaljuyu". In William T. Sanders; Joseph W. Michels. Teotihuacan and Kaminaljuyu: a Study in Prehistoric Culture Contact. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 1–204. ISBN 0-271-00529-7. OCLC 3327234.
- Coe, Michael D.; Rex Koontz (1994) [1962]. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27722-2. OCLC 50131575.
- Coe, Michael D.; Dean Snow; Elizabeth Benson (1986). Atlas of Ancient America. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-1199-0.
- Cowgill, George L. (1992). "Teotihuacan Glyphs and Imagery in the Light of Some Early Colonial Texts". In Janet Catherine Berlo. Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1988. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. pp. 231–46. ISBN 0-88402-205-6. OCLC 25547129.
- Cowgill, George (1997). "State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico" (PDF online reproduction). Annual Review of Anthropology. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews Inc. 26 (1): 129–161. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.129. OCLC 202300854.
- Davies, Nigel (1982). The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico. England: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-013587-1.
- Heyden, Doris (1975). "An Interpretation of the Cave underneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico". American Antiquity. Menasha, WI: Society for American Archaeology. 40 (2): 131–147. doi:10.2307/279609. JSTOR 279609. OCLC 1479302.
- Kaufman, Terrence (2001). "Nawa linguistic prehistory". Mesoamerican Language Documentation Project.
- Laporte, Juan Pedro (2003). "Architectural Aspects of Interaction Between Tikal and Teotihuacan during the Early Classic Period". In Geoffrey E. Braswell. The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 199–216. ISBN 0-292-70587-5. OCLC 49936017.
- Malmström, Vincent H. (1978). "Architecture, Astronomy, and Calendrics in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica" (PDF Reprinted). Journal for the History of Astronomy. 9: 105–116. Bibcode:1978JHA.....9..105M. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
- Miller, Mary; Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317.
- Millon, René (1993). "The Place Where Time Began: An Archaeologist's Interpretation of What Happened in Teotihuacan History". In Berrin, Kathleen; Esther Pasztory. Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. New York: Thames and Hudson. pp. 16–43. ISBN 0-500-23653-4. OCLC 28423003.
- Pasztory, Esther (1992). "Abstraction and the rise of a utopian state at Teotihuacan", in Janet Berlo, ed. Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan, Dumbarton Oaks, pp. 281–320.
- Schele, Linda; Peter Mathews (1998). The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-684-80106-X. OCLC 37819972.
- Sugiyama, Saburo (2003). Governance and Polity at Classic Teotihuacan; in Julia Ann Hendon, Rosemary A. Joyce, "Mesoamerican archaeology". Wiley-Blackwell.
- Séjourné, Laurette (1959) Un Palacio en la ciudad de los dioses, Teotihuacán, Mexico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
- Séjourné, Laurette (1962) El Universo de Quetzalcóatl, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
- Séjourné, Laurette (1966) Arqueología de Teotihuacán, la cerámica, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
- Séjourné, Laurette (1969) Teotihuacan, métropole de l'Amérique, Paris, F. Maspero.
- Šprajc, Ivan; Sprajc, Ivan (2000). "Astronomical Alignments at Teotihuacan, Mexico". Latin American Antiquity. Washington, DC: Society for American Archaeology. 11 (4): 403–415. doi:10.2307/972004. JSTOR 972004.
- Taube, Karl A. (2000). The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan (PDF). Ancient America series. 1. Barnardsville, NC: Center for Ancient American Studies. OCLC 44992821.
- Varela Torrecilla, Carmen; Geoffrey E. Braswell (2003). "Teotihuacan and Oxkintok: New Perspectives from Yucatán". In Geoffrey E. Braswell. The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 249–72. ISBN 0-292-70587-5. OCLC 49936017.
- Weaver, Muriel Porter (1993). The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0-01-263999-0.
- Webmoor, Timothy (2007). "Reconfiguring the Archaeological Sensibility: Mediating Heritage at Teotihuacan, Mexico". Symmetrical Archaeology [2005–, collaboratory directors T. Webmoor and C. Witmore]. PhD thesis. Stanford Archaeology Center/Metamedia Lab, Stanford University. Archived from the original (online digital publication) on 2007-09-18. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Teotihuacán. |
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Teotihuacan. |
- Teotihuacan Research Guide, academic resources and links, maintained by Temple University
- Teotihuacan Teotihuacan information and history
- Teotihuacan article by Encyclopædia Britannica
- Teotihuacan Photo Gallery, by James Q. Jacobs
- 360° Panoramic View of the Avenue of the Dead, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon , by Roland Kuczora