Teotihuacan: Ancient City of Pyramids

Key Points

TEOTIHUACAN

The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan.

Located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of modern Mexico City, Teotihuacan used to be one of the biggest urban centers in the ancient world. No one knows who built it. The city flourished between 2,100 years ago, when construction began, and about 1,400 years ago, when it went into a duration of decline, consisting of a fire that brought on incredible damage. However, even with the decline, the city was in no way simply “lost” — the Aztecs made regular pilgrimages to the site in later periods.
What the city’s personal inhabitants called the town and its structures are unknown. The modern-day name, Teotihuacan, was given to it by the Aztecs and means “the region the place the gods were created.”

Size and influence – Teotihuacan

At its zenith, Teotihuacan encompassed an urban core of about 8 square miles (20 square km) with a population estimated at greater than 100,000 people. Its impact was once felt during central Mexico and as a long way south as Guatemala.
The town has organized the usage of a grid plan, many people living in what scholars refer to as “apartment compounds,” containing multiple families. An archaeological mapping project recognized about 2,200 of these structures inside the city, with excavations showing that some compounds were richer than others, containing more stone and lime plaster in their construction.

Avenue of the Dead – Teotihuacan

Running on a north-south axis is the city’s primary street recognized nowadays as the Avenue of the Dead, from a later Aztec name. It runs for greater than two miles and includes three major pyramid complexes.

Pyramid of the Moon – Teotihuacan

At the northern quit of the avenue is the Pyramid of the Moon, from an Aztec name. Recent lookup suggests it was built in levels between round 1 AD and 350 AD. It started out off as a small platform and eventually became a 150-foot-high (46 meters) pyramid with a base 550 feet (168 meters) via 490 toes (149 meters). Its elevated platforms were likely used for rituals that may want to be witnessed through human beings on the ground. Tombs located associated with the structure contain both human and animal sacrifices along with grave goods such as obsidian and greenstone.

Pyramid of the Sun – Teotihuacan

Less than half a mile south of the Pyramid of the Moon is the Pyramid of Sun. At a height of greater than 200 ft (63 meters) and a base greater than 730 ft (225 meters) long on each side, this pyramid is one of the biggest structures created in the pre-Columbian New World. It would have been finished around 200 AD.
In 1971, an archaeological team discovered a tunnel underneath the pyramid, its entrance located close to the Avenue of the Dead. They dug out the fill in the tunnel discovering that it terminated in a cloverleaf-shaped chamber which, sadly, had been looted in antiquity. The cave was once probably used for rituals of some kind.

The Avenue of the Dead at Teotihuacan.

Another discovery, announced late closing year, used to be a small treasure trove of offerings that may date to when the building of the pyramid began. Among the gadgets observed used to be a green serpentine mask that may additionally have been a portrait of an ancient individual.

Temple of the Feathered Serpent

Located south of the Pyramid of the Sun is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, also recognized as “La Ciudadela,” a name Spanish conquistadors gave it. The focal point of this monument is a six-stepped pyramid, smaller than the different two examples on the Avenue of the Dead. Two rental compounds located nearby may also have been inhabited via nearby elites.
The pyramid is believed to have been completed sometime in the 3rd century AD. Cut in low relief on the structure are alternating heads displaying Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent god, and a being that appears to be Tlaloc, an ancient storm god.

The templs of Quetzalcoatl,
the feathered serpent,
At teotihuacan.

Found near the pyramid are the burials of about 200 people. Many of them were young guys and the grave choices suggest that they were warriors, possibly Teotihuacan’s own. The truth that many of them had been located with their wrists crossed behind their backs suggests that they had been tied up and, for some reason, sacrificed. Young ladies and a few older men were also found, with offerings.

Mural art

Teotihuacan is standard for its colorful murals painted on plastered walls. They can be observed in the city’s many apartment compounds as properly as on different buildings identified as palaces and temples. Among the motifs that can be viewed are images of the storm god, Tlaloc, as nicely as a deity that scholars name the “Great Goddess,” probably associated with agricultural fertility. Other motifs include birds, jaguars, coyotes, owls, and the feathered serpent.