Local harvests included beans, avocados, peppers and squash, and the city farmers raised chickens and turkeys. Other goods coming into and out of the city likely included cotton, cacao and exotic feathers and shells, among other things. Teotihuacan had a monopoly on obsidian trade-the most important deposit in Mesoamerica was located near the city.Ĭeramics, such as pottery and other luxury goods, were also highly prized export goods because of their elaborate decorations. In particular, the city exported fine obsidian tools, including spear and dart heads. Teotihuacan InfluenceĪrtifacts found in the city and sites across Mexico suggest Teotihuacan was a wealthy trade metropolis in its prime. Other sacrifices at the pyramid include five canines (wolves or coyotes), three felines (jaguar or puma) and 13 birds (many thought to be eagles)-animals believed to be symbols of warriors. The other two sacrifices were richly ornamented. These sacrifices included 12 people with their hands bound behind their back, 10 of whom were decapitated and tossed about at the burial vault within the pyramid. More recently, in 2004, archaeologists uncovered evidence of sacrifices at the Pyramid of the Moon that suggests the site was a place to celebrate state power and militarism. Many of these sacrifices were male warriors in military attire, others were young women and others still were males likely of relatively high social status. The later discovered that around 200 other victims were sacrificed when the temple was built in the early 3rd century A.D. In 1989, researchers discovered 18 sacrificial victims buried in a long pit just south of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. The Teotihuacan priests practiced ritual sacrifices of animals and people to these gods. Other deities include Quetzalcoatl (a vegetation god whose meaning changed in subsequent civilizations), the rain god Tlaloc, and the god of spring Xipe Totec, among others. The art and architecture of the city shows it was a polytheistic society, with the primary deity being the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, which is depicted as a spider goddess. They had a glyph-based written language, but it may have been limited to dates and names. Little is known about the language, politics, culture and religion of the Teotihuacan people. It’s thought that the city reached its peak around 100 years later, with a population as high as 200,000 people. Whatever the case, Teotihuacan was founded as early as 400 B.C., though the largest structures of the city weren’t completed until about 300 A.D. Teotihuacan appears to contain features of various cultures, including the Maya, Mixtec and Zapotec. Other scholars believe the Totonacs, a tribe from the east, built and inhabited the city.Īnother theory holds that immigrants flooded into the Teotihuacan valley following the eruption of a volcano, and those immigrants built or augmented the city. But the Toltec culture (900-1150 A.D.) flourished hundreds of years after Teotihuacan peaked. Scholars once believed the ancient Toltec civilization may have built the massive city, based largely on colonial period texts. The 38-acre (15-hectare) courtyard contains multiple elite residential complexes and is dominated by the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, a kind of truncated pyramid that is adorned with numerous stone heads of the Feathered Serpent deity. ![]() The Ciudadela is situated at the south end of the Avenue of the Dead. Facing west, the pyramid stands at 216 feet (66 meters) with a base measuring approximately 720 by 760 feet (220 by 230 meters). Less than half a mile south of the Pyramid of the Moon stands the largest structure in Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Sun. Standing at 140-feet (43-meters) high with a base measuring 426 by 511 feet (130 by 156 meters), the Pyramid of the Moon is the second largest structure in Teotihuacan. ![]() ![]() Surrounded by smaller pyramids and platforms, the Pyramid of the Moon is situated at the northern end of the Avenue of the Dead and faces south. The city contains several large, important structures: The Pyramid of the Moon, the Pyramid of the Sun, the Ciudadela (“Citadel”) and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (the Feathered Serpent). The Avenue of the Dead is a 130-foot- (40-meter-) wide, 1.5-mile- (2.4-km-) long road that’s oriented slightly east (15.5 degrees) of true north and points directly at the nearby sacred peak of Cerro Gordo, an extinct volcano. The main buildings of Teotihuacan are connected by the Avenue of the Dead (or Miccaotli in the Aztec language Nahuatl). It contains around 2,000 single-story apartment compounds, as well as various pyramids, plazas, temples and palaces of nobles and priests. Teotihuacan (also written Teotihuacán) is arranged in a grid layout that covers about 8 square miles (20 square kilometers).
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