Teotihuacan Tens of Thousands of Inhabitants 11111 Identify It As a True City
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V oices of Mexico /January • March, 1993 17 services, housing units and an area of 20 km2 capable of sustaining several Teotihuacan tens of thousands of inhabitants 11111 identify it as a true city. Teotihuacan was built in the ON3ld valley of the same name for a 1 Linda Manzanilla * number of reasons; local grey H obsidian deposits and nearby green 1 urs is a totally urban splendor (the first seven centuries obsidian deposits in the Sierra de las IX3LAI civilization. While many A.D.), Teotihuacan was the most Navajas (obsidian being the basis of cities of the past are of important settlement in the Basin of pre-Hispanic technology), several particularO interest, it is surely early Mexico, comprising 50 to 60% of the dozen fresh-water springs in the urban centers that exert the greatest entire population, with the remainder southeast of the valley, the fascination. living in rural areas. proximity of Lake Texcoco and the Teotihuacan was the archetypal Teotihuacan was the principal fact that it offered the easiest access city of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, a pilgrimage center and dominated the to the Basin of Mexico from the paradigm of civilized living on the rest of the region both politically and Gulf Coast. central plateau. During its period of economically. Evident signs of urban The valley had clay soil for planning, special districts for making pottery, basalt, pyroclast and * Institute ofAnthropological Research, UNAM. craftsmen and foreigners, public tuff for building, land for growing 2 z Temple of Quetzaicaati and rialoc. 18 Voices of Mexico /January • March, 1993 UNAM. / IIE Moon plaza. crops on the San Juan River alluvial explain the presence of this first urban been used for ritual purposes, plain and other resources provided by center in a cave setting, so far from a probably connected with Tlalocan, the the mountain slopes. permanent water source. Once the city underworld of Tláloc, the city's god. The city of Teotihuacan was built, the tunnels may also have We expect to find offerings and achieved its final shape in approximately 300-400 A.D. There had previously been a densely populated center in the waterless northeast of the valley, as though the Teotihuacans had kept the alluvial plain for growing crops. However, it is strange that they did not build near the springs. A series of tunnels and caves under the northern part of the city has recently been explored. The system was probably man-made and created by the Teotihuacans by extracting pyroclast and basalt from the volcanic ash cones buried in the valley. The city and its pyramids were built from this material. UNAM. / However, some of the caves HE probably held water, which might Quetzalpapalotl patio. Voices of Mexico /January • March, 1993 19 To produce lime, the Teotihuacans had to burn the limestone, and in doing so, they deforested a good part of the valley's surroundings. The wood was not only used for producing lime but also for building roofs, as well as domestic and craftsmen's fuel. This marvellous city, where sacred time and space were created, served as a model for subsequent civilizations; some of its main features are described below. The existence of streets and avenues Avenida de los Muertos was the main NAM. avenue crossing the city from north to / U south. It has been suggested that IlE another avenue should run from east to Temple of agriculture. west, starting in the center of the storehouses associated with the earth's walls. The lime coating used as a Citadel, stretching east for more than 3 fertility, and also graves. surface for paintings and for covering km and west of the Grand Complex for Teotihuacan might have been both floors and avenues carne from over 2 km. Together they would cut the called "the colorful city." Numerous the limestone brought from Tula, city into quadrants, making the Citadel painted murals decorated its stucco Hidalgo. in the center particularly important. Citadel. 20 Voices of Mexico /January • March, 1993 Most houses were built along the streets, which ran parallel or perpendicular to the evenly-spaced main avenues. Remains of houses built on a grid, facing 15° north by east, can still be seen several kilometers from the city center on nearby slopes. The city was plotted using markers in the shape of concentric circles with crosses; these can be found on the nearby hills and in the city itself The angle of the Pyramid of the Sun has been attributed to astronomical reasons, especially the setting of the Pleiades in front of the structure. Water supply and IIE / UNAM. drainage system Sun pyramid. Apparently there were both drinking water and sewage systems. The latter as well as perhaps the city around open courtyards. They contain fed its run-off through a tank 200 m governors' residence. domestic shrines and the whole northeast of the Pyramid of the Moon. However, these structures differ complex is enclosed by an outer wall. Water from the stream descended very little from others along the Interestingly, these structures through the section between Avenida de los Muertos and are not were based on a 57m. module, with Coronillas and Gordo Hills. substantially different from the multiples and submultiples. Thus Building these systems involved residential buildings around the center. Millon suggests that there were three channelling the San Juan River to fit The Grand Complex, facing the types of complex that could house the city grid, as well as straightening Citadel, on the other side of the twenty, fifty or a hundred people the meandering San Lorenzo River to Avenida de los Muertos, is the largest respectively. prevent sudden, disastrous flooding. structure in the city, covering a larger They may have been occupied by The system of interna] drainage area than the Citadel. It consists of two corporate groups of the same trade, included a vast network of wings, (north and south), with street- since it has been observed that underground channels that flowed into level entrances on the Avenida de los different craftsmen lived in separate a central channel running under the Muertos, while to the east and west housing areas. main avenue and emptying into the they surround a huge open space. Another feature of these San Juan River. René Millon's hypothesis is that complexes is that they were designed the square may have been the with privacy in mind. Each building Administrative and political location of the city's largest market was set away from the street with buildings and that this may have been the windowless outer walls. The inner There are administrative and political institution that integrated courtyards were unroofed, allowing buildings along the Avenida de los Teotihuacan society. However, there light and air as well as rain, to reach Muertos. However, owing to a lack of is no concrete evidence to support the inside of the complex. available data, it is difficult to define this hypothesis. The Teotihuacans cultivated three their precise function. varieties of corn, black and large Recent excavations have Residential buildings kidney beans, various types of squash, unearthed two residential complexes There is a series of residential chile, tomatoes, amaranth, edible north and south of the Temple of buildings around the central part of the greens and prickly pears. They ate Quetzalcóatl that may have served as city: Tlamimilolpa, Xolalpan, fruit such as the capulin cherry, the some kind of political center. It has Atetelco, Tepantitla, Tetitla, Zacuala fruit of the Mexican hawthorn, and been suggested that at some time and La Ventilla, among others. perhaps white sapodilla. They they may have been the city's These buildings generally have gathered wild potatoes, bulrush, religious and administrative center several rooms at different levels purslane, and acacia. Voices of Mexico /January • March, 1993 21 Animal protein was provided by There are districts in the city that governors and dynasties, government rabbit, hare, deer, fresh-water fish and contain abundant pottery shards made and administration in Teotihuacan aquatic birds, although they also ate elsewhere than Teotihuacan, leading were probably in the hands of the turkey and dog. some researchers to assume that these priests. The Basin of Mexico is a were residential areas for foreigners. There have been countless predominantly volcanic area, meaning Examples include the "Oaxacan hypotheses concerning the end of the that the Teotihuacan communities had district" in the southeast of the city Classical period: epidemics, basalt, andesite and pyroclast to use and the "Merchants' district" in the invasions, internal conflicts, for building. There was grey obsidian eastern sector. environmental disasters, blocked in the northeast part of the This last district was recently trade routes. The fact remains that Teotihuacan Valley, and green in the excavated by UNAM researchers who Classical urban life collapsed; there Sierra de las Navajas in Pachuca. found round, adobe structures and were population drifts towards Cotton, strangler fig bark paper tombs with Mayan and Gulf Coast Central America and vice versa. The and avocado, jadeite, turquoise and pottery. Thus, Teotihuacan was a next phase, the Post-Classical period, serpentine, together with precious bird cosmopolitan city, with foreign was dominated by military conquests feathers and other resources carne residents, that had established and tributes. Mexico City is the from areas outside the basin. numerous links with distant corners of megalopolis of today. It is interesting Mesoamerica. to note that one of the greatest urban Craftsmen's districts and areas It has been suggested that political phenomena in pre-industrial times, Crafts are attested to by numerous alliances were formed with Monte Teotihuacan, was also set in the Basin obsidian workshops. This craft soon Alban in Oaxaca; and Teotihuacan of Mexico.