V oices of /January • March, 1993 17

services, housing units and an area of 20 km2 capable of sustaining several 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 , 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 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 religious andadministrative center they mayhave beenthecity's been suggestedthatatsome time unearthed tworesidentialcomplexes Quetzalcóatl thatmayhave served as north andsouthoftheTemple of their precisefunction. buildings alongtheAvenidadelos some kindofpoliticalcenter. Ithas available data,itisdifficulttodefine Muertos. However,owingtoalackof There areadministrativeandpolitical buildings Administrative and main avenueandemptyingintothe underground channelsthatflowedinto prevent sudden,disastrousflooding. San JuanRiver. a centralchannelrunningunderthe included avastnetworkof the meanderingSanLorenzoRiverto the citygrid,aswellstraightening channelling theSanJuanRivertofit through thesectionbetween Coronillas andGordoHills. Water fromthestreamdescended northeast ofthePyramidMoon. water andsewagesystems.Thelatter fed itsrun-offthroughatank200m Apparently therewerebothdrinking Water supplyand structure. astronomical reasons,especiallythe of theSunhasbeenattributedto setting ofthePleiadesinfront city itselfTheangleofthePyramid found onthenearbyhillsandin circles withcrosses;thesecanbe markers intheshapeofconcentric nearby slopes. kilometers fromthecitycenteron built onagrid,facing15°northby east, canstillbeseenseveral main avenues.Remainsofhouses perpendicular totheevenly-spaced streets, whichranparallelor Recent excavationshave The systemofinterna]drainage Building thesesystemsinvolved The citywasplottedusing Most houseswerebuiltalongthe drainage political system and LaVentilla, amongothers. Atetelco, Tepantitla,Tetitla,Zacuala city: Tlamimilolpa,Xolalpan, buildings aroundthecentralpart ofthe There is several roomsat differentlevels Residential buildings this hypothesis. Teotihuacan society.However,there the squaremayhavebeen they surroundahugeopenspace. Muertos, whiletotheeastandwest level entranceson wings, (northandsouth),withstreet- is noconcreteevidencetosupport institution thatintegrated and thatthismayhavebeenthe location ofthecity'slargestmarket area thantheCitadel.Itconsistsoftwo Avenida delosMuertos,isthelargest structure inthecity,coveringalarger Citadel, ontheothersideof residential buildingsaroundthecenter. very littlefromothersalongthe substantially differentfromthe Avenida delosMuertosandarenot governors' residence. as wellperhapsthecity Sun pyramid. These buildings generallyhave René Millon'shypothesisisthat The GrandComplex,facingthe However, thesestructuresdiffer a seriesofresidential the Avenida delos Voices ofMexico purslane, andacacia. gathered wildpotatoes, bulrush, perhaps white sapodilla. They greens andpricklypears.They ate kidney beans,varioustypesof squash, fruit oftheMexicanhawthorn, and fruit suchasthecapulincherry, the chile, tomatoes,amaranth,edible varieties ofcorn,blackandlarge the insideofcomplex. windowless outerwalls.Theinner was setawayfromthestreetwith with privacyinmind.Eachbuilding light andairaswellrain,toreach courtyards wereunroofed,allowing complexes isthattheyweredesigned housing areas. different craftsmenlivedinseparate since ithasbeenobservedthat corporate groupsofthesametrade, respectively. twenty, fiftyorahundredpeople types ofcomplexthatcouldhouse Millon suggeststhattherewerethree multiples andsubmultiples.Thus were basedona57m.module,with complex isenclosedbyanouterwall. domestic shrinesandthewhole around opencourtyards.Theycontain The Teotihuacanscultivatedthree Another featureofthese They mayhavebeenoccupiedby Interestingly, thesestructures /January •March,1993

IIE / UNAM.

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. Both ends of a historical became specialized, even to the colonies established in Matacapan process have had to face excessive type of object made. Some (Veracruz), Kaminaljuyú (Guatemala) rural-urban migration, an over- workshops produced small and perhaps Tingambato (Michoacan) extended water supply, soil erosion, prismatic razors while others made and Altavista (), and that the deforestation, over-population and spearheads and knives. The main city interfered in the politics of Mayan other phenomena that lead to obsidian area was west of the cities such as Tikal. The valleys of reflection on the future of urban life Pyramid of the Moon. Other Puebla-Tlaxcala, Toluca and Morelos on this planet. workshops that have been seem to have been under discovered produced pottery, Teotihuacan's control. figurines, precious or polished Unlike other urban centers in Bibliography stones, and slate objects. Mesoamerica that were ruled by Lorenzo, José L. (ed.), Materiales para la arqueología de Teotihuacan. Mexico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Serie Investigaciones, 17, 1968.

Manzanilla, Linda and López Luján, Leonardo, Atlas Histórico de Mesoamérica. Mexico, Larousse, 1989.

Millón, René, The Teotihuacan Map. Austin, University of Texas Press, The Dan Dancinger Publ. Series, 1973.

Sanders, William T., Parsons, R. z Jeffrey and Santley, S. Robert, The Basin of Mexico. Ecological process in the evolution of a civilization. New Temple of Quetzalcóatl (detall of the plumed serpent). York, Academic Press, 1979