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Home , Calmecac, Coatepantli, Mixcoatl, Mount Tlaloc, Tenayuca, Tlaloc

T or Wall, consisting of a line of serpents sculpted miraculous spring of red and blue waters-revealed to the from stone, was erected on a platform around three sides the location where they should settle and end of the base of the pyramid. North and south of the pyra- their wanderings. The Mexica raised their temple in that mid are small adoratorio altars, as well as a depiction of a spot, which represented the threshold of the opening that (fire serpent), its head crested with points indi- communicated between the world of humans and the cating a relation to the cult of the sun, the renewal ensu- world where gods dwelt. This portal was represented by ing from the New Fire Ceremony, and the periodic cycle either an anthill, a sabine tree (Juniperus mexicana), a of fifty-two years. double cave, or a double spring. These binary elements, along with the colors red and blue, would later determine FURTHER READINGS the principal characteristics of the main pyramid dedi- León Portilla, M. 1967. El proceso de aculturación de los cated to (god of war, a solar deiry) and to de Xólotl. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl (god of rain, an earth-related deiry), two gods who 7:59-86. played opposite but complementary roles. Marquina,1. 1935. , estudio arqueológico de la Thirteen years later, around A.D. 1337, a group of dis- pirámide de Este Lugar. Talleres Gráficos del Museo contented Mexica broke away from the rest and founded Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Ethnografia, 35. a new city on a nearby island known as Tlatelolco. So sit- City: Departamento de Monumentos de La uated, the two Mexica settlements formed one dual entiry Secretaria de Educación Publica. of complementary symbolic character. The Tenochca, the Zúñiga Bárcenas, B. 1992. Tenayuca Miniguía. Mexico southern of the rwo cornmunities, used the celestial figure City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. of an eagle with one of the toponomic glyphs, holding a Beatriz Zúñiga Bárcenas sacred bundle with the sticks used to make fire. The Tlatelolcans, on the other hand, used the terrestrial figure SEEALSO of the jaguar with a toponomic glyph and a sacred bundle Culture and History that enclosed a green stone, an aquatic symbol. In a man- ner similar to that of the Tenochca, rhe Tlatelolcans built their ceremonial center in the location marked by the Tenochtidán: Ceremonial Center miraculous appearance of a whirlwind that connected At the heart ofTenochtitlán stood one of the most prorni- earth with heaven. From then on, the antagonism and nent ritual spaces in all Mesoamerican history, the center cornpetitiveness that prevailed between the rwin cities of par excellence for divine propitiation and the quintessence Mexico-- Tenochtitlán and Tlatelolco-would be clearly of the Nahua worldview. The ceremonial center of reflecred in the growth of their respective ceremonial cen- Tenochtirlán was, in a religious sense, the architectonic terso It can be said that the construction, continuous image of the cosmic order. Ir was also the divine model in remodeling, and final destruction of these rwo architec- the world ofhumans, because at that place high, medium, tural complexes occurred in parallel. and low elevations intersecred with the fout directions of After rhe Spanish conquest in August 1521, Cortés the universe, which were represented by the city's four made the historie decision to level the two cities in order principal causeways. In the economic and political sense, to build the first houses for the conquerors, using the the ceremonial center was the materialization of central- material s obtained from the demolished temples. Mexico ized power. Around ir revolved, like satellites, the rnulti- City, the capital of and, since 1821, of the ethnic populations of the ciry itself, of the surrounding Mexican Republic, was erected over the ruins of Tenochti- productive centers, and of the triburary regions of the tlán and Tlatelolco. Obviously, the Colonial and modern periphery that periodically sent raw materials and manu- buildings represent a huge obstacle for the archaeologists. factured goods to . Unril recently, it had been possible to unearth only very The history of the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlán small sections of the ancient cities, and always under begins with the foundation of the city on an island in exceptional circumstances and in specific areas. . According to several myths, this event took For centuries, the only reliable sources of knowledge place in the year 2 House (A.D. 1325), when adivine about the ceremonial centers of Tenochtitlán and Tla- vision-of an eagle perched on a nopal cactus, or of a telolco were the accounts written by the conquerors

712 Tenayuca (México, Mexico) T

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Illustrarion of rhe ceremonial cenrer ofTenochrirlán. Arrisr: Vicror Rangel. themselves, who actually saw thern still functioning pyramid that was inside this sacred space, causing nurner- (Hernán Cortés, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Andrés de ous misunderstandings. There are also a few sixteenth- Tapia), and the detailed narratives of the natives compiled century drawings that show the ceremonial center of by me Spanish friars Bernardino de Sahagún, Diego Tenochtitlán, such as plate 269r from Sahagún's Primeros Durán, Motolinía, and others. In these sources, the name Memoriales and the 1524 map, ascribed to Cortés, that HueyTeocalli orTemplo Mayor (Crear Temple) is applied was included in me Latin rranslation of his Second Letter indiscriminately to the large precinct and to the main to King Charles V

Tenochtidán: Ceremonial Center 713 T

K'. tlatelolco ''') urolugot potavWtor VISITAS GUIADAS _. __ •••••••••

Illustration of the ceremonial center of Tlatelolco, Artist: Fernando Botas Vera.

Since 1790, this invaluable historie information has pyramid of Tenochtitlán and fourteen adjacent build- been enriched with frequent archaeological dicoveries of ings, 136 buried offerings, thousands of artifacts, and buildings and monoliths that once stood inside the cere- numerous sculptures and mural paintings. The extensive monial centers. Major archaeological projects started with excavation covered an area of 1.29 hectares behind the the arrival of the rwentieth century, aimed at a systematic Metropolitan Cathedral. This amounts to only 10 percent search for the most important buildings of the two pre- of the area occupied by the ceremonial center ofTenoch- Hispanic cities. In the center of Tenochtitlán the most titlán (estimated at 12.96 hectares), and approximately notable were excavations undertaken by Leopoldo Batres 0.1 percent of the total extent of the rwo cities (estirnated (1900), Manuel Gamio (1913), Jordi Gussinyer (1968- by several authors as 13.5 square kilorneters). 1970), and Constanza Vega (1975-1976). The most After two centuries ofhistoric and archaeological studies, important projects in Tlatelolco were those coordinated our knowledge of the ceremonial centers ofTenochtitlán by Pablo Martínez del Río, Antonieta Espejo and Robert and Tlatelolco has improved substantially. Nevertheless, H. Barlow (1944-1948), Francisco González Rul, Alberto the various hypothetical recreations of the ceremonial Ruz and Eduardo Contreras (1960-1968), and Eduardo center ofTenochtitlán-all of thern derived from the pio- Matos (1987-1993). neer work of Ignacio Marquina-still offer an idealized The most ambitious exploration yet has been the Tem- image of the realiry, particularly regarding its dimensions plo Mayor Project, coordinated by Eduardo Matos and symmetry. (1978-1989), and by Matos and Leonardo López Luján Nowadays there is no doubt that the ceremonial cen- (1991-1997). Among the rnost remarkable discoveries ters ofTenochtitlán and Tlatelolco were constructed and made by this project in five field seasons are the main remodeled following the same archetypal pattern. Both

714 Tenochtidán:CeremonialCenter T sacred precincts were similar in form and dimensions. It is Coacalco (a temple used ro keep rhe divine images of the very probable that the precinct of Tlatelolco measured conquered towns), the Teutlalpan (an enclosure which 303 meters from north to sourh, and that ofTenochtitlán contained a re-creation of arid land), and the sacred around 360 rneters in the same orientation. In both cases, springs called Tezcaapan and Tozpalatl. Durán also me n- the sacred space was demarcated by a wide plarforrn. Its tions the temple of , of circular plan, and the facades were characterized by a series of vertical walls, temple ofTezcatlipoca, with spatious chambers at irs base. balustrades, and staircases. It has been estimated that the Several authors speculare that Sahagún included not limits of the tenochca ceremonial center were the present- only the religious buildings of the ceremonial center but day streets of San Ildefonso and González Obregón to the also rhose scattered throughout the city. However, north; the National Palace courryards to the south; the Sahagún's lisr do es not seem so large if we consider that streets of Licenciado Verdad to the east, and Monte de more than thirry buildings, including large temples, small Piedad and Brasil, to the west. The platforrn had three or shrines, and platforms, have been exhumed to date. four openings or gates that gave access to the ceremonial Among the excavated buildings, the mosr remarkable is center. the main pyramid or Great Temple. Its last-stage plat- Likewise, several of the buildings known from form, decorated with serpent heads (), mea- Tenochtitlán and Tlarelolco have almost identical form sures 84 meters from east to west and 77.2 meters from and dimensions; they maintained the same spatial disrri- north to south. The pyramid had berween 100 and 130 bution inside their precincts, and they were dedicated to steps, which would give it a height of 30 meters. If we add the same deities. For instance, a distinctly Teorihuacín- rhe rwo sanctuaries that were on the top, the Grear Temple sryle temple is situated to the southeast of the main pyra- would have risen to a total height of 45 merers. mid in Tenochtitlán as well as in Tlatelolco. The same is Another very interesting structure is rhe House of true of the principal temples of the rwo cities: both are at Eagles, with beautiful polychromed benches that decorate the heads of their respective ceremonial centers; rhey are the rooms inside the building. These benches, which srepped pyramids with two flights of stairs oriented depict processions of armed warriors, are a magnificent toward the wesr, leading to double temples on top dedi- example of the ' habit of imirating the artistic cated to the cult of Huitzilopochtli (southern half) and styles of past civilizations. In rhis case, we can see a revival Tlaloc (northern half). of the Palacio Quemado, one of the many buildings that Each pyramid underwent seven total enlargements or the Mexica excavared among the ruins of . Other stages. Moreover, the second enlargements (Stage II) of archaizing structures recently excavated are four small the pyramids of Tenochtitlán, Tlatelolco, and Tenayuca shrines known as the Red Temples, which combine fea- all have the same dimensions. This fact suggests that the tures from the Mexica and the Teotihuacán sryles in per- pyramids of the island cities were builr at the same time as fect harmony. the one in Tenayuca, and rherefore the dates of rheir con- When the Spanish arrived at Tenochtitlán, rhis city srrucrion are much older than those recorded in the offi- was the mosr powerful capital of . This is cial history of the Mexica. evident not only in the high quality of the lasr enlarge- There is much discussion regarding the number, char- ments of the Great Temple but also in the richness of its acreristics, and location of the other buildings inside the offerings. About 80 percent of the objects rhat were ceremonial center ofTenochritlán. The map presumably offered in the pyramid ofHuirzilopochtli and Tlaloc were drawn by Cortés shows eighr buildings, a bordering wall, imported brought from rhe various tributary provinces of and four entrances, while Sahagún's map shows nine the Triple Alliance (Tenochtitlán, Texcoco, and Tlaco- buildings, rhe bordering wall, and three entrances. This pan). The mosr abundant offering items found are animal reduced number of buildings contradicts Sahagún's own remains; researchers have identified more than two hun- text, since he mentions sevenry-eight buildings inside the dred species from the temperate ecosystems of the Central sacred precincr. Among thern were the Coatepec or Great Plateau, as well as from tropical rainforests, coral reefs, Temple (Huirzilopochtli-Tlaloc), the temples dedicated salt marshes, and coastal lagoons. In contrast, there are to Chicomecoatl, , , , and very few minerals and plant remains: minerals include sea Cinteotl, several calmecac (temple schools for the nobil- sand, fragments of jet, turquoise, and various kinds of iry), ball game courts, tzompantlis (wooden racks where greenstone; among plants, maguey, copal, conifer wood, the skulls of the sacrificial victims were displayed), the and rubber remains were identified.

Tenochtidán:CeremonialCenter 715 T

Human remains are also represented arnong the offer- Dahlgren, B., E. Pérez Rocha, L. Suárez Díez, and P.Valle. ing iterns. Some of these are bones that belonged to high- 1982. Corazón de Cópil: El y el Recino ranking individuals who were ritually buried afrer their Sagrado de Mexico- Tenochtitlan según fuentes del siglo bodies were cremated, but rhe great majority belonged to XVI. Mexico Ciry: Instituto Nacional de Antropología sacrificial victims who were decapitated. Notable among e Historia. the recovered artifacts are the imported goods that carne González Rul, Francisco. 1998. Urbanismo y arquitectura to Tenochtidán either as tribute paid by conque red en Tlatelolco, México: Instituto Nacional de Antropo- regions, through commerce, or as gifts, or even pillaged logía e Historia. by the Mexica themselves: obsidian artifacts from Sierra Graulich, Michel. 1987. Les incertitudes du Grand Temple. de las Navajas, -sryle sculptures, urn vessels from In Lez aztéques: Trésorsdu Mexique Ancien. vol. 2, pp. , cerarnic and stone objects from the - 121-l31. Wiesbaden: Roerner-und Pelizaeus-Museurn, region, and a great number of copper bells and Hildesheim. greenstone ornaments of yet undetermined origino Gutiérrez Solana, Nelly. 1989. Diez años de estudios There are also several artworks from ancient cultures sobre el Templo Mayor de Tenochtidan (1978-1988), that were looted from their tombs and offering caches Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, v. 60, pp. during the fifteenth century: a stone mask and several 7-31. fragments of Olmec sculptures, hundreds of stone masks León-Portilla, M. 1978. Mexico-Tenochtitlan: Su espacioy and figurines from the Mezcala culture, dozens of stone tiempo sagrados. Mexico Ciry: Instituto Nacional de and cerarnic artifacrs from Teotihuacán, and a Plumbate Antropología e Historia. ceramic vessel from southern Mesoamerica. Surprisingly, López Luján, L. 1994. The Offerings of the Templo Mayor Mexica manufactures were the least abundant of all the ofTenochtitlan. B. Ortiz de Montellano (trans.). Boul- recovered offerings. der: University of Colorado Press. In a religious sense, all the objects that constituted an ---o 1999. Water and Fire: Archaeology in the Capi- offering followed a purposeful order. The gifts were tal of the Mexica Empire. In The Archaeology of Meso- placed according to clear patterns of spatial composition. america. Mexican and European Perspectiues, W Bray As in verbal language, each gift functioned as a sign or a and L. Manzanilla (eds.), pp. 32-49. London: British symbol, transmitting information only when it was corn- Museum Press. bined with other gifts. A considerable number of the ---o In press. La Casa de las aguilas: un ejemplo de offerings recovered by the Templo Mayor Project were arquitectura sacra mexica, 2 vols. México: Instituto tiny scale models of a section or of the whole universe, as Nacional de Antropología e Historia/Princeton Uni- it was conceived by the Nahua. Following a strict liturgy, versity/Mexican Fine Arts Museum Center. the Mexica priests carefully re-created with artifacts, Marquina, I. 1960. El Templo Mayor de México. Mexico animals, and plants the surface of the earth and, sorne- City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. times, even the heavens and the levels of the underworld. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. 1979. Trabajos arquelógicos Thus, it can be said that during the ritual ceremonies they en el Centro de la Ciudad de México (Antología), Méx- made cosmograrns, repeating the primordial actions of ico: SEP/lnstituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. the gods. ---o 1982. El Tempo Mayor: excavaciones y estudios, E. Mates Moctezuma (coord.), México: Instituto FURTHER READINGS Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Academia Mexicana de la Historia. 1944--1956. Tlatelolco ---o 1988. The Great Temple ofthe : Treasuresof a través de los tiempos. 12 vols. : Academia Tenochtitlan. London: Thames and Hudson. Mexicana de la Historia. ---o 1999. Excavaciones en la Catedral y el Sagrario Boone, E. H. (ed.). 1987. [he Aztec Templo Mayor. Wash- metropolitanos. Programa de Arqueología Urbana, Méx- ington, D.e.: Dumbarton Oaks. ico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Broda, J., D. Carrasco, and E. Matos Moctezuma. 1987. Seler, Eduard. 1960. Die Ausgrabungen am Orte des The Great Temple ofTenochtitlan: Center and Periphery Hauptempels in Mexico. In Gesammelte Abhandlungen in the Aztec World. Berkeley: University of California zur Amerikanischen Spracb-und Altertumskunde, vol. 2, Press. pp. 767-904. Graz: ADV, v. Il.

716 Tenochtitlán: Ceremonial Center T

Vega Sosa, Constanza (coord.). 1979. El Recinto Sagrado The Main Pyramid and other city temples were linked de Mexico- Tenochtitlan. Excavaciones 1968-69 y 1975- by lines of sight and routes of pilgrimage to a system of 76. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e His- shrines and sacred places on mountains, in caves, at toria. springs and on lakes, and overlooking agricultural dis- Leonardo Lápez Lujdn tricts; many of these sites were used before their incorpo- ration into Aztec sacred geography. The primary Temple of Tlaloc, on the summit of , was visited Tenochtidán: Imperial Ritual Landscape annually by kings of the allied Aztec cities. A long, narrow As the tribute empires ofTenochtidán, Texcoco, and Tla- processional way led to the temple quadrangle, where a copan developed during the fifteenth century, Aztec houselike structure housed the effigy of the deity and policy called for the construction of ceremonial centers. other images representing neighboring mountains. In The great public religious festivals had powerful emo- microcosm this was a symbolic landscape, and the form of tional and imaginative appeal, bringing different groups the whole architectural enclosure symbolized the womb together through common experiences and beliefs and a of the earth. At the height of the dry season, the kings shared vocabulary of visual symbols. The ceremonial cen- entered to offer sacrifices to summon rain, ensuring the ters and activities provided a vehicle for social cohesion change from the time of death to the time of rebirth and among all segments of the heterogeneous, highly strati- renewal. The concluding act of this royal pilgrimage took fied, and increasingly specialized population. place at Pantitlan in Lake Texcoco, where the kings FoBowing long-standing tradition, the island capital, reassembled in canoes at a sinkhole (or spring) to offer Tenochtitlán, was designed according to a cosmological another sacrifice to Chalchihuidicue, "She of the Jade plan. Four roadways led to the cardinal directions from Skirt," the deity of groundwater. The lake and the sea the central ritual precinct. Royal palaces stood close by were ritually denominated tonan huey atl, "mother great this central enclosure, surrounded in turn by the grid of water," in honor of their life-giving properties. Soon after residential districts and peripheral chinampa plantations. the rites, rain clouds would form on the mountains, and Causeways linked the capitel with the mainland on the the fruits of the earth would soon be given. The kings' north, west, and south: on the east was a landing place to long journey to the earth-and-rain temple and the lake the lake. shrine during the time of drought, the offerings, and their Within the central ritual precinct, the Main Pyramid return to the city bringing a gift of life suggest the enact- rose as an axis mundi, marking the center of the city and ment of a mythic event in the time of creation. of the Aztec world. The building was aligned with the Mount Huixachtlán was another key site of Aztec equinoctial path of the sun, and with distant springs high sacred geography, the location of an ancient cult devoted on Mount Tlaloc on the eastern side of the Basin of Mex- to Huehueteod, the "Old God" of fire. Huixachtlán rises ico. The South Temple was devoted to the legendary, dei- between the central and southern sections of the Basin of fied tribal hero Huitzilopochtli, patron of kings and god Mexico. A special procession was made to this mountain of war. The North temple enshrined the deity Tlaloc, shrine every fifty-two years to enact a rite ushering in the associated with rain, mountains, and agricultural fertility. new cycle of time. As darkness descended on the last The dual pyramid represented a confIation of two sym- evening of the old period, a procession of fire priests and bolic mountains: the mythic Coatepetl, or "Serpenr men masked as gods departed from Tenochtitlán across Mountain," site of Huirzilopochtli's magical birth and the southern causeway. Silence was everywhere observed, victorious battle with his rival Coadicue; and Tlaloc's all fires were extinguished, and the three stones of domes- rain-rnounrain, Tonacatepetl, the archetypal "Mountain tic hearths were cast into water. AlI watched the Pleiades of Sustenance." War and agriculture, the two bases of rise to the zenith transit of the celestial meridian, directly Aztec economy, were thus acknowledged by - above the fire temple. At the moment of transit new fire titlán's dorninant monumento Thousands of offerings was kindled, and ahuman sacrifice was made and cast recovered from the pyramid foundations feature anaimals into a pyre, as the assembly of gods srood in witness. and plants from near and far, including the Gulf and Torch-bearers carrying the Hame ran down to the waiting Pacific Ocean. The building was a representation of the temples of towns and cities. In Tenochtirlán, the first place Aztec universe. to receive new fire was the Temple of Huitzilopochtli,

Tenochtidán: Imperial Ritual Landscape 717 ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA AN ENCYCLOPEDIA

SUSAN TOBY EVANS DAVID L. WEBSTER Editors

GARLAND PUBLISHING, INe. NEW YORK & LONDON 2001 This volume is dedicated to its contributors flr their inestimable work in recomtructing the ancient lifeways o/ Mexico and Central America.

Published in 2001 by Garland Publishing, Inc. 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001

Garland is an imprint o/ the Taylor 6- Francis Group.

Production Editor: Alexis Skinner Copyeditor: Jane McGary Indexer: Cynthia Crippen Composition: Publisher's Studio/Stratford Publishing Services Deuelopment Manager: Richard Steins Publishing Director, Reference: Sylvia K. Miller

Copyright © 2001 by Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster

AlI rights reserved. No pan of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechani- cal, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Archaeology of ancient Mexico and Central Arnerica : an encyclopedia / Susan Toby Evans, David L. Webster, editors. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8153-0887-6 (alk. paper) 1. Indians ofMexico--Antiquities-Encyclopedias. 2. Indians ofCentral Arnerica-Antiquities-Encyclopedias. 3. Archaeology-Mexico--Encyclopedias. 4. Archaeology-Central Arnerica-Encyclopedias. 5. Mexico--Antiquities- Encyclopedias. 6. Central AIperica-Antiquities-Encyclopedias. 1. Evans, Susan Toby, 1945- Il. Webster, David L., 1943-

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