Contenido

Teōtīhuacān (en su ortografía tradicional) o Teotiwakan (en su ortografía moderna) en original; hispanizado como «Teotihuacan» (en su grafía llana directamente derivada del original tradicional) o «Teotihuacán» (en su grafía aguda), siendo las dos formas correctas en español, es una palabra de origen náhuatl que le fue dada a la urbe varios siglos después de su ocaso tras el arribo a la región de los pueblos nahuatlacas (c.).

En concreto, los mexicas —hablantes del náhuatl— empleaban ese nombre para referirse a las ruinas de la antigua ciudad, la cual tenía cerca de 1000 años de abandono cuando la encontraron. Gracias a esto, el término fue ampliamente recogido en fuentes históricas (Sahagún: Códice Matritense del Real Palacio; Clavijero: Historia antigua de México) y en el uso del idioma español durante la época colonial.[14]​ Dichas fuentes son, principalmente, el origen de muchos malentendidos sobre el uso y terminología de un sitio denominado genéricamente como Teotihuacán, pues la conocieron cuando únicamente quedaban yacimientos dispersos. Entre las mismas fuentes, Teotihuacán era una ciudad de un pasado en el que también floreció Tula, por lo que pensaban que sus habitantes fueron, en esencia, toltecas.[15]​.

Traditional term

Several hypotheses have been proposed about the meaning of the toponym. It must be remembered that Nahuatl is an agglutinative language that allows complex ideas to be expressed in a single word by adding affixes to a root.

One of the most popular interpretations - inside and outside the academic field - is the one that translates Teotihuacán as 'place where the gods were born', equivalent to 'place where the gods were made'.[14] This interpretation is related to the Legend of the Suns, a well-known Mesoamerican cosmogonic myth - and particularly Nahua - that places in this city the creation of the Fifth Sun through the sacrifice of all the gods of the previous era.

In the Diccionario del Náhuatl en el español de México, C. Montemayor mentions that it comes from the words teō[tl] 'God', -ti (euphonious ligature), -huah (possessive) and -cān (locative that indicates the place where an action is performed), so he translates it as "Place of those who have gods."[16] It should be clarified that there are minor controversies about of meaning depending on the source.

The word Teotihuacán, in addition to designating the historic city and the set of archaeological monuments that are open to public visits, is also the name of a Mexican municipality (San Juan Teotihuacán) and its capital (Teotihuacán de Arista).

Other historiographical terms

Although there is some controversy in the meaning of the conventional term, the truth is that the name that the city received from its inhabitants at the time of its flowering is unknown. Some texts discovered in the Mayan area usually relate the glyph puh (tule) with characters of Teotihuacan affiliation represented on steles from such important Mayan cities as Tikal, Uaxactún and Bonampak. Puh has in the Mayan languages the same meaning as the word Tollan (AFI: ) in Nahuatl, which designated a kind of paradise within Mesoamerican mythology. "The concept of Tollan was the primordial archetype of Mesoamerican civilization and the origin of the legitimacy of the dominant lineages in numerous states throughout the region. The Mayans have diverse positions on the identity of Puh, some of them maintain that this place mentioned in various Mayan texts is indeed Teotihuacán.[e]​ This hypothesis could be reinforced by the discovery of several representations of the puh glyph in the mural painting of the residential complex of Tepantitla, within Teotihuacán.[17]​.

Although this legendary Tollan was originally identified with Tollan-Xicocotitlan (present-day Hidalgo, Mexico), the capital of the archaeological Toltecs, some researchers have preferred to separate myth from history, mainly because not only this city but others of equal relevance in Mesoamerica were called the same way.[f]​ However, the distinction between historical cities and the mythological city is not applied in a monolithic way. Making an analysis of the historical sources, the archaeological finds in central Mexico and in the Mayan area - such as the aforementioned case of the Puh glyph in the Lowlands -, Enrique Florescano makes an association of the myth with the city of Teotihuacán, so that he calls it "Tollan-Teotihuacán" and attributes to the so-called city of the gods the identity of the mythological Tula. In a dissemination article published in La Jornada, Florescano points out that "I have maintained that the so-called Toltec culture is originally from Teotihuacán and that this city was the model of the later political capitals, the cradle of the songs and the painted codex that narrated the origins of the Cosmos and the chronicle of the kingdom, and the primitive Tollan, from which the later ones were derived: Tollan Cholula, the Tula de Hidalgo, Tulán Zuywá (Chichén Itzá) and Tollan-Tenochtitlán"[18]​ This same position had been held by Laurette Séjourné at the congress of archaeologists where it was established that the mythological Tollan was Tollan-Xicocotitlan,[19]​ and is shared by Stuart,[20]​ Uriarte,[21]​ and Duverger.[22]​ René Millon"), one of the most recognized specialists on the subject of Teotihuacán, believes that Teotihuacán is indeed the legendary Tollan, but does not accept that this was its original name.[23]​.

Geographic environment

Teotihuacán was founded in an unusual position for its time with respect to the settlement pattern typical of the basin of Mexico during the Middle Preclassic. Most of the largest settlements in the region were located on or very close to the banks of the Anáhuac lake system. Cuicuilco and Copilco in the south; Ticomán, El Arbolillo, Zacatenco"), and Tlatilco in the north; and Tlapacoya in the east are examples of this. In contrast, Teotihuacán rose fifteen kilometers from the coast of Lake Texcoco, on the San Juan River in the valley that has taken the name of the city. Duverger affirms that the location of Teotihuacán corresponds not only to an ecological frontier, but to the border between the Mesoamerican agricultural civilization and the cultural world of the nomadic arid-american peoples.[24]​.

The Teotihuacán valley is part of the basin of Mexico. It is located in the northeast of that large lake basin of more than a surface area, within the limits that currently correspond to the State of Mexico. Its altitude ranges from 2240 to 3200 at the top of Cerro Gordo. In the area of archaeological monuments, the altitude is 2300. The valley is limited to the north by the Gordo hills "Cerro Gordo (Sierra de Guadalupe)"), Malinalco") and Colorado "Cerro Colorado (State of Mexico)"); to the south by the Patlachique mountain range, with elevations above 2600; and to the east it ends in the vicinity of Otumba and the surrounding hills. To the southwest of the valley is locates the Chiconautla hill"), near the old mouth of the San Juan River. The Tonala hill, to the west, marks the separation between the Teotihuacán valley and the alluvial plain where Tecámac and Zumpango are located.

The main drainage of the valley is towards the basin of Lake Texcoco through the San Juan, San Lorenzo and Huixulco rivers. These rivers are seasonal, they grow during the rainy season and during the rest of the year their currents disappear from the surface to emerge in the next rainy season.[25] The rivers of the Teotihuacán valley flowed in pre-Hispanic times near Cuanalán. channeled towards the general drainage of the Valley of Mexico.

The soils of the Teotihuacán Valley mainly belong to four types. The feozem corresponds to 40% of the surface. It is followed in importance by the types vertisol (16%), cambisol (13.5%) and leptosol (13%).[25] Research has been carried out with the purpose of observing the impact of human activity on the soils of Teotihuacán. Rivera Uria et al. warn that in some places such as Cerro San Lucas the composition of the surface has changed dramatically.[27]​ In this case they found that before the establishment of the first Preclassic communities the dominant soil in that place was luvisol, which has currently disappeared. Other sections of the valley were affected for construction purposes. The immense volume of materials used to fill the pyramid of the Moon comes from the surface of areas near the building - where artificial depressions have been found - and reaches 2 million m³.[28]​.

The vegetation of the Teotihuacán Valley has changed little compared to pre-Hispanic times, although it is evident that the current landscape is the result of a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. The main difference would consist in the extension of the plant ecosystems - since the area dedicated to agriculture has grown at the expense of them - and in the disappearance of the species of the Pinus genus in the valley landscape.[29]​ Currently the region has six main types of vegetation. It has small pockets of oak forest", located on Cerro Gordo; this type of vegetation probably covered the areas that are currently occupied by oak thickets (Quercus microphyla")), which constitute a second type of vegetation. The xerophyte scrub is the most representative type of vegetation today, and includes species such as Opuntia streptacantha, Zaluzania augusta") and Mimosa biuncifera. In addition to these types of vegetation are grasslands, seasonal hydrophilic vegetation, associated with the rainy season.[25]​.

The conditions of the valley favored demographic concentration as they were beneficial for the Mesoamerican lifestyle based on agriculture. The settlement patterns indicate that during the Preclassic period (c. 2500 BC-200 AD) the first villages were established on the slopes of the hills that, as mentioned above, had their own alluvial soils for cultivation, but from the Classic period (c. 200-700 AD) there was an increase in the population at the bottom of the valley.[30]​ However, due to being located in the area transition between the lake environment of Anáhuac and the drier valleys of Tulancingo and Mezquital, it was exposed to some climatological fluctuations. The illuviation of the clay found in the tepetate of Cerro San Lucas shows a decrease in environmental humidity that coincides with the increase in population,[31]​ although the heyday of Teotihuacán seems to be related to a relatively more humid and temperate environment than the current one.[32]​.

Society

It is not known for certain what the identity of the town that founded Teotihuacán is. The city had been abandoned a long time before the arrival of the Spanish to Mesoamerica, so the few references to the city that were preserved in the historical sources produced in the years after the Conquest of Mexico do not speak properly about the inhabitants of Teotihuacán, but rather about the representation that those who lived in Anáhuac had of them after the Teotihuacan collapse.

There are several theories about the city's inhabitants. The long presence of the Otomí in the Valley of Mexico has led to the hypothesis that they were the founders of the city. For some authors it is very likely that the Otomian component in the city was very important,[33] however, only some consider that the ruling class of Teotihuacán was Otomian. In Wright Carr's opinion, both the elite and the most important demographic component of Teotihuacán must have been proto-Otomi-Mazahua, in a territory that was surrounded by other peoples with the Otomangue and Totonaco language. According to some glottochronological analyses, the separation of the Otomi and Mazahua languages ​​occurred precisely in the period of Teotihuacán's heyday.[34] The Totonacos are other candidates to occupy the site as founders of Teotihuacán. In fact, chroniclers of the colonial era collected testimonies where these people claimed to have built the city. This theory can be complemented with archaeological evidence, since there was an evident Totonac presence in Teotihuacán.[35]​.

Correlating the linguistic and archaeological evidence, Kaufman proposes that the language spoken by the Teotihuacanos could have been Mazahua, Otomí, Totonaco, Tepehua, Popoloca, Mixtec or Chocholteco. He accepts, like several modern authors, the probability that a Nahua variant was also spoken in the city, but from his point of view, the culture of Coyotlatelco") - associated with the decline of Teotihuacan - is the first whose bearers undoubtedly must have been speakers of Nahuatl in Mesoamerica.[36] Likewise, the hypothesis of a Uto-Aztec language during the splendor of the city since Gómez and King (2004) argued the existence of a proto-Náhuatl Pochuteco language after analyzing the possible semanticity of the epigraphic repertoire of the Plaza de Los Glifos in the La Ventilla neighborhood, from which both the Nahuatl and Mixteco spoken—and recorded—at the time of the Conquest (century) would derive.[37]​ There is also the possibility of a Mixe-Zoque language due to the earliest temporality. of the city, evidently related to the Totonacan trunk.[38]​.

Campbell suggests that, according to the ethnohistoric evidence and the large number of linguistic borrowings that Totonac seems to have provided to the other Mesoamerican languages ​​- particularly the Mayan languages ​​and the Nahuatl spoken in the Sierra Madre Oriental -, it is very likely that the founders of Teotihuacán spoke a Totonacan language.[39]​.

History

Teotihuacán's peak period corresponds to the Early Classic period of Mesoamerica (2nd/3rd-6th centuries). However, the beginnings of the city must be placed in the first millennium BC "Era (chronology)"). Strategically located northeast of the Valley of Mexico, near the northern shore of Lake Texcoco, Teotihuacán became the main competitor of Cuicuilco during the Late Preclassic. The eruption of Xitle in the south of the valley hastened the fall of Cuicuilco and favored the concentration of the population and political and economic power in Teotihuacán.

For reasons that have not yet been fully elucidated, Teotihuacán collapsed towards the middle of the century, giving rise to the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period. The vestiges of the city gave rise to numerous explanations about its presence among the Nahua peoples of the Postclassic period, and these explanations are known from the compilation recovery work of the missionaries of the Indies, specifically Bernardino de Sahagún.

Chronology

To address the long and complex history of Teotihuacan, several chronologies have been proposed based on the ceramic remains found in the excavations. Each of the phases is related to technical or stylistic changes observed in the city's pottery. This procedure has helped simplify the task of dating archaeological remains, since ceramics are a very abundant material that resists the passage of time well and is present in many archaeological contexts. However, the procedure is not without drawbacks. One of them consists of the precise definition of the characteristics of each ceramic phase and its temporal delimitation.

As there are numerous researchers who have focused their attention on Teotihuacán, several chronologies are available for the city. Currently there seems to be consensus around the chronology proposed by René Millon") and his team of collaborators.[44] Despite this general acceptance, there are some works that show that said chronology must be adjusted. For example, George Cowgill and Evelyn Rattray") have proposed that the decline of Teotihuacán occurred between fifty and one hundred years before the date suggested by Millon. From this point of view, the temporal dimension of some ceramic phases in the Teotihuacan chronology could be reduced. In this article we have chosen to follow Millon's chronology in general.

The history of Teotihuacán can be understood as part of a long civilizational process that began with the arrival of human beings to Anáhuac. This could have occurred approximately 20 thousand years ago, the period in which the discoveries in Tequixquiac have been dated, and later in Tocuila and Tlapacoya. In this last site, two human skulls have been found closely related to animal remains and lithic tools.[45]​.

The domestication of plant species allowed the inhabitants of the region to face the extinction of the fauna that was one of the main bases of their diet, which occurred around the seventh millennium before the Christian era. Agriculture favored the process of sedentarization in the area. On the eastern shore of Lake Chalco, a settlement was established in Zohapilco, whose first phase spans from 5500 BC. C. to 3500 BC. C. At that time, the residents of Zohapilco had farming instruments, utensils for processing grain and weapons for hunting; and since 2000 BC. C. they began to produce ceramics.[46]​.

Agriculture gradually became the basis of the economy of the people of the Valley of Mexico, as it provided a secure source of food. As this occurred, numerous villages were established around the Anáhuac lakes. The social complexity of these societies was variable, but in the largest of them a marked social differentiation is observed. During the Middle Preclassic (1200-400 BC) some of these villages reached their peak, such as Tlatilco, Copilco and Cuicuilco. The settlements corresponding to this era combined agriculture with the exploitation of the resources of the lake environment, and show a mixture of cultural influences of Olmec inspiration and Western cultures.

Beginnings of the city

Between the year 100 BC. C. and the beginning of our era, Teotihuacán began to concentrate a significant number of inhabitants from the entire Anáhuac valley. The emigrants from Cuicuilco contributed to the growth of Teotihuacán, who had begun an exodus that ended up depopulating that city. The Tzacualli phase of Teotihuacán (1-150 AD) is the one in which the bases of the urban planning of the city are established and several characteristic features of the Teotihuacan culture are defined.[55]​ The construction of the city's buildings is carried out around two axes. The north-south axis is constituted by the Calzada de los Muertos"), which in the Tzacualli phase is already well defined. The Calzada de los Muertos is oriented 15°28' towards the east with respect to geographic north. During the Tzacualli phase, the east-west axis was constituted by the course of the San Juan River, whose channel was diverted to coincide with an orientation deviated 16°30' towards the south of the east.[56]​ At this time the first construction stage of the Pyramid of the Moon was carried out and the plaza of this great building, which marks the northern limit of the Causeway of the Dead, had already been planned.[57]​.

The effort that was made for the construction of the Pyramid of the Sun is notable, which was practically completed in a single construction stage that took place in this phase. During that time, the center of the city was this building, a representation of the primordial mountain from which maintenance comes and constitutes the axis mundi according to Mesoamerican mythology. The platform attached to the pyramid of the Sun is later than the rest of the building, and seems to have been built at the end of the Miccaotli phase.[58]​.

According to the works of René Millon, in the Tzacualli phase the population of Teotihuacán was around 30,000 inhabitants and the surface of the city was 17 km². At this time, Teotihuacán was undoubtedly the largest city in central Mexico and only Monte Albán in the Central valleys of Oaxaca and Cholula in the Puebla-Tlaxcalteca valley could be compared with it. In archaeological excavations, remains of granular ceramics have been found, a type that has also frequently appeared in sites in Morelos and the center of the state of Guerrero, so it is assumed that commercial relations between Teotihuacán and These areas of Mesoamerica were already active in the Late Preclassic.[59]​.

The years from 150 to 250 correspond to the Miccaotli phase. This phase is called this way because it was the word with which the Nahuas designated the road of the Dead. During the Miccaotli phase, Teotihuacán consolidates itself as the largest city in central Mexico. The center of the city moves to the south with the construction of The Citadel"), an enclosure that, like the pyramid of the Sun, was a representation of the primordial sacred mountain. The Citadel consists of a set of thirteen temples organized around a large plaza where the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent is located. For the consecration of this temple, more than one hundred people were sacrificed and placed in collective burials, in groups of 4, 8, 18 and 20 bodies, plus those in They were buried alone in the corners of the base of the building,[60] including the sacrificed children who were discovered by Leopoldo Batres at each vertex of each level of the platform.

Flowering

Around the year 250, the Tlamimilolpa phase began, which takes its name from the peripheral site of Teotihuacán that is known by that name. During this phase, Teotihuacán has already established itself as a regional power and its influence is constantly spreading throughout Mesoamerica. The Pyramid of the Moon was expanded two more times in this period. The fifth construction stage of that building occurred around the year 300 and the sixth between the years 350 and 400. As in the previous construction stages of the pyramid, some human burials are associated with these last two.[63]​.

The demographic expansion of Teotihuacán was carried out in an organized manner in housing complexes, a practice that had begun in the previous phases and that adjusts to the urban plan oriented by the two axes of the city. Some old housing complexes such as La Ventilla are expanded and provided with spaces for public activities. New spaces for housing are built, but the surface of the city contracts during this stage, until it remains at 20 km², two less than in the previous phase. In contrast, the population continued to increase and, according to Millon's calculation, it could reach 65,000 people.[64]​.

In the archaeological horizon of the Tlalmimilolpa phase, the oldest traces of Orange Delgado ceramics from Teotihuacán have appeared. In this phase they represent 6% of the ceramic materials and their frequency in archaeological contexts increases throughout the following stages.[65]​ The presence of this ceramic in the Mesoamerican sites is considered an indicator of links with the Teotihuacan world, but it is important to clarify that it is a foreign product in Teotihuacan. According to the research of Carmen Cook, the south of Puebla was the producing center of this pottery tradition.[66]​ Rattray agrees with this statement and adds that the Tepexi de Rodríguez region flourished notably in the Classic, when it maintained a very intense relationship with Teotihuacán that did not seem to imply subordination to that city.[67]​.

Teotihuacán's relations with the rest of Mesoamerica diversified during the Tlamimilolpa phase, as archaeological evidence shows. In Burial 5 of the pyramid of the Moon, perhaps offered in commemoration of the completion of the work, the three main subjects of the burial were placed in a "lotus flower" position and associated with them were a set of jade objects that came from the Motagua River valley. The position of the human remains is similar to that observed in certain elite burials in Kaminaljuyú (Guatemala).[68] This fact adds to the notable architectural influence that the city had in its flowering over the Mayan area in places such as Tikal and Kaminaljuyú itself, as well as the discovery of Mayan pieces in the Tlamimilolpa horizon of Teotihuacán. Some of the vestiges of Mayan ceramics found in Teotihuacán correspond to the Tzakol type) and bear similarities to contemporary works of that type that have been found in Tikal and Uaxactún.[69] The Mayan presence in Teotihuacán will be added to that of the Zapotecs - evident since the Miccaotli phase - and to that of the Gulf cultures - of which the remains are testimony. ceramic Pánuco III")[70]​―.

Decay

Around the year 650 the Metepec phase began. According to the work of René Millon, at that stage the city had up to 75,000 inhabitants,[44]​ which represents a loss of almost 25% compared to the Xolalpan phase. Despite this demographic contraction, Teotihuacán continued to be the largest city in the Valley of Mexico and one of the largest in Mesoamerica.[73] Architectural activity in the city came to a standstill, in fact the only building that was completely completed in the Metepec phase is the platform attached to the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. The attached platform seems to have been built with the purpose of hiding the building that was the heart of The Citadel, emblem of the city's power. In fact, the inhabitants of Teotihuacán during the Metepec phase did not know the temple of the Feathered Serpent as can currently be seen in the archaeological zone, since its façade was rescued in the 19th century.

According to Millon, both the Citadel and the buildings around the Causeway of the Dead were subject to systematic destruction by the city's inhabitants.

In the Oxtotípac phase (750-850) the city's population was reduced very drastically as a reflection of a mass exodus of the occupants. René Millon calculated that at this stage, the urban area was inhabited by 5,000 people.[44] Only some parts of the city remain occupied, including what is known as the Old City and some sites that in the previous era were inhabited by the elite. This occupation of Teotihuacán is related to the culture of Coyotlatelco") and the appearance of the ceramics of the same name. Some authors believe that this culture is foreign, the product of a migration that contributed to the Teotihuacan ruin. Others consider that it is the expression of a peripheral group of the city that did not possess the high Teotihuacan culture.

To explain the decline of the city, various hypotheses have been proposed. Some considered that around the century a great drought occurred in northern Mesoamerica that caused the migration of its occupants to the south. This drought would also have affected the region's agriculture and made it impossible to sustain the population. However, McClung de Tapia and his collaborators have said that there are no indicators that this hypothesis could be sustained, since during the period of Teotihuacán's decline an increase in humidity was observed in the city's surroundings.[75]​.

As Teotihuacán began its decline, other cities in central Mesoamerica began to flourish. For some authors, the flourishing of Epiclassic cultures would be a factor that contributed to the Teotihuacan collapse. These cities form a crown around Teotihuacán, at strategic points on the most important trade routes in Mesoamerica at that time. Xochicalco in the Morelos valley, Teotenango in the Toluca valley, Cacaxtla in the Tlaxcala valley, Cantona in the east and El Tajín in the pass towards La Huasteca; They were all cities that saw their peak when Teotihuacán declined and, in some cases, were born precisely in that context. According to some authors, these new regional powers strangled the great metropolis by depriving it of access to trade routes.

Teotihuacan migrations after the collapse

Although the origin and identity of the groups carrying the Coyotlatelco" pottery are a matter of debate, there is consensus that their presence is related to the decline of the city. The situation in Teotihuacán was accompanied by the massive abandonment of the city, which began around the year 500, according to archaeological evidence in northern Morelos that shows the presence of Teotihuacan groups that merged with local settlers and lost their cultural identity, probably as a strategy to escape the oppression of the Teotihuacan regime.[76]​.

The Teotihuacan diaspora was established in places that were outside the domain of Teotihuacán during the Metepec phase (550-650 AD). At this time, the metropolis dominated in the north of the basin of Mexico, but the towns located to the south and west of the region were outside its sphere of influence, as shown by the fact that there are few material indicators of contact with Teotihuacán in those directions. For this reason, the east of Anáhuac, the north of Morelos, the Tlaxcala valley and the Toluca valley absorbed important parts of the groups that abandoned Teotihuacán.

With the departure of the groups carrying the Teotihuacan culture, a demographic rearrangement and the diffusion of Coyotlatelco ceramics is observed in the basin of Mexico. Between Azcapotzalco and Ecatepec there is a group of populations with this type of ceramics that participated in its diffusion towards the Toluca valley.[77] Another group corresponds to the Chalco-Xochimilco basin. The third is concentrated around Portezuelo"), which must have been one of the largest settlements in the basin of Mexico during the Epiclassic (c. 650-900). A final Coyotlatelco group corresponds to the one that remained in Teotihuacán, where they occupied the ruined residential complexes. Tula, Cacaxtla, Cholula and Xochitécatl are points outside the basin of Mexico where Coyotlatelco ceramics have also been found, although to a lesser extent.

The city of Teotihuacán grew around an urban plan structured around two axial axes. The Calzada de los Muertos") is the north-south axis, while there is another avenue that begins in La Ciudadela and is considered the east-west axis. The San Juan River was diverted from its natural course so that it crossed perpendicularly the Calzada de los Muertos. The main axes of Teotihuacán crossed perpendicularly, and a grid was drawn around them that served as the basis for the construction of the buildings.

The urban planning of Teotihuacán must have acquired its definitive form around the century AD. C., when the fourth stage of the pyramid of the Moon, La Ciudadela&action=edit&redlink=1 "La Ciudadela (Teotihuacán) (not yet written)") and the pyramid of the Sun had already been built.[78]​ The axes of the Calzada de los Muertos and the East-West avenue had been defined during the Tzacualli phase, which spanned approximately from 1 to 150 AD. C.[79]​.

The Causeway of the Dead is a wide road that crossed the city. It begins in the plaza in front of the Pyramid of the Moon and extends two kilometers to the south, near Teopancaxco. The avenue is oriented 15°30′ to the east with respect to astronomical north. This deviation is the same that, with some variations, is observed in all Teotihuacan constructions.[79]​ Around that great avenue are the most important monumental complexes in the city, dedicated mainly to religious activities. Among others, on the Causeway of the Dead are the pyramid of the Sun, the temple of the Mythological Animals") and the temple of Quetzalcóatl. The heart of Teotihuacán was made up of these and other buildings dedicated to worship. Associated with them are the residential complexes intended for the elite in the vicinity. Among these are the palace of Quetzalpapálotl and the housing complexes of Yayahuala"), Tetitla"), Xala and Zacuala").

The neighborhoods where the lower strata of society, agricultural workers and artisans, merchants and foreigners lived, were organized around the central area. According to archaeological investigations, the city had around two thousand housing complexes at its peak, which occurred between the 19th and 20th centuries. These buildings were constantly expanded and remodeled to meet the needs of the growing population.[80]​ The urban surface grew rapidly during the Tzacualli phase, when it reached approximately 20 km² in area and a population of 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants.[79]​ Teotihuacán had a very advanced urban services system. The water management system stands out, both for daily consumption and wastewater. The city had a large network of sewers that contributed to cleaning up the environment of the city and its tens of thousands of inhabitants.

The architectural integration of the urban plan of Teotihuacán is related to the worldview of the society that created it and the environment. The urban layout exhibits two slightly different orientations, which resulted from a combination of astronomical and topographical criteria. The central part of the city, including the Causeway of the Dead, conforms to the orientation of the Pyramid of the Sun, while the southern part reproduces the orientation of The Citadel. The two constructions marked the sunrise and sunset on certain dates, allowing the use of an observational calendar intended to facilitate adequate scheduling of agricultural work and the associated ceremonies. The fact that both orientations belong to the groups widely spread in Mesoamerica can be explained only with the use of astronomical references on the horizon.[81]​ Furthermore, the Pyramid of the Sun is aligned towards Cerro Gordo to the north, which means that the location for its construction must have been carefully premeditated. The artificial cave under the pyramid represents an additional indication of the importance of this place.[82]​[83]​ The relationship that exists between the most important constructions and the forms of the Patlachique mountain range that surrounds the Teotihuacán valley is also evident.[84]​.

La traza urbana está esbozada sobre un modelo cuadricular y organizado en una división cuatripartita simbólica, un modelo común en toda Mesoamérica que hace referencia al concepto cosmogónico de los cuatro rumbos (puntos) del universo.[85]​ En torno a esta planificación, se encuentra la columna vertebral de la ciudad, es decir, la gran vía o calzada de los muertos. Consta de 4000 metros (4 km) de longitud y su eje está desviado ligeramente hacia el noreste, 15°30′ respecto al norte geográfico.[86]​.

A lo largo de la gran vía se encuentran los edificios más importantes destinados a templos, palacios y casas de personajes de alto rango. Allí están, además de las dos grandes pirámides, la Casa del Sacerdote, el palacio de Quetzalpapalotl (Quetzalmariposa), el palacio de los Jaguares, la estructura de las caracolas emplumadas, el templo de Quetzalcóatl, la ciudadela y muchas edificaciones más que en su día fueron de gran belleza. En uno de los aposentos se descubrieron pisos construidos con dos capas de láminas de mica de 6 cm de espesor, que fueron cubiertas más tarde con tezontle. El visitante puede contemplar esta curiosidad siempre que se lo pida al guardia del recinto.

The great foundations

They have a core made of adobe. Later they were covered with stucco and stone and added a frieze decorated with geometric reliefs. They were built as the base of a temple that was on the platform. The Spaniards who arrived in the 19th century still managed to see the idols of the Sun and the Moon.

Pyramid of the Sun

The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacán and the second in all of Mesoamerica, only behind the Great Pyramid of Cholula. Due to its considerable dimensions, it can be observed from several kilometers away. It has a height of 63 meters, with an almost square plan of approximately 225 meters per side, which is why it is often compared to the pyramid of Cheops in Giza (Egypt).

The building consists of five superimposed truncated conical bodies and an attached structure of three bodies that do not reach the height of the first platform. The Pyramid of the Sun is located on the eastern side of the "Calzada de los Muertos", practically aligned perpendicular to this road. The current image of the pyramid corresponds to the restoration carried out by Leopoldo Batres between 1905 and 1910, since as part of the commemoration of the Centennial of the Independence of Mexico, several buildings in the city were converted into a tourist attraction.[87] The restoration of Batres has subsequently been criticized for being hasty and incomplete,[88]​ in addition to the fact that it was made on conceptions of Mesoamerican architecture based on Egyptian models.

At the beginning of Teotihuacán, the site where the Pyramid of the Sun is located corresponded to a type of wall with a slope base and vertical elevation without association with other structures. The use of this structure is unknown, although Sugiyama suggests that it could have served to delimit a sacred space. The Pyramid of the Sun had two construction stages, during the first it practically reached the dimensions it has today. The use of the Pyramid of the Sun and the meaning it had for the inhabitants of Teotihuacán remains a mystery.[89]​.

In 1971 Jorge Ruffier Acosta found a tunnel under the pyramid, whose access is in front of the attached platform. The first researchers of the tunnel – which is also called “sacred cave” – assumed that it was a natural cavern that was used for ritual purposes, which would explain the construction of the monument over it. Sugiyama and his team have shown that the cave was dug entirely by humans. The structure of the tunnel is reminiscent of the underground tombs of the West, as access is through a 6.5-meter shaft. The cavity extends to the east for approximately 97 meters. At the end of the tunnel, which practically coincides with the center of the building, there is a four-lobed chamber that, according to Sugiyama's hypothesis, could have contained a royal tomb.

Pyramidal base of the Moon

The Pyramid of the Moon is one of the oldest buildings in Teotihuacán. During the century it was also known as Meztli Iztácual, a name that Manuel Orozco y Berra includes in his work, where he maintains the nineteenth-century hypothesis that Teotihuacán was a Toltec city.[90] Its final form was acquired after seven construction stages. It has an approximately square plan of 45 meters per side. It is smaller in size than the Pyramid of the Sun, but is at the same height because it is built on higher ground. Its height is 45 m. Next to this pyramid, a statue called the Goddess of Agriculture was found, which archaeologists place in the early Toltec era.

This pyramid is located very close to the Pyramid of the Sun, closing the city area to the north. From its esplanade the route of the main axis known as Vía or Calzada de los Muertos begins.

The Citadel and the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent

The citadel is an architectural complex located on the western side of the Causeway of the Dead, south of the course of the San Juan River. The complex forms a large sunken quadrangular plaza of approximately 400 meters per side and was built during the Miccaotli phase, between 150 and 250 AD. C.[91]​ The complex of The Citadel also includes the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, which is surrounded by thirteen secondary temples built on a platform. Behind the temple of the Feathered Serpents there are two housing complexes that could have been reserved for the Teotihuacan elite. In the center of the square there is a shrine with four stairs that gave access to the platform. The Citadel became the political, cultural and economic center of the city of Teotihuacán, a site that had corresponded to the Pyramid of the Sun complex until then. The causes of this displacement of the city center are unknown, but it could have been due to political factors.[92]​.

The pyramid of the Feathered Serpent is located a certain distance from the two great pyramids, on the Road of the Dead. It was an archaeological discovery in 1920. It was buried by a pyramid with smooth walls, without any type of ornamentation.

At first it was thought that the sculptures that accompany the feathered serpent heads were representations of Tlalóc, however they are Cipactli, which means crocodile, this character was very important, since with him the first day with which the 260-day lunar calendar began was represented. That is why the temple of Quetzalcoatl could have been a temple built to Time.

In November 2010, researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History sent a robot vehicle, called Tlaloque I and designed by the National Polytechnic Institute, to explore a narrow tunnel, 8 meters deep and approximately 100 linear meters deep, located just below the temple. By using georadar, it was concluded that said tunnel leads to 3 chambers where researchers believe the remains of some important people from Teotihuacán are found. According to the archaeologist Verónica Ortega: «The first thing there was to worship in Teotihuacán was this tunnel and later they built a sacred place, there the Pyramid of the Sun "Pyramid of the Sun (Teotihuacán)") was built [...] The coating is completely made of mud, [the Teotihuacans] try to give a smooth appearance to these walls, probably so that the people who entered here would not realize that the tunnel continued.» Previously, this place had been found by the Mexica culture and, more recently, in the 1970s, although in the latter no major discoveries were made.[93]​[94]​.

Quetzalpapálotl Palace

The palace of Quetzalpapálotl (from Nahuatl: quetzalli-papálotl) is a building that was the home of the Teotihuacan elite. More specifically, it has been proposed that it was the residence of the main priests of Teotihuacán.[95] The palace of Quetzalpapálotl is located in the southwest corner of the Plaza de la Luna, behind structure 5 of this complex. To access its interior you have to climb a staircase guarded by jaguars. From the platform on which the building is located it is possible to descend to the central courtyard of the palace. This space is surrounded by porticos that frame the access to the interior chambers of the palace. The stone columns are profusely carved with representations of butterflies and quetzal feathers, hence the name of the palace. During the time this building was in use, the reliefs on the columns were polychrome. The interior walls were decorated with motifs related to the cult of the divinity of water. One of the substructures of this building is the Jaguar patio. The walls of this section are decorated with scenes representing jaguars wearing plumes of quetzal feathers and, in front of them, representations of sea snails and human hearts.

Main avenues

As it is configured, it can be deduced that it had careful planning work. Four main zones or axes can be seen. From north to south the main avenue, the Calzada de los Muertos, extends. Recently, the other axis was discovered perpendicular to it, consisting of two streets that cross the Citadel and that are not visible today. Archaeologists have called them East Avenue and West Avenue.

The city was well differentiated into neighborhoods and religious ceremonial centers, where administrative activity buildings and large palaces were located, as well as temples and large buildings (pyramids).

Priests had a prominent role both in religion and in administration. Architects and artists were well regarded and had specialized workshops. As for the military body, very little is known, it is known that it was not a militaristic society, although in the final era representations of soldiers appeared more frequently in mural painting.

Dwelling

It is usual that the residential area of ​​Teotihuacán is left out of any type of analysis. However, this does not imply its nonexistence, much less the lack of architectural intelligence outside the urban scale.

The entire surroundings of the ceremonial center of this city were densely populated by various groups of priests, artisans, potters and laborers who built the city.[96]​ The Teotihuacan dwelling was immersed in a dense orthogonal plot composed of a large number of small streets that connected smaller-scale squares and other important points of this network. This, in turn, accounts for the way of urban life that developed in this place.

The house appears as a reflection of this urban reality in which it is located and in turn presents a deep understanding of the site. Most of these are made up of a central patio around which the rooms are located on a slope from it. This not only fulfills the function of lighting and ventilating, but also of collecting drains to evacuate them to the urban drainage system. On the other hand, the roofs had a particular design that allowed water to be captured and conveyed to small water reservoirs.

In the larger homes, the lack of doors and windows is resolved through a series of smaller-scale patios that allow privacy as well as an intimate relationship with the outside space. In total, it is estimated that there are approximately 2,000 homes combined in considerable rectangular structures throughout the city.[13]​.

Mural

Teotihuacán is one of the pre-Hispanic cities that preserve the most mural painting, important examples can be found in Tepantitla, Tetitla, Atetelco, la Ventilla or in the Beatriz de la Fuente Teotihuacan Mural Museum, named after the founder of the project. Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico from the UNAM, which since 1990 has recorded the murals of this site in photographs. In the studies on pre-Hispanic mural painting directed by De la Fuente, it is explained that the interdependence between artisanal painting, due to the arrangement that they have in the architectural spaces and the scenes, is basically described as mythological. Teotihuacan painting is located on the outside of the buildings on the slopes and panels of the pyramidal bases and inside, in the porticos and in the rooms and corridors. According to Sonia Lombardo, researcher of said project, the first pictorial works date from the Micaotli phase (150-200 AD).

Una parte de las controversias historiográficas del sitio es la identificación y separación de los conceptos de Teotihuacán mítico a comparación del Teotihuacán arqueológico, lo que ha desembocado en la formulación de varias teorías importantes conforme al estudio de los términos. También entre las tradiciones mexicas —del posclásico—, se encontraba el llevar a cabo ceremonias de consagración religiosa de los tlatoque en un recinto identificado con el mismo nombre.[4]​.

Entre otras cuestiones, se define al lugar mítico como al que acudían los primeros habitantes de Tamoanchan para adorar a los dioses y donde ocurrió el nacimiento del Quinto Sol (Nahui Ollin). Así lo atestiguan, entre otros, los informantes nahuas de Bernardino de Sahagún: argumentaban que allí se efectuó el nacimiento del sol (sacrificio de Nanahuatzin) y de la luna (sacrificio de Tecuciztécatl).[4]​.

Fue también el padre Sahagún quien recogió de boca de los mexicas la leyenda que habla sobre la creación del Sol y la Luna, los dioses a quienes están dedicadas las dos magníficas pirámides. Dice así:.

Esta leyenda explica así mismo el origen del nombre Teōtihuácān 'lugar donde fueron hechos los dioses', ya que de acuerdo con la leyenda es ahí donde dos dioses, el sol y la luna, empezaron a ser dioses (náhuatl teōti 'ser [un] dios', teōtia 'convertir [a alguien] en [un] dios', teōtihua 'ser transformado en dios').

Según la leyenda, sería en Teotihuacán donde los dioses habrían nacido. En este lugar donde el Sol y la Luna se elevaron hacia el cielo, como testimonian las dos pirámides que les consagraron.

No es asombroso que todas las civilizaciones de la meseta mexicana dijeran descender de la civilización de Teotihuacán. El sitio es grandioso y tan imponente que parece realmente haber sido construido por dioses.

Pero no sabemos casi nada de los hombres que poblaron esta ciudad en el siglo de nuestra era. La ciudad contaba con más de 100.000 habitantes en su apogeo. Teotihuacán fue destruida en el siglo , sin que se sepan las razones. La ciudad estaba desprovista de fortificaciones y las pinturas descubiertas no presentan ningún rastro de violencia.

Sin embargo, Teotihuacán habría influenciado mucho al área mesoamericana. Todas las civilizaciones avanzadas de la región incorporaron el estilo Teotihuacán a su arquitectura, como testimonian las representaciones de Quetzalcoatl, la famosa "serpiente emplumada" que se encuentra prácticamente en todos los sitios arqueológicos de México y Guatemala.

Society according to sources

According to colonial sources, the Nahuas thought that Teotihuacán was built by the Quinametzin, a race of giants who populated the world during the previous era and whose survivors were hidden. The temples and pyramids of the city were imagined as the tombs of the lords who founded the city, a sacred place where upon dying and being buried, men would become gods.

Even so, for Sahagún's informants, the identity of the founders of Teotihuacán was unknown. Currently, the debate increases if we take into account that the city was located in a regional enclave where over centuries there was a strong convergence of ethnic and linguistic groups that, according to archaeological evidence, influenced its inhabitants in quantity.

Teotihuacán has been an object of interest since the pre-Hispanic era of Mesoamerica. The first excavations carried out at the site correspond to the Mesoamerican Postclassic period (10th-16th centuries). The Mexica excavated the city in search of precious objects that they later included in the offerings they placed under their buildings. In the excavations in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, several of these vestiges have been rescued. Underground excavations have continued to provide information on structures as significant as the pyramids of the sun and the moon.

Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora directed the first archaeological excavations in Teotihuacán in 1675, the first carried out in Mexico in the viceregal period.[97][98]​.

• - Photos of Sigvald Linné's excavations in Teotihuacan 1932.

At the beginning of December 2008, with approval from the National Institute of Anthropology and History and with the support of the Federal Tourism Secretariat, a light and sound project began to be set up in the Pyramids of Teotihuacán, called Resplandor teotihuacano.[99] This setup was initially condemned by INAH workers and members of their union of academics and workers. On December 23, 2008, the Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union of Mexico requested the suspension of the works, considering that they damaged their structure.[100]​ The INAH suspended the works a day later.[99]​.

However, later the works continued arguing an economic benefit to the region and the promotion of a tourist corridor, despite the opposition and protests by, among others, Cuauhtémoc Velasco, union leader of the INAH, pointing out that the damage affected the structure of the Pyramids.[101] Later, on January 7, 2009, the rails installed in the pyramids began to be replaced with blocks of concrete.[102]​.

It was announced that the business group, "Grupo Mundo" was in charge of executing the light show, with a record of having already put on shows in Tulum and Chichén Itzá and that they had been hired by the secretary of tourism of the government of the State of Mexico, Alfredo del Mazo Maza.[103]​ a fact that was confirmed on January 10, 2009.[104]​.

On January 11 of the same year, it was reported that work on the pyramids was continuing, and that Peña Nieto sent a representative of his government to convince the Union and the inhabitants of the municipality with arguments that were rejected by both.[105] On January 13, 2009, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, attached to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, ruled that work on the site should stop, mentioning that The local government started the multimedia project “in reverse” and that The actions are reversible, but affect the authenticity of the site and that “there is no project prepared by a lighting specialist.”[106]​ The INAH responded that the works had been suspended, but instead the spokesperson for the administration of the historic site denied that fact.[107]​.

Peña Nieto's Secretary of Tourism stated that they had the support of INAH and FONATUR for this project, that it would have a tourist corridor in between, with a rail project that would imply an installation on the Calzada de los Muertos of said archaeological zone, a luxury hotel project and the "overnight" of visitors in the area. [108] Subsequently, the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico, on January 21 condemned the works in the area,[109]​ and in its final report stated that “we detected the lack of publication of the light and sound installation works on the INAH website, as indicated in articles 82 and 83 of the Federal Budget and Fiscal Responsibility Law and the Expenditure Budget of the Federation.”[110]​.

The Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union of Mexico returned on January 28 to condemn the installation of the light show and ordered the creation of a panel of experts to evaluate the damage to the area, while the INAH and the Government of the State of Mexico continue to insist that there was no damage to them.[111]​[112]​.

It was finally reported that the INAH Workers Union filed an injunction in order to stop the works in Teotihuacán, while archeology experts determined that the original stone was damaged with the drilling that had been done.[113]​.

The archaeological zone of Teotihuacán is located within the municipality of San Juan Teotihuacán (State of Mexico), a few kilometers east of Teotihuacán de Arista, which is the head of the municipality. It is located 45 kilometers from Mexico City. It is the archaeological zone that receives the largest number of visitors in Mexico, over sites such as Chichén Itzá (Yucatán) and Monte Albán (Oaxaca). Normally, weekends are the days when Teotihuacán has the greatest influx of tourists. At the spring equinox, groups of esoteric believers go to Teotihuacán and other archaeological areas to "recharge energy", since there is a popular belief that the Mexican pre-Hispanic pyramids are energy points. On the spring equinox of 2010, Teotihuacán received 70,358 visitors.[114]​.

The site is managed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico. The complex open to the public covers an area of ​​2.5 km² and corresponds to the Central Area of ​​Monuments included in the area protected by decree of the Mexican federal government in 1988.[115] Visiting hours to the archaeological zone are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and for the museums it is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free for older adults with Inaplen identification), as well as for children, students and teachers with school identification. On Sundays, access is free for all Mexicans. However, foreign visitors must pay a ticket any day of the year.[116]​.

To reach the monumental complex from that point you can take the highway to the Pyramids from the Indios Verdes area (Gustavo A. Madero, DF "Gustavo A. Madero (Federal District)") or by the Mexico-Tulancingo federal highway from Tepexpan. From other cities in central Mexico - such as Querétaro, Tula, Pachuca, Tlaxcala and Puebla - it is possible to reach the junction with the highway to Tulancingo through the Northern Arch.

There are buses that cover the journey between the Mexican capital and Teotihuacán. The Autobuses Teotihuacanos line provides service with a frequency of 45 minutes from the North Central Bus Terminal, making some stops before reaching Teotihuacán along the highway to the Pyramids. Autobuses del Valle de México provides regular service starting from the San Lázaro metro, taking Central Avenue that crosses Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl towards Aragón.

Teotihuacán de Arista and San Martín de las Pirámides have several hotels whose rooms are priced according to the quality of the service they offer and the season in which you visit. In the vicinity of the archaeological zone there are some luxury hotels and camping areas. The gastronomic offer in the region is also varied. Numerous restaurants and inns offer traditional cuisine from the Mexican basin. Among some representative dishes that can be found in Teotihuacán are barbecue, charcoal rabbit, mixiotes, pulque and all kinds of snacks prepared with corn.

On the other hand, night tours are offered, including a tour of the road of the dead and a light show projected on the pyramid. The audio guide can be configured in any language. The visit lasts approximately two hours and people of any age can attend, since it is not a very long or exhausting tour.

• - May 26, 2011: New tunnel found in the temple of the Feathered Serpent.[117]​.

• - December 15, 2011: New discoveries in the Pyramid of the Sun.[118]​.

• - January 25, 2013: 33 human burials are found near the pyramids.[119]​.

• - February 12, 2013: They discover a new and large figure of Huehueteotl (Old Deity) and other objects and monuments on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.[120]​.

• - April 23, 2013: Three underground chambers are discovered, by means of a robot.[121]​.

• - November 29, 2014: They reveal the discovery of more than 50,000 objects in a tunnel under the temple of the Feathered Serpent.[122]​.

• - Teotihuacano Dancer, shows colorful clothing with glyphs and decoration of bird feathers.

• - , F.J. (1994). History chapters and dissertations. Prologue and selection of July (2nd edition). University Student Library (44). Mexico: Coordination of Humanities, UNAM.

• - , Carmen Cristina and Emily (2008). «Trees and shrubs: the use of wood in pre-Hispanic Teotihuacán». Journal of Archaeological Science (35): 2927-2936. Electronic version on the Elsevier site, consulted on February 3, 2010.

• - , P. (1950). Teotihuacán, Tula and the Toltecs: the post-archaic and pre-Aztec cultures of central Mexico. Excavations and studies. 1922-1950. RUNA, Archive for the sciences of man (3). <https://doi.org/10.34096/runa.v3i0.4786>. (04/14/2022).

• -, Jorge (1997). Teotihuacán: The process of cultural evolution reflected in its urban-architectural development. doctoral thesis. Mexico City: Faculty of Architecture (UNAM).

• - , T. (2003). Teotihuacan. Grove Art Online. 07/08/2022, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000083844.

• -, Brigitte (1995). "Subsistence, social control of resources and the development of complex society in the Valley of Mexico." In John, Barbara, Mogens Trolle (eds., 1995): 89-100.

• -, Johanna (2004). "The perception of geographical latitude and the study of the Mesoamerican calendar." Náhuatl Culture Studies (35): 15-43. University City: Anthropological Research Institute.

• - , R. (1996). Teotihuacan glyphic characters in an apartment in La Ventilla, 401-427. In B. de la Fuente (coord.), Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico. Teotihuacán (vol. I, volume II) Mexico: IIE-UNAM. 07/11/2022, http://132.248.9.195/libroe_2007/1050189_2/Index.html.

• - Lyle (2000). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• -, Carmen (1953). The origin of “thin orange” pottery. Master's thesis. Mexico City: National School of Anthropology and History.

• - , D. (2018). Teotihuacan or Teo uacan? Stories and stories in Mexico (115). 04/12/2022, https://relatosehistorias.mx/nuestras-historias/teotihuacan-o-teo-uacan.

• - , Christian (2007). The first mestizaje. The key to understanding the Mesoamerican past. Mexico City: Taurus.

• - , C. (2011). Teotihuacan, city of gods. Personal autonomy (4), 90-91. 06/30/2022, https://autonomiapersonal.imserso.es/InterPresent1/groups/imserso/documents/binario/rap4cultura.pdf Archived July 11, 2022 at the Wayback Machine.

• -, Enrique (2004). Quetzalcóatl and the founding myths of Mesoamerica. Mexico City: Santillana").

• - , S. (2002). The name of Xochicalco before the 16th century: Totolhuacalco? Mexican archeology (55), 56-57. 04/10/2022, <https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/el- nombre-de-xochicalco-antes-del-siglo-xvi-totolhuacalco>.

• - , John; , Barbara; , Mogens Trolle (eds., 1995). State and society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and political centralization. London: Routledge.

• - , S.; D. ; L. ; J. and O.J. (2001). "Mammoths, volcanism and early humans in the basin of Mexico during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene." Work presented in The World of Elephants. International Congress. Rome. Electronic version consulted on March 2, 2011.

• - , Y. (1995). Dictionary of mythology and religion of Mesoamerica. Mexico: Larousse. 06/06/2022, https://archive.org/details/diccionariodemit00gonz.

• - , Terrence (1976). "Archaeological and Linguistic Correlations in Mayaland and Associated Areas of Meso-America." World Archaeology 8(1): 101–118. ISSN 0043-8243.

• - , A. (2008). The colors of the wind and the voice of the rainbow: representation of the climate among the Totonacs, 197-221. In A. Lammel, M. Goloubinoff and E. Katz (eds.), Airs and rains. Climate anthropology in Mexico. Mexico: CIESAS, IRD, CEMCA. 07/05/2022, https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers20-07/010065899.pdf.

• -, Alfredo and Leonardo (1999). Myth and reality of Zuyuá. Mexico City: FCE.

• - ⸻ (2001). The indigenous past. Mexico City: FCE.

• - , E. (2005). Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods. Mexican archeology (74), 76-83. 04/14/2022, https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/teotihuacan-la-ciudad-de-los-dioses.

• - , E. (2009). Teotihuacan. History of the Americas Trust. Mexico: FCE, COLMEX.

• - , Emily") (2003). «The pre-Hispanic landscape of the Teotihuacán Valley». Mexican Archaeology, XI(64): 36-41. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , Carlos (coord., 2007). Dictionary of Nahuatl in Mexican Spanish. Mexico City: GDF-UNAM.

• - , C. F. (2018). Iconographic analysis of the cover of the Temple of the Holy Kings of Metztitlán, Hidalgo; 79-122. Eikon/Imago VII(1). 03/01/2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.5209/eiko.73570.

• - , René") (1966). "Extension and population of the city of Teotihuacán. A provisional calculation." In XI Teotihuacán Round Table: 57-78. Mexico City: Mexican Society of Anthropology.

• - ⸻ (1993). «The place where time began». In , Kathleen and , Esther (eds). Teotihuacán, Art from the City of the Gods. Thames & Hudson.

• - , L. (2001). Social groups and government in Teotihuacan, Central Mexico; 461-482. In A. Ciudad Ruiz; M.ª J. Iglesias Ponce de León and M.ª del C. Martínez Martínez (eds.), Reconstructing the Mayan city: urban planning in ancient cities. Publications of the S.E.E.M. (6). Madrid, Spain: Spanish Society of Mayan Studies. 04/19/2022, https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2776130.pdf.

• -, Natalia and Alejandro (2007). "Teotihuacan". Arqueoweb, 8(2) s/f. Madrid: Complutense University of Madrid.

• -, Enrique (2007). «Epiclassical (650-900 AD). Fall of Teotihuacán and new forms of organization. In Mexican Archaeology, XV(86): 50-53. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , Christine (1976). Zohapilco. Five millennia of human habitation in a lake site in the basin of Mexico. Mexico City: SEP "Secretaría de Educación Pública (Mexico)")-INAH.

• -, Manuel (1957). "Teotihuacán and the Toltecs." In, Miguel. From Teotihuacán to the Aztecs: an anthology of historical sources and interpretations, 123-129. Mexico City: UNAM.

• -, Verónica (2003): «The archaeological heritage of Teotihuacán. Social responsibility. Mexican Archaeology, XI(64): 58-61. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• -, Esther (1997). Teotihuacán: an experiment in living. Norman "Norman (Oklahoma)"): University of Oklahoma Press.

• - , Prudence M. (2007). Maya calendar origins: monuments, mythology, and the materialization of time. Austin: University of Texas Press.

• -, M.ª Yazmín, Sergey, Elizabeth, Julia, Emily, Alfredo and Jorge (2008). "Environmental degradation in the Teotihuacán valley: geological and paleopedological evidence." Bulletin of the Mexican Geological Society, 59(2): 203-217. Electronic version consulted on February 2, 2010.

• - , Evelyn") (1979). «The ceramics of Teotihuacán: external relations and chronology». In Anales de Antropología, 16: 51-70. Mexico City: Institute of Anthropological Research (UNAM).

• - ⸻ (1990). «New Findings on the Origins of Thin Orange Ceramics». In Ancient Mesoamerica, 2(1): 181 - 195. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• -, A. M. (prologue by Eusebio) (1972). The remote past of Mexico (trans. M.ª Luz) Mexico: Diana.

• - , Teresa (ed.). Pedro Armillas: life and work. Volume 1. Mexico City: Ciesas.

• -, Alejandro (1998). "The city on the islet." In, Teodoro, Alejandro, Alberto and Rafael, The city and its lakes: 13-40. Mexico City: Institute of Culture of Mexico City-Clio.

• -, Alma Lilia (2003): «Travel guide. Teotihuacan, State of Mexico. Mexican Archaeology, XI(64): 80-87. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , Frauke (2008). "Over Distant Waters: Places of Creation on Colonial K'iche'an Sources." In Staller, John E. (ed.), Pre-Columbian landscapes of creation and origin, 123-160. New York: Springer.

• - , William T., Jeffrey and Robert (1979). The Basin of Mexico: The Cultural Ecology of a Civillization. New York: Academic Press.

• - , Laurette (1957). "Tollan the old one." In , Miguel (1983), From Teotihuacán to the Aztecs: anthology of historical sources and interpretations, 135-139. Mexico City: UNAM.

• -, Demetrius (1992). The great cultures of Mesoamerica. Mexico City: Panorama.

• - , Michael (1992). "Tlailotlacan, a Zapotec enclave in Teotihuacán." In , Janet Catherine (ed.), Art, ideology and the city of Teotihuacán. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks. pp: 59-88.

• - , R. (2012). Teotihuacan. In The Oxford Companion To Archaeology: Oxford University Press. 07/12/2022, https://www-oxfordreference-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/9780199735785.001.0001/acref-9780199735785-e-0439.

• - , David (2000). «The arrival of strangers». In Carrasco, David et al. (eds.), Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: from Teotihuacán to the Aztecs, 465-513. Boulder "Boulder (Colorado)"): University of Colorado Press.

• - , Yōko (2005). And the city of the gods was left behind: history of the settlements in the Toluca Valley. Mexico City: UNAM.

• -, Saburo and Alejandro (2011). "Teotihuacan". Mexican Archeology "Mexican Archeology (magazine)"), XVIII(107):39-45. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , K. A. (2001). Teotihuacan writing. Mexican archeology (48), 58-63. 06/04/2022, https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/la-escritura-teotihuacana.

• -, María Teresa (2005). «Teotihuacán and Bonampak. Relationships beyond time and distance. Annals of the Institute of Aesthetic Research, XXVII(86): 5-27. Mexico City: UNAM Aesthetic Research Institute.

• - ⸻ (2010). "The pyramids and plastic integration." Mexican Archeology: XVII(101):52-55. Mexico City: INAH.

• - , E. (2007). The Teotihuacan writing system, 74-75. , M.ª de L. and , E., chap. Themes in Teotihuacan mural painting. In M. T. and T. (eds.), Museo de murales teotihuacanos Beatriz de la Fuente, 59-77. Mexico: IIE-UNAM, INAH. 04/12/2022, https://www.academia.edu/74263375.

• - , G. (2012). The Names of Teotihuacan. Mexicon, XXXIV(3), 55–58, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/23758942>. (04/09/2022).

• - , D. C. (2005). The Otomi: culture, language and writing (Vol. I, 2 vols.). PhD thesis. Zamora: COLMICH. 07/06/2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/2.1.5100.1280.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Teotihuacán.

• - Wikiviajes hosts travel guides to or about Teotihuacán.

• - Official page of the Municipality of Teotihuacán Archived June 18, 2011 at the Wayback Machine.

• - Teotihuacán at the INAH site.

• - The legend of the Five Suns Archived July 31, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Teotihuacán.com.mx.

• - [1] Studies of Teotihuacán Dr. Cecilio A. Robelo.

• - Teotihuacan culture Archived August 24, 2017 at the Wayback Machine.

• - Teotihuacán in the Cultural Information System of the National Council for Culture and the Arts.

• - Teotihuacán and the fluctuations of the Mesoamerican economy.

Contenido

Teōtīhuacān (en su ortografía tradicional) o Teotiwakan (en su ortografía moderna) en original; hispanizado como «Teotihuacan» (en su grafía llana directamente derivada del original tradicional) o «Teotihuacán» (en su grafía aguda), siendo las dos formas correctas en español, es una palabra de origen náhuatl que le fue dada a la urbe varios siglos después de su ocaso tras el arribo a la región de los pueblos nahuatlacas (c.).

En concreto, los mexicas —hablantes del náhuatl— empleaban ese nombre para referirse a las ruinas de la antigua ciudad, la cual tenía cerca de 1000 años de abandono cuando la encontraron. Gracias a esto, el término fue ampliamente recogido en fuentes históricas (Sahagún: Códice Matritense del Real Palacio; Clavijero: Historia antigua de México) y en el uso del idioma español durante la época colonial.[14]​ Dichas fuentes son, principalmente, el origen de muchos malentendidos sobre el uso y terminología de un sitio denominado genéricamente como Teotihuacán, pues la conocieron cuando únicamente quedaban yacimientos dispersos. Entre las mismas fuentes, Teotihuacán era una ciudad de un pasado en el que también floreció Tula, por lo que pensaban que sus habitantes fueron, en esencia, toltecas.[15]​.

Traditional term

Several hypotheses have been proposed about the meaning of the toponym. It must be remembered that Nahuatl is an agglutinative language that allows complex ideas to be expressed in a single word by adding affixes to a root.

One of the most popular interpretations - inside and outside the academic field - is the one that translates Teotihuacán as 'place where the gods were born', equivalent to 'place where the gods were made'.[14] This interpretation is related to the Legend of the Suns, a well-known Mesoamerican cosmogonic myth - and particularly Nahua - that places in this city the creation of the Fifth Sun through the sacrifice of all the gods of the previous era.

In the Diccionario del Náhuatl en el español de México, C. Montemayor mentions that it comes from the words teō[tl] 'God', -ti (euphonious ligature), -huah (possessive) and -cān (locative that indicates the place where an action is performed), so he translates it as "Place of those who have gods."[16] It should be clarified that there are minor controversies about of meaning depending on the source.

The word Teotihuacán, in addition to designating the historic city and the set of archaeological monuments that are open to public visits, is also the name of a Mexican municipality (San Juan Teotihuacán) and its capital (Teotihuacán de Arista).

Other historiographical terms

Although there is some controversy in the meaning of the conventional term, the truth is that the name that the city received from its inhabitants at the time of its flowering is unknown. Some texts discovered in the Mayan area usually relate the glyph puh (tule) with characters of Teotihuacan affiliation represented on steles from such important Mayan cities as Tikal, Uaxactún and Bonampak. Puh has in the Mayan languages the same meaning as the word Tollan (AFI: ) in Nahuatl, which designated a kind of paradise within Mesoamerican mythology. "The concept of Tollan was the primordial archetype of Mesoamerican civilization and the origin of the legitimacy of the dominant lineages in numerous states throughout the region. The Mayans have diverse positions on the identity of Puh, some of them maintain that this place mentioned in various Mayan texts is indeed Teotihuacán.[e]​ This hypothesis could be reinforced by the discovery of several representations of the puh glyph in the mural painting of the residential complex of Tepantitla, within Teotihuacán.[17]​.

Although this legendary Tollan was originally identified with Tollan-Xicocotitlan (present-day Hidalgo, Mexico), the capital of the archaeological Toltecs, some researchers have preferred to separate myth from history, mainly because not only this city but others of equal relevance in Mesoamerica were called the same way.[f]​ However, the distinction between historical cities and the mythological city is not applied in a monolithic way. Making an analysis of the historical sources, the archaeological finds in central Mexico and in the Mayan area - such as the aforementioned case of the Puh glyph in the Lowlands -, Enrique Florescano makes an association of the myth with the city of Teotihuacán, so that he calls it "Tollan-Teotihuacán" and attributes to the so-called city of the gods the identity of the mythological Tula. In a dissemination article published in La Jornada, Florescano points out that "I have maintained that the so-called Toltec culture is originally from Teotihuacán and that this city was the model of the later political capitals, the cradle of the songs and the painted codex that narrated the origins of the Cosmos and the chronicle of the kingdom, and the primitive Tollan, from which the later ones were derived: Tollan Cholula, the Tula de Hidalgo, Tulán Zuywá (Chichén Itzá) and Tollan-Tenochtitlán"[18]​ This same position had been held by Laurette Séjourné at the congress of archaeologists where it was established that the mythological Tollan was Tollan-Xicocotitlan,[19]​ and is shared by Stuart,[20]​ Uriarte,[21]​ and Duverger.[22]​ René Millon"), one of the most recognized specialists on the subject of Teotihuacán, believes that Teotihuacán is indeed the legendary Tollan, but does not accept that this was its original name.[23]​.

Geographic environment

Teotihuacán was founded in an unusual position for its time with respect to the settlement pattern typical of the basin of Mexico during the Middle Preclassic. Most of the largest settlements in the region were located on or very close to the banks of the Anáhuac lake system. Cuicuilco and Copilco in the south; Ticomán, El Arbolillo, Zacatenco"), and Tlatilco in the north; and Tlapacoya in the east are examples of this. In contrast, Teotihuacán rose fifteen kilometers from the coast of Lake Texcoco, on the San Juan River in the valley that has taken the name of the city. Duverger affirms that the location of Teotihuacán corresponds not only to an ecological frontier, but to the border between the Mesoamerican agricultural civilization and the cultural world of the nomadic arid-american peoples.[24]​.

The Teotihuacán valley is part of the basin of Mexico. It is located in the northeast of that large lake basin of more than a surface area, within the limits that currently correspond to the State of Mexico. Its altitude ranges from 2240 to 3200 at the top of Cerro Gordo. In the area of archaeological monuments, the altitude is 2300. The valley is limited to the north by the Gordo hills "Cerro Gordo (Sierra de Guadalupe)"), Malinalco") and Colorado "Cerro Colorado (State of Mexico)"); to the south by the Patlachique mountain range, with elevations above 2600; and to the east it ends in the vicinity of Otumba and the surrounding hills. To the southwest of the valley is locates the Chiconautla hill"), near the old mouth of the San Juan River. The Tonala hill, to the west, marks the separation between the Teotihuacán valley and the alluvial plain where Tecámac and Zumpango are located.

The main drainage of the valley is towards the basin of Lake Texcoco through the San Juan, San Lorenzo and Huixulco rivers. These rivers are seasonal, they grow during the rainy season and during the rest of the year their currents disappear from the surface to emerge in the next rainy season.[25] The rivers of the Teotihuacán valley flowed in pre-Hispanic times near Cuanalán. channeled towards the general drainage of the Valley of Mexico.

The soils of the Teotihuacán Valley mainly belong to four types. The feozem corresponds to 40% of the surface. It is followed in importance by the types vertisol (16%), cambisol (13.5%) and leptosol (13%).[25] Research has been carried out with the purpose of observing the impact of human activity on the soils of Teotihuacán. Rivera Uria et al. warn that in some places such as Cerro San Lucas the composition of the surface has changed dramatically.[27]​ In this case they found that before the establishment of the first Preclassic communities the dominant soil in that place was luvisol, which has currently disappeared. Other sections of the valley were affected for construction purposes. The immense volume of materials used to fill the pyramid of the Moon comes from the surface of areas near the building - where artificial depressions have been found - and reaches 2 million m³.[28]​.

The vegetation of the Teotihuacán Valley has changed little compared to pre-Hispanic times, although it is evident that the current landscape is the result of a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. The main difference would consist in the extension of the plant ecosystems - since the area dedicated to agriculture has grown at the expense of them - and in the disappearance of the species of the Pinus genus in the valley landscape.[29]​ Currently the region has six main types of vegetation. It has small pockets of oak forest", located on Cerro Gordo; this type of vegetation probably covered the areas that are currently occupied by oak thickets (Quercus microphyla")), which constitute a second type of vegetation. The xerophyte scrub is the most representative type of vegetation today, and includes species such as Opuntia streptacantha, Zaluzania augusta") and Mimosa biuncifera. In addition to these types of vegetation are grasslands, seasonal hydrophilic vegetation, associated with the rainy season.[25]​.

The conditions of the valley favored demographic concentration as they were beneficial for the Mesoamerican lifestyle based on agriculture. The settlement patterns indicate that during the Preclassic period (c. 2500 BC-200 AD) the first villages were established on the slopes of the hills that, as mentioned above, had their own alluvial soils for cultivation, but from the Classic period (c. 200-700 AD) there was an increase in the population at the bottom of the valley.[30]​ However, due to being located in the area transition between the lake environment of Anáhuac and the drier valleys of Tulancingo and Mezquital, it was exposed to some climatological fluctuations. The illuviation of the clay found in the tepetate of Cerro San Lucas shows a decrease in environmental humidity that coincides with the increase in population,[31]​ although the heyday of Teotihuacán seems to be related to a relatively more humid and temperate environment than the current one.[32]​.

Society

It is not known for certain what the identity of the town that founded Teotihuacán is. The city had been abandoned a long time before the arrival of the Spanish to Mesoamerica, so the few references to the city that were preserved in the historical sources produced in the years after the Conquest of Mexico do not speak properly about the inhabitants of Teotihuacán, but rather about the representation that those who lived in Anáhuac had of them after the Teotihuacan collapse.

There are several theories about the city's inhabitants. The long presence of the Otomí in the Valley of Mexico has led to the hypothesis that they were the founders of the city. For some authors it is very likely that the Otomian component in the city was very important,[33] however, only some consider that the ruling class of Teotihuacán was Otomian. In Wright Carr's opinion, both the elite and the most important demographic component of Teotihuacán must have been proto-Otomi-Mazahua, in a territory that was surrounded by other peoples with the Otomangue and Totonaco language. According to some glottochronological analyses, the separation of the Otomi and Mazahua languages ​​occurred precisely in the period of Teotihuacán's heyday.[34] The Totonacos are other candidates to occupy the site as founders of Teotihuacán. In fact, chroniclers of the colonial era collected testimonies where these people claimed to have built the city. This theory can be complemented with archaeological evidence, since there was an evident Totonac presence in Teotihuacán.[35]​.

Correlating the linguistic and archaeological evidence, Kaufman proposes that the language spoken by the Teotihuacanos could have been Mazahua, Otomí, Totonaco, Tepehua, Popoloca, Mixtec or Chocholteco. He accepts, like several modern authors, the probability that a Nahua variant was also spoken in the city, but from his point of view, the culture of Coyotlatelco") - associated with the decline of Teotihuacan - is the first whose bearers undoubtedly must have been speakers of Nahuatl in Mesoamerica.[36] Likewise, the hypothesis of a Uto-Aztec language during the splendor of the city since Gómez and King (2004) argued the existence of a proto-Náhuatl Pochuteco language after analyzing the possible semanticity of the epigraphic repertoire of the Plaza de Los Glifos in the La Ventilla neighborhood, from which both the Nahuatl and Mixteco spoken—and recorded—at the time of the Conquest (century) would derive.[37]​ There is also the possibility of a Mixe-Zoque language due to the earliest temporality. of the city, evidently related to the Totonacan trunk.[38]​.

Campbell suggests that, according to the ethnohistoric evidence and the large number of linguistic borrowings that Totonac seems to have provided to the other Mesoamerican languages ​​- particularly the Mayan languages ​​and the Nahuatl spoken in the Sierra Madre Oriental -, it is very likely that the founders of Teotihuacán spoke a Totonacan language.[39]​.

History

Teotihuacán's peak period corresponds to the Early Classic period of Mesoamerica (2nd/3rd-6th centuries). However, the beginnings of the city must be placed in the first millennium BC "Era (chronology)"). Strategically located northeast of the Valley of Mexico, near the northern shore of Lake Texcoco, Teotihuacán became the main competitor of Cuicuilco during the Late Preclassic. The eruption of Xitle in the south of the valley hastened the fall of Cuicuilco and favored the concentration of the population and political and economic power in Teotihuacán.

For reasons that have not yet been fully elucidated, Teotihuacán collapsed towards the middle of the century, giving rise to the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period. The vestiges of the city gave rise to numerous explanations about its presence among the Nahua peoples of the Postclassic period, and these explanations are known from the compilation recovery work of the missionaries of the Indies, specifically Bernardino de Sahagún.

Chronology

To address the long and complex history of Teotihuacan, several chronologies have been proposed based on the ceramic remains found in the excavations. Each of the phases is related to technical or stylistic changes observed in the city's pottery. This procedure has helped simplify the task of dating archaeological remains, since ceramics are a very abundant material that resists the passage of time well and is present in many archaeological contexts. However, the procedure is not without drawbacks. One of them consists of the precise definition of the characteristics of each ceramic phase and its temporal delimitation.

As there are numerous researchers who have focused their attention on Teotihuacán, several chronologies are available for the city. Currently there seems to be consensus around the chronology proposed by René Millon") and his team of collaborators.[44] Despite this general acceptance, there are some works that show that said chronology must be adjusted. For example, George Cowgill and Evelyn Rattray") have proposed that the decline of Teotihuacán occurred between fifty and one hundred years before the date suggested by Millon. From this point of view, the temporal dimension of some ceramic phases in the Teotihuacan chronology could be reduced. In this article we have chosen to follow Millon's chronology in general.

The history of Teotihuacán can be understood as part of a long civilizational process that began with the arrival of human beings to Anáhuac. This could have occurred approximately 20 thousand years ago, the period in which the discoveries in Tequixquiac have been dated, and later in Tocuila and Tlapacoya. In this last site, two human skulls have been found closely related to animal remains and lithic tools.[45]​.

The domestication of plant species allowed the inhabitants of the region to face the extinction of the fauna that was one of the main bases of their diet, which occurred around the seventh millennium before the Christian era. Agriculture favored the process of sedentarization in the area. On the eastern shore of Lake Chalco, a settlement was established in Zohapilco, whose first phase spans from 5500 BC. C. to 3500 BC. C. At that time, the residents of Zohapilco had farming instruments, utensils for processing grain and weapons for hunting; and since 2000 BC. C. they began to produce ceramics.[46]​.

Agriculture gradually became the basis of the economy of the people of the Valley of Mexico, as it provided a secure source of food. As this occurred, numerous villages were established around the Anáhuac lakes. The social complexity of these societies was variable, but in the largest of them a marked social differentiation is observed. During the Middle Preclassic (1200-400 BC) some of these villages reached their peak, such as Tlatilco, Copilco and Cuicuilco. The settlements corresponding to this era combined agriculture with the exploitation of the resources of the lake environment, and show a mixture of cultural influences of Olmec inspiration and Western cultures.

Beginnings of the city

Between the year 100 BC. C. and the beginning of our era, Teotihuacán began to concentrate a significant number of inhabitants from the entire Anáhuac valley. The emigrants from Cuicuilco contributed to the growth of Teotihuacán, who had begun an exodus that ended up depopulating that city. The Tzacualli phase of Teotihuacán (1-150 AD) is the one in which the bases of the urban planning of the city are established and several characteristic features of the Teotihuacan culture are defined.[55]​ The construction of the city's buildings is carried out around two axes. The north-south axis is constituted by the Calzada de los Muertos"), which in the Tzacualli phase is already well defined. The Calzada de los Muertos is oriented 15°28' towards the east with respect to geographic north. During the Tzacualli phase, the east-west axis was constituted by the course of the San Juan River, whose channel was diverted to coincide with an orientation deviated 16°30' towards the south of the east.[56]​ At this time the first construction stage of the Pyramid of the Moon was carried out and the plaza of this great building, which marks the northern limit of the Causeway of the Dead, had already been planned.[57]​.

The effort that was made for the construction of the Pyramid of the Sun is notable, which was practically completed in a single construction stage that took place in this phase. During that time, the center of the city was this building, a representation of the primordial mountain from which maintenance comes and constitutes the axis mundi according to Mesoamerican mythology. The platform attached to the pyramid of the Sun is later than the rest of the building, and seems to have been built at the end of the Miccaotli phase.[58]​.

According to the works of René Millon, in the Tzacualli phase the population of Teotihuacán was around 30,000 inhabitants and the surface of the city was 17 km². At this time, Teotihuacán was undoubtedly the largest city in central Mexico and only Monte Albán in the Central valleys of Oaxaca and Cholula in the Puebla-Tlaxcalteca valley could be compared with it. In archaeological excavations, remains of granular ceramics have been found, a type that has also frequently appeared in sites in Morelos and the center of the state of Guerrero, so it is assumed that commercial relations between Teotihuacán and These areas of Mesoamerica were already active in the Late Preclassic.[59]​.

The years from 150 to 250 correspond to the Miccaotli phase. This phase is called this way because it was the word with which the Nahuas designated the road of the Dead. During the Miccaotli phase, Teotihuacán consolidates itself as the largest city in central Mexico. The center of the city moves to the south with the construction of The Citadel"), an enclosure that, like the pyramid of the Sun, was a representation of the primordial sacred mountain. The Citadel consists of a set of thirteen temples organized around a large plaza where the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent is located. For the consecration of this temple, more than one hundred people were sacrificed and placed in collective burials, in groups of 4, 8, 18 and 20 bodies, plus those in They were buried alone in the corners of the base of the building,[60] including the sacrificed children who were discovered by Leopoldo Batres at each vertex of each level of the platform.

Flowering

Around the year 250, the Tlamimilolpa phase began, which takes its name from the peripheral site of Teotihuacán that is known by that name. During this phase, Teotihuacán has already established itself as a regional power and its influence is constantly spreading throughout Mesoamerica. The Pyramid of the Moon was expanded two more times in this period. The fifth construction stage of that building occurred around the year 300 and the sixth between the years 350 and 400. As in the previous construction stages of the pyramid, some human burials are associated with these last two.[63]​.

The demographic expansion of Teotihuacán was carried out in an organized manner in housing complexes, a practice that had begun in the previous phases and that adjusts to the urban plan oriented by the two axes of the city. Some old housing complexes such as La Ventilla are expanded and provided with spaces for public activities. New spaces for housing are built, but the surface of the city contracts during this stage, until it remains at 20 km², two less than in the previous phase. In contrast, the population continued to increase and, according to Millon's calculation, it could reach 65,000 people.[64]​.

In the archaeological horizon of the Tlalmimilolpa phase, the oldest traces of Orange Delgado ceramics from Teotihuacán have appeared. In this phase they represent 6% of the ceramic materials and their frequency in archaeological contexts increases throughout the following stages.[65]​ The presence of this ceramic in the Mesoamerican sites is considered an indicator of links with the Teotihuacan world, but it is important to clarify that it is a foreign product in Teotihuacan. According to the research of Carmen Cook, the south of Puebla was the producing center of this pottery tradition.[66]​ Rattray agrees with this statement and adds that the Tepexi de Rodríguez region flourished notably in the Classic, when it maintained a very intense relationship with Teotihuacán that did not seem to imply subordination to that city.[67]​.

Teotihuacán's relations with the rest of Mesoamerica diversified during the Tlamimilolpa phase, as archaeological evidence shows. In Burial 5 of the pyramid of the Moon, perhaps offered in commemoration of the completion of the work, the three main subjects of the burial were placed in a "lotus flower" position and associated with them were a set of jade objects that came from the Motagua River valley. The position of the human remains is similar to that observed in certain elite burials in Kaminaljuyú (Guatemala).[68] This fact adds to the notable architectural influence that the city had in its flowering over the Mayan area in places such as Tikal and Kaminaljuyú itself, as well as the discovery of Mayan pieces in the Tlamimilolpa horizon of Teotihuacán. Some of the vestiges of Mayan ceramics found in Teotihuacán correspond to the Tzakol type) and bear similarities to contemporary works of that type that have been found in Tikal and Uaxactún.[69] The Mayan presence in Teotihuacán will be added to that of the Zapotecs - evident since the Miccaotli phase - and to that of the Gulf cultures - of which the remains are testimony. ceramic Pánuco III")[70]​―.

Decay

Around the year 650 the Metepec phase began. According to the work of René Millon, at that stage the city had up to 75,000 inhabitants,[44]​ which represents a loss of almost 25% compared to the Xolalpan phase. Despite this demographic contraction, Teotihuacán continued to be the largest city in the Valley of Mexico and one of the largest in Mesoamerica.[73] Architectural activity in the city came to a standstill, in fact the only building that was completely completed in the Metepec phase is the platform attached to the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. The attached platform seems to have been built with the purpose of hiding the building that was the heart of The Citadel, emblem of the city's power. In fact, the inhabitants of Teotihuacán during the Metepec phase did not know the temple of the Feathered Serpent as can currently be seen in the archaeological zone, since its façade was rescued in the 19th century.

According to Millon, both the Citadel and the buildings around the Causeway of the Dead were subject to systematic destruction by the city's inhabitants.

In the Oxtotípac phase (750-850) the city's population was reduced very drastically as a reflection of a mass exodus of the occupants. René Millon calculated that at this stage, the urban area was inhabited by 5,000 people.[44] Only some parts of the city remain occupied, including what is known as the Old City and some sites that in the previous era were inhabited by the elite. This occupation of Teotihuacán is related to the culture of Coyotlatelco") and the appearance of the ceramics of the same name. Some authors believe that this culture is foreign, the product of a migration that contributed to the Teotihuacan ruin. Others consider that it is the expression of a peripheral group of the city that did not possess the high Teotihuacan culture.

To explain the decline of the city, various hypotheses have been proposed. Some considered that around the century a great drought occurred in northern Mesoamerica that caused the migration of its occupants to the south. This drought would also have affected the region's agriculture and made it impossible to sustain the population. However, McClung de Tapia and his collaborators have said that there are no indicators that this hypothesis could be sustained, since during the period of Teotihuacán's decline an increase in humidity was observed in the city's surroundings.[75]​.

As Teotihuacán began its decline, other cities in central Mesoamerica began to flourish. For some authors, the flourishing of Epiclassic cultures would be a factor that contributed to the Teotihuacan collapse. These cities form a crown around Teotihuacán, at strategic points on the most important trade routes in Mesoamerica at that time. Xochicalco in the Morelos valley, Teotenango in the Toluca valley, Cacaxtla in the Tlaxcala valley, Cantona in the east and El Tajín in the pass towards La Huasteca; They were all cities that saw their peak when Teotihuacán declined and, in some cases, were born precisely in that context. According to some authors, these new regional powers strangled the great metropolis by depriving it of access to trade routes.

Teotihuacan migrations after the collapse

Although the origin and identity of the groups carrying the Coyotlatelco" pottery are a matter of debate, there is consensus that their presence is related to the decline of the city. The situation in Teotihuacán was accompanied by the massive abandonment of the city, which began around the year 500, according to archaeological evidence in northern Morelos that shows the presence of Teotihuacan groups that merged with local settlers and lost their cultural identity, probably as a strategy to escape the oppression of the Teotihuacan regime.[76]​.

The Teotihuacan diaspora was established in places that were outside the domain of Teotihuacán during the Metepec phase (550-650 AD). At this time, the metropolis dominated in the north of the basin of Mexico, but the towns located to the south and west of the region were outside its sphere of influence, as shown by the fact that there are few material indicators of contact with Teotihuacán in those directions. For this reason, the east of Anáhuac, the north of Morelos, the Tlaxcala valley and the Toluca valley absorbed important parts of the groups that abandoned Teotihuacán.

With the departure of the groups carrying the Teotihuacan culture, a demographic rearrangement and the diffusion of Coyotlatelco ceramics is observed in the basin of Mexico. Between Azcapotzalco and Ecatepec there is a group of populations with this type of ceramics that participated in its diffusion towards the Toluca valley.[77] Another group corresponds to the Chalco-Xochimilco basin. The third is concentrated around Portezuelo"), which must have been one of the largest settlements in the basin of Mexico during the Epiclassic (c. 650-900). A final Coyotlatelco group corresponds to the one that remained in Teotihuacán, where they occupied the ruined residential complexes. Tula, Cacaxtla, Cholula and Xochitécatl are points outside the basin of Mexico where Coyotlatelco ceramics have also been found, although to a lesser extent.

The city of Teotihuacán grew around an urban plan structured around two axial axes. The Calzada de los Muertos") is the north-south axis, while there is another avenue that begins in La Ciudadela and is considered the east-west axis. The San Juan River was diverted from its natural course so that it crossed perpendicularly the Calzada de los Muertos. The main axes of Teotihuacán crossed perpendicularly, and a grid was drawn around them that served as the basis for the construction of the buildings.

The urban planning of Teotihuacán must have acquired its definitive form around the century AD. C., when the fourth stage of the pyramid of the Moon, La Ciudadela&action=edit&redlink=1 "La Ciudadela (Teotihuacán) (not yet written)") and the pyramid of the Sun had already been built.[78]​ The axes of the Calzada de los Muertos and the East-West avenue had been defined during the Tzacualli phase, which spanned approximately from 1 to 150 AD. C.[79]​.

The Causeway of the Dead is a wide road that crossed the city. It begins in the plaza in front of the Pyramid of the Moon and extends two kilometers to the south, near Teopancaxco. The avenue is oriented 15°30′ to the east with respect to astronomical north. This deviation is the same that, with some variations, is observed in all Teotihuacan constructions.[79]​ Around that great avenue are the most important monumental complexes in the city, dedicated mainly to religious activities. Among others, on the Causeway of the Dead are the pyramid of the Sun, the temple of the Mythological Animals") and the temple of Quetzalcóatl. The heart of Teotihuacán was made up of these and other buildings dedicated to worship. Associated with them are the residential complexes intended for the elite in the vicinity. Among these are the palace of Quetzalpapálotl and the housing complexes of Yayahuala"), Tetitla"), Xala and Zacuala").

The neighborhoods where the lower strata of society, agricultural workers and artisans, merchants and foreigners lived, were organized around the central area. According to archaeological investigations, the city had around two thousand housing complexes at its peak, which occurred between the 19th and 20th centuries. These buildings were constantly expanded and remodeled to meet the needs of the growing population.[80]​ The urban surface grew rapidly during the Tzacualli phase, when it reached approximately 20 km² in area and a population of 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants.[79]​ Teotihuacán had a very advanced urban services system. The water management system stands out, both for daily consumption and wastewater. The city had a large network of sewers that contributed to cleaning up the environment of the city and its tens of thousands of inhabitants.

The architectural integration of the urban plan of Teotihuacán is related to the worldview of the society that created it and the environment. The urban layout exhibits two slightly different orientations, which resulted from a combination of astronomical and topographical criteria. The central part of the city, including the Causeway of the Dead, conforms to the orientation of the Pyramid of the Sun, while the southern part reproduces the orientation of The Citadel. The two constructions marked the sunrise and sunset on certain dates, allowing the use of an observational calendar intended to facilitate adequate scheduling of agricultural work and the associated ceremonies. The fact that both orientations belong to the groups widely spread in Mesoamerica can be explained only with the use of astronomical references on the horizon.[81]​ Furthermore, the Pyramid of the Sun is aligned towards Cerro Gordo to the north, which means that the location for its construction must have been carefully premeditated. The artificial cave under the pyramid represents an additional indication of the importance of this place.[82]​[83]​ The relationship that exists between the most important constructions and the forms of the Patlachique mountain range that surrounds the Teotihuacán valley is also evident.[84]​.

La traza urbana está esbozada sobre un modelo cuadricular y organizado en una división cuatripartita simbólica, un modelo común en toda Mesoamérica que hace referencia al concepto cosmogónico de los cuatro rumbos (puntos) del universo.[85]​ En torno a esta planificación, se encuentra la columna vertebral de la ciudad, es decir, la gran vía o calzada de los muertos. Consta de 4000 metros (4 km) de longitud y su eje está desviado ligeramente hacia el noreste, 15°30′ respecto al norte geográfico.[86]​.

A lo largo de la gran vía se encuentran los edificios más importantes destinados a templos, palacios y casas de personajes de alto rango. Allí están, además de las dos grandes pirámides, la Casa del Sacerdote, el palacio de Quetzalpapalotl (Quetzalmariposa), el palacio de los Jaguares, la estructura de las caracolas emplumadas, el templo de Quetzalcóatl, la ciudadela y muchas edificaciones más que en su día fueron de gran belleza. En uno de los aposentos se descubrieron pisos construidos con dos capas de láminas de mica de 6 cm de espesor, que fueron cubiertas más tarde con tezontle. El visitante puede contemplar esta curiosidad siempre que se lo pida al guardia del recinto.

The great foundations

They have a core made of adobe. Later they were covered with stucco and stone and added a frieze decorated with geometric reliefs. They were built as the base of a temple that was on the platform. The Spaniards who arrived in the 19th century still managed to see the idols of the Sun and the Moon.

Pyramid of the Sun

The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacán and the second in all of Mesoamerica, only behind the Great Pyramid of Cholula. Due to its considerable dimensions, it can be observed from several kilometers away. It has a height of 63 meters, with an almost square plan of approximately 225 meters per side, which is why it is often compared to the pyramid of Cheops in Giza (Egypt).

The building consists of five superimposed truncated conical bodies and an attached structure of three bodies that do not reach the height of the first platform. The Pyramid of the Sun is located on the eastern side of the "Calzada de los Muertos", practically aligned perpendicular to this road. The current image of the pyramid corresponds to the restoration carried out by Leopoldo Batres between 1905 and 1910, since as part of the commemoration of the Centennial of the Independence of Mexico, several buildings in the city were converted into a tourist attraction.[87] The restoration of Batres has subsequently been criticized for being hasty and incomplete,[88]​ in addition to the fact that it was made on conceptions of Mesoamerican architecture based on Egyptian models.

At the beginning of Teotihuacán, the site where the Pyramid of the Sun is located corresponded to a type of wall with a slope base and vertical elevation without association with other structures. The use of this structure is unknown, although Sugiyama suggests that it could have served to delimit a sacred space. The Pyramid of the Sun had two construction stages, during the first it practically reached the dimensions it has today. The use of the Pyramid of the Sun and the meaning it had for the inhabitants of Teotihuacán remains a mystery.[89]​.

In 1971 Jorge Ruffier Acosta found a tunnel under the pyramid, whose access is in front of the attached platform. The first researchers of the tunnel – which is also called “sacred cave” – assumed that it was a natural cavern that was used for ritual purposes, which would explain the construction of the monument over it. Sugiyama and his team have shown that the cave was dug entirely by humans. The structure of the tunnel is reminiscent of the underground tombs of the West, as access is through a 6.5-meter shaft. The cavity extends to the east for approximately 97 meters. At the end of the tunnel, which practically coincides with the center of the building, there is a four-lobed chamber that, according to Sugiyama's hypothesis, could have contained a royal tomb.

Pyramidal base of the Moon

The Pyramid of the Moon is one of the oldest buildings in Teotihuacán. During the century it was also known as Meztli Iztácual, a name that Manuel Orozco y Berra includes in his work, where he maintains the nineteenth-century hypothesis that Teotihuacán was a Toltec city.[90] Its final form was acquired after seven construction stages. It has an approximately square plan of 45 meters per side. It is smaller in size than the Pyramid of the Sun, but is at the same height because it is built on higher ground. Its height is 45 m. Next to this pyramid, a statue called the Goddess of Agriculture was found, which archaeologists place in the early Toltec era.

This pyramid is located very close to the Pyramid of the Sun, closing the city area to the north. From its esplanade the route of the main axis known as Vía or Calzada de los Muertos begins.

The Citadel and the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent

The citadel is an architectural complex located on the western side of the Causeway of the Dead, south of the course of the San Juan River. The complex forms a large sunken quadrangular plaza of approximately 400 meters per side and was built during the Miccaotli phase, between 150 and 250 AD. C.[91]​ The complex of The Citadel also includes the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, which is surrounded by thirteen secondary temples built on a platform. Behind the temple of the Feathered Serpents there are two housing complexes that could have been reserved for the Teotihuacan elite. In the center of the square there is a shrine with four stairs that gave access to the platform. The Citadel became the political, cultural and economic center of the city of Teotihuacán, a site that had corresponded to the Pyramid of the Sun complex until then. The causes of this displacement of the city center are unknown, but it could have been due to political factors.[92]​.

The pyramid of the Feathered Serpent is located a certain distance from the two great pyramids, on the Road of the Dead. It was an archaeological discovery in 1920. It was buried by a pyramid with smooth walls, without any type of ornamentation.

At first it was thought that the sculptures that accompany the feathered serpent heads were representations of Tlalóc, however they are Cipactli, which means crocodile, this character was very important, since with him the first day with which the 260-day lunar calendar began was represented. That is why the temple of Quetzalcoatl could have been a temple built to Time.

In November 2010, researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History sent a robot vehicle, called Tlaloque I and designed by the National Polytechnic Institute, to explore a narrow tunnel, 8 meters deep and approximately 100 linear meters deep, located just below the temple. By using georadar, it was concluded that said tunnel leads to 3 chambers where researchers believe the remains of some important people from Teotihuacán are found. According to the archaeologist Verónica Ortega: «The first thing there was to worship in Teotihuacán was this tunnel and later they built a sacred place, there the Pyramid of the Sun "Pyramid of the Sun (Teotihuacán)") was built [...] The coating is completely made of mud, [the Teotihuacans] try to give a smooth appearance to these walls, probably so that the people who entered here would not realize that the tunnel continued.» Previously, this place had been found by the Mexica culture and, more recently, in the 1970s, although in the latter no major discoveries were made.[93]​[94]​.

Quetzalpapálotl Palace

The palace of Quetzalpapálotl (from Nahuatl: quetzalli-papálotl) is a building that was the home of the Teotihuacan elite. More specifically, it has been proposed that it was the residence of the main priests of Teotihuacán.[95] The palace of Quetzalpapálotl is located in the southwest corner of the Plaza de la Luna, behind structure 5 of this complex. To access its interior you have to climb a staircase guarded by jaguars. From the platform on which the building is located it is possible to descend to the central courtyard of the palace. This space is surrounded by porticos that frame the access to the interior chambers of the palace. The stone columns are profusely carved with representations of butterflies and quetzal feathers, hence the name of the palace. During the time this building was in use, the reliefs on the columns were polychrome. The interior walls were decorated with motifs related to the cult of the divinity of water. One of the substructures of this building is the Jaguar patio. The walls of this section are decorated with scenes representing jaguars wearing plumes of quetzal feathers and, in front of them, representations of sea snails and human hearts.

Main avenues

As it is configured, it can be deduced that it had careful planning work. Four main zones or axes can be seen. From north to south the main avenue, the Calzada de los Muertos, extends. Recently, the other axis was discovered perpendicular to it, consisting of two streets that cross the Citadel and that are not visible today. Archaeologists have called them East Avenue and West Avenue.

The city was well differentiated into neighborhoods and religious ceremonial centers, where administrative activity buildings and large palaces were located, as well as temples and large buildings (pyramids).

Priests had a prominent role both in religion and in administration. Architects and artists were well regarded and had specialized workshops. As for the military body, very little is known, it is known that it was not a militaristic society, although in the final era representations of soldiers appeared more frequently in mural painting.

Dwelling

It is usual that the residential area of ​​Teotihuacán is left out of any type of analysis. However, this does not imply its nonexistence, much less the lack of architectural intelligence outside the urban scale.

The entire surroundings of the ceremonial center of this city were densely populated by various groups of priests, artisans, potters and laborers who built the city.[96]​ The Teotihuacan dwelling was immersed in a dense orthogonal plot composed of a large number of small streets that connected smaller-scale squares and other important points of this network. This, in turn, accounts for the way of urban life that developed in this place.

The house appears as a reflection of this urban reality in which it is located and in turn presents a deep understanding of the site. Most of these are made up of a central patio around which the rooms are located on a slope from it. This not only fulfills the function of lighting and ventilating, but also of collecting drains to evacuate them to the urban drainage system. On the other hand, the roofs had a particular design that allowed water to be captured and conveyed to small water reservoirs.

In the larger homes, the lack of doors and windows is resolved through a series of smaller-scale patios that allow privacy as well as an intimate relationship with the outside space. In total, it is estimated that there are approximately 2,000 homes combined in considerable rectangular structures throughout the city.[13]​.

Mural

Teotihuacán is one of the pre-Hispanic cities that preserve the most mural painting, important examples can be found in Tepantitla, Tetitla, Atetelco, la Ventilla or in the Beatriz de la Fuente Teotihuacan Mural Museum, named after the founder of the project. Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico from the UNAM, which since 1990 has recorded the murals of this site in photographs. In the studies on pre-Hispanic mural painting directed by De la Fuente, it is explained that the interdependence between artisanal painting, due to the arrangement that they have in the architectural spaces and the scenes, is basically described as mythological. Teotihuacan painting is located on the outside of the buildings on the slopes and panels of the pyramidal bases and inside, in the porticos and in the rooms and corridors. According to Sonia Lombardo, researcher of said project, the first pictorial works date from the Micaotli phase (150-200 AD).

Una parte de las controversias historiográficas del sitio es la identificación y separación de los conceptos de Teotihuacán mítico a comparación del Teotihuacán arqueológico, lo que ha desembocado en la formulación de varias teorías importantes conforme al estudio de los términos. También entre las tradiciones mexicas —del posclásico—, se encontraba el llevar a cabo ceremonias de consagración religiosa de los tlatoque en un recinto identificado con el mismo nombre.[4]​.

Entre otras cuestiones, se define al lugar mítico como al que acudían los primeros habitantes de Tamoanchan para adorar a los dioses y donde ocurrió el nacimiento del Quinto Sol (Nahui Ollin). Así lo atestiguan, entre otros, los informantes nahuas de Bernardino de Sahagún: argumentaban que allí se efectuó el nacimiento del sol (sacrificio de Nanahuatzin) y de la luna (sacrificio de Tecuciztécatl).[4]​.

Fue también el padre Sahagún quien recogió de boca de los mexicas la leyenda que habla sobre la creación del Sol y la Luna, los dioses a quienes están dedicadas las dos magníficas pirámides. Dice así:.

Esta leyenda explica así mismo el origen del nombre Teōtihuácān 'lugar donde fueron hechos los dioses', ya que de acuerdo con la leyenda es ahí donde dos dioses, el sol y la luna, empezaron a ser dioses (náhuatl teōti 'ser [un] dios', teōtia 'convertir [a alguien] en [un] dios', teōtihua 'ser transformado en dios').

Según la leyenda, sería en Teotihuacán donde los dioses habrían nacido. En este lugar donde el Sol y la Luna se elevaron hacia el cielo, como testimonian las dos pirámides que les consagraron.

No es asombroso que todas las civilizaciones de la meseta mexicana dijeran descender de la civilización de Teotihuacán. El sitio es grandioso y tan imponente que parece realmente haber sido construido por dioses.

Pero no sabemos casi nada de los hombres que poblaron esta ciudad en el siglo de nuestra era. La ciudad contaba con más de 100.000 habitantes en su apogeo. Teotihuacán fue destruida en el siglo , sin que se sepan las razones. La ciudad estaba desprovista de fortificaciones y las pinturas descubiertas no presentan ningún rastro de violencia.

Sin embargo, Teotihuacán habría influenciado mucho al área mesoamericana. Todas las civilizaciones avanzadas de la región incorporaron el estilo Teotihuacán a su arquitectura, como testimonian las representaciones de Quetzalcoatl, la famosa "serpiente emplumada" que se encuentra prácticamente en todos los sitios arqueológicos de México y Guatemala.

Society according to sources

According to colonial sources, the Nahuas thought that Teotihuacán was built by the Quinametzin, a race of giants who populated the world during the previous era and whose survivors were hidden. The temples and pyramids of the city were imagined as the tombs of the lords who founded the city, a sacred place where upon dying and being buried, men would become gods.

Even so, for Sahagún's informants, the identity of the founders of Teotihuacán was unknown. Currently, the debate increases if we take into account that the city was located in a regional enclave where over centuries there was a strong convergence of ethnic and linguistic groups that, according to archaeological evidence, influenced its inhabitants in quantity.

Teotihuacán has been an object of interest since the pre-Hispanic era of Mesoamerica. The first excavations carried out at the site correspond to the Mesoamerican Postclassic period (10th-16th centuries). The Mexica excavated the city in search of precious objects that they later included in the offerings they placed under their buildings. In the excavations in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, several of these vestiges have been rescued. Underground excavations have continued to provide information on structures as significant as the pyramids of the sun and the moon.

Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora directed the first archaeological excavations in Teotihuacán in 1675, the first carried out in Mexico in the viceregal period.[97][98]​.

• - Photos of Sigvald Linné's excavations in Teotihuacan 1932.

At the beginning of December 2008, with approval from the National Institute of Anthropology and History and with the support of the Federal Tourism Secretariat, a light and sound project began to be set up in the Pyramids of Teotihuacán, called Resplandor teotihuacano.[99] This setup was initially condemned by INAH workers and members of their union of academics and workers. On December 23, 2008, the Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union of Mexico requested the suspension of the works, considering that they damaged their structure.[100]​ The INAH suspended the works a day later.[99]​.

However, later the works continued arguing an economic benefit to the region and the promotion of a tourist corridor, despite the opposition and protests by, among others, Cuauhtémoc Velasco, union leader of the INAH, pointing out that the damage affected the structure of the Pyramids.[101] Later, on January 7, 2009, the rails installed in the pyramids began to be replaced with blocks of concrete.[102]​.

It was announced that the business group, "Grupo Mundo" was in charge of executing the light show, with a record of having already put on shows in Tulum and Chichén Itzá and that they had been hired by the secretary of tourism of the government of the State of Mexico, Alfredo del Mazo Maza.[103]​ a fact that was confirmed on January 10, 2009.[104]​.

On January 11 of the same year, it was reported that work on the pyramids was continuing, and that Peña Nieto sent a representative of his government to convince the Union and the inhabitants of the municipality with arguments that were rejected by both.[105] On January 13, 2009, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, attached to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, ruled that work on the site should stop, mentioning that The local government started the multimedia project “in reverse” and that The actions are reversible, but affect the authenticity of the site and that “there is no project prepared by a lighting specialist.”[106]​ The INAH responded that the works had been suspended, but instead the spokesperson for the administration of the historic site denied that fact.[107]​.

Peña Nieto's Secretary of Tourism stated that they had the support of INAH and FONATUR for this project, that it would have a tourist corridor in between, with a rail project that would imply an installation on the Calzada de los Muertos of said archaeological zone, a luxury hotel project and the "overnight" of visitors in the area. [108] Subsequently, the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico, on January 21 condemned the works in the area,[109]​ and in its final report stated that “we detected the lack of publication of the light and sound installation works on the INAH website, as indicated in articles 82 and 83 of the Federal Budget and Fiscal Responsibility Law and the Expenditure Budget of the Federation.”[110]​.

The Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union of Mexico returned on January 28 to condemn the installation of the light show and ordered the creation of a panel of experts to evaluate the damage to the area, while the INAH and the Government of the State of Mexico continue to insist that there was no damage to them.[111]​[112]​.

It was finally reported that the INAH Workers Union filed an injunction in order to stop the works in Teotihuacán, while archeology experts determined that the original stone was damaged with the drilling that had been done.[113]​.

The archaeological zone of Teotihuacán is located within the municipality of San Juan Teotihuacán (State of Mexico), a few kilometers east of Teotihuacán de Arista, which is the head of the municipality. It is located 45 kilometers from Mexico City. It is the archaeological zone that receives the largest number of visitors in Mexico, over sites such as Chichén Itzá (Yucatán) and Monte Albán (Oaxaca). Normally, weekends are the days when Teotihuacán has the greatest influx of tourists. At the spring equinox, groups of esoteric believers go to Teotihuacán and other archaeological areas to "recharge energy", since there is a popular belief that the Mexican pre-Hispanic pyramids are energy points. On the spring equinox of 2010, Teotihuacán received 70,358 visitors.[114]​.

The site is managed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico. The complex open to the public covers an area of ​​2.5 km² and corresponds to the Central Area of ​​Monuments included in the area protected by decree of the Mexican federal government in 1988.[115] Visiting hours to the archaeological zone are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and for the museums it is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free for older adults with Inaplen identification), as well as for children, students and teachers with school identification. On Sundays, access is free for all Mexicans. However, foreign visitors must pay a ticket any day of the year.[116]​.

To reach the monumental complex from that point you can take the highway to the Pyramids from the Indios Verdes area (Gustavo A. Madero, DF "Gustavo A. Madero (Federal District)") or by the Mexico-Tulancingo federal highway from Tepexpan. From other cities in central Mexico - such as Querétaro, Tula, Pachuca, Tlaxcala and Puebla - it is possible to reach the junction with the highway to Tulancingo through the Northern Arch.

There are buses that cover the journey between the Mexican capital and Teotihuacán. The Autobuses Teotihuacanos line provides service with a frequency of 45 minutes from the North Central Bus Terminal, making some stops before reaching Teotihuacán along the highway to the Pyramids. Autobuses del Valle de México provides regular service starting from the San Lázaro metro, taking Central Avenue that crosses Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl towards Aragón.

Teotihuacán de Arista and San Martín de las Pirámides have several hotels whose rooms are priced according to the quality of the service they offer and the season in which you visit. In the vicinity of the archaeological zone there are some luxury hotels and camping areas. The gastronomic offer in the region is also varied. Numerous restaurants and inns offer traditional cuisine from the Mexican basin. Among some representative dishes that can be found in Teotihuacán are barbecue, charcoal rabbit, mixiotes, pulque and all kinds of snacks prepared with corn.

On the other hand, night tours are offered, including a tour of the road of the dead and a light show projected on the pyramid. The audio guide can be configured in any language. The visit lasts approximately two hours and people of any age can attend, since it is not a very long or exhausting tour.

• - May 26, 2011: New tunnel found in the temple of the Feathered Serpent.[117]​.

• - December 15, 2011: New discoveries in the Pyramid of the Sun.[118]​.

• - January 25, 2013: 33 human burials are found near the pyramids.[119]​.

• - February 12, 2013: They discover a new and large figure of Huehueteotl (Old Deity) and other objects and monuments on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.[120]​.

• - April 23, 2013: Three underground chambers are discovered, by means of a robot.[121]​.

• - November 29, 2014: They reveal the discovery of more than 50,000 objects in a tunnel under the temple of the Feathered Serpent.[122]​.

• - Teotihuacano Dancer, shows colorful clothing with glyphs and decoration of bird feathers.

• - , F.J. (1994). History chapters and dissertations. Prologue and selection of July (2nd edition). University Student Library (44). Mexico: Coordination of Humanities, UNAM.

• - , Carmen Cristina and Emily (2008). «Trees and shrubs: the use of wood in pre-Hispanic Teotihuacán». Journal of Archaeological Science (35): 2927-2936. Electronic version on the Elsevier site, consulted on February 3, 2010.

• - , P. (1950). Teotihuacán, Tula and the Toltecs: the post-archaic and pre-Aztec cultures of central Mexico. Excavations and studies. 1922-1950. RUNA, Archive for the sciences of man (3). <https://doi.org/10.34096/runa.v3i0.4786>. (04/14/2022).

• -, Jorge (1997). Teotihuacán: The process of cultural evolution reflected in its urban-architectural development. doctoral thesis. Mexico City: Faculty of Architecture (UNAM).

• - , T. (2003). Teotihuacan. Grove Art Online. 07/08/2022, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000083844.

• -, Brigitte (1995). "Subsistence, social control of resources and the development of complex society in the Valley of Mexico." In John, Barbara, Mogens Trolle (eds., 1995): 89-100.

• -, Johanna (2004). "The perception of geographical latitude and the study of the Mesoamerican calendar." Náhuatl Culture Studies (35): 15-43. University City: Anthropological Research Institute.

• - , R. (1996). Teotihuacan glyphic characters in an apartment in La Ventilla, 401-427. In B. de la Fuente (coord.), Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico. Teotihuacán (vol. I, volume II) Mexico: IIE-UNAM. 07/11/2022, http://132.248.9.195/libroe_2007/1050189_2/Index.html.

• - Lyle (2000). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• -, Carmen (1953). The origin of “thin orange” pottery. Master's thesis. Mexico City: National School of Anthropology and History.

• - , D. (2018). Teotihuacan or Teo uacan? Stories and stories in Mexico (115). 04/12/2022, https://relatosehistorias.mx/nuestras-historias/teotihuacan-o-teo-uacan.

• - , Christian (2007). The first mestizaje. The key to understanding the Mesoamerican past. Mexico City: Taurus.

• - , C. (2011). Teotihuacan, city of gods. Personal autonomy (4), 90-91. 06/30/2022, https://autonomiapersonal.imserso.es/InterPresent1/groups/imserso/documents/binario/rap4cultura.pdf Archived July 11, 2022 at the Wayback Machine.

• -, Enrique (2004). Quetzalcóatl and the founding myths of Mesoamerica. Mexico City: Santillana").

• - , S. (2002). The name of Xochicalco before the 16th century: Totolhuacalco? Mexican archeology (55), 56-57. 04/10/2022, <https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/el- nombre-de-xochicalco-antes-del-siglo-xvi-totolhuacalco>.

• - , John; , Barbara; , Mogens Trolle (eds., 1995). State and society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and political centralization. London: Routledge.

• - , S.; D. ; L. ; J. and O.J. (2001). "Mammoths, volcanism and early humans in the basin of Mexico during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene." Work presented in The World of Elephants. International Congress. Rome. Electronic version consulted on March 2, 2011.

• - , Y. (1995). Dictionary of mythology and religion of Mesoamerica. Mexico: Larousse. 06/06/2022, https://archive.org/details/diccionariodemit00gonz.

• - , Terrence (1976). "Archaeological and Linguistic Correlations in Mayaland and Associated Areas of Meso-America." World Archaeology 8(1): 101–118. ISSN 0043-8243.

• - , A. (2008). The colors of the wind and the voice of the rainbow: representation of the climate among the Totonacs, 197-221. In A. Lammel, M. Goloubinoff and E. Katz (eds.), Airs and rains. Climate anthropology in Mexico. Mexico: CIESAS, IRD, CEMCA. 07/05/2022, https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers20-07/010065899.pdf.

• -, Alfredo and Leonardo (1999). Myth and reality of Zuyuá. Mexico City: FCE.

• - ⸻ (2001). The indigenous past. Mexico City: FCE.

• - , E. (2005). Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods. Mexican archeology (74), 76-83. 04/14/2022, https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/teotihuacan-la-ciudad-de-los-dioses.

• - , E. (2009). Teotihuacan. History of the Americas Trust. Mexico: FCE, COLMEX.

• - , Emily") (2003). «The pre-Hispanic landscape of the Teotihuacán Valley». Mexican Archaeology, XI(64): 36-41. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , Carlos (coord., 2007). Dictionary of Nahuatl in Mexican Spanish. Mexico City: GDF-UNAM.

• - , C. F. (2018). Iconographic analysis of the cover of the Temple of the Holy Kings of Metztitlán, Hidalgo; 79-122. Eikon/Imago VII(1). 03/01/2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.5209/eiko.73570.

• - , René") (1966). "Extension and population of the city of Teotihuacán. A provisional calculation." In XI Teotihuacán Round Table: 57-78. Mexico City: Mexican Society of Anthropology.

• - ⸻ (1993). «The place where time began». In , Kathleen and , Esther (eds). Teotihuacán, Art from the City of the Gods. Thames & Hudson.

• - , L. (2001). Social groups and government in Teotihuacan, Central Mexico; 461-482. In A. Ciudad Ruiz; M.ª J. Iglesias Ponce de León and M.ª del C. Martínez Martínez (eds.), Reconstructing the Mayan city: urban planning in ancient cities. Publications of the S.E.E.M. (6). Madrid, Spain: Spanish Society of Mayan Studies. 04/19/2022, https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2776130.pdf.

• -, Natalia and Alejandro (2007). "Teotihuacan". Arqueoweb, 8(2) s/f. Madrid: Complutense University of Madrid.

• -, Enrique (2007). «Epiclassical (650-900 AD). Fall of Teotihuacán and new forms of organization. In Mexican Archaeology, XV(86): 50-53. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , Christine (1976). Zohapilco. Five millennia of human habitation in a lake site in the basin of Mexico. Mexico City: SEP "Secretaría de Educación Pública (Mexico)")-INAH.

• -, Manuel (1957). "Teotihuacán and the Toltecs." In, Miguel. From Teotihuacán to the Aztecs: an anthology of historical sources and interpretations, 123-129. Mexico City: UNAM.

• -, Verónica (2003): «The archaeological heritage of Teotihuacán. Social responsibility. Mexican Archaeology, XI(64): 58-61. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• -, Esther (1997). Teotihuacán: an experiment in living. Norman "Norman (Oklahoma)"): University of Oklahoma Press.

• - , Prudence M. (2007). Maya calendar origins: monuments, mythology, and the materialization of time. Austin: University of Texas Press.

• -, M.ª Yazmín, Sergey, Elizabeth, Julia, Emily, Alfredo and Jorge (2008). "Environmental degradation in the Teotihuacán valley: geological and paleopedological evidence." Bulletin of the Mexican Geological Society, 59(2): 203-217. Electronic version consulted on February 2, 2010.

• - , Evelyn") (1979). «The ceramics of Teotihuacán: external relations and chronology». In Anales de Antropología, 16: 51-70. Mexico City: Institute of Anthropological Research (UNAM).

• - ⸻ (1990). «New Findings on the Origins of Thin Orange Ceramics». In Ancient Mesoamerica, 2(1): 181 - 195. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• -, A. M. (prologue by Eusebio) (1972). The remote past of Mexico (trans. M.ª Luz) Mexico: Diana.

• - , Teresa (ed.). Pedro Armillas: life and work. Volume 1. Mexico City: Ciesas.

• -, Alejandro (1998). "The city on the islet." In, Teodoro, Alejandro, Alberto and Rafael, The city and its lakes: 13-40. Mexico City: Institute of Culture of Mexico City-Clio.

• -, Alma Lilia (2003): «Travel guide. Teotihuacan, State of Mexico. Mexican Archaeology, XI(64): 80-87. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , Frauke (2008). "Over Distant Waters: Places of Creation on Colonial K'iche'an Sources." In Staller, John E. (ed.), Pre-Columbian landscapes of creation and origin, 123-160. New York: Springer.

• - , William T., Jeffrey and Robert (1979). The Basin of Mexico: The Cultural Ecology of a Civillization. New York: Academic Press.

• - , Laurette (1957). "Tollan the old one." In , Miguel (1983), From Teotihuacán to the Aztecs: anthology of historical sources and interpretations, 135-139. Mexico City: UNAM.

• -, Demetrius (1992). The great cultures of Mesoamerica. Mexico City: Panorama.

• - , Michael (1992). "Tlailotlacan, a Zapotec enclave in Teotihuacán." In , Janet Catherine (ed.), Art, ideology and the city of Teotihuacán. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks. pp: 59-88.

• - , R. (2012). Teotihuacan. In The Oxford Companion To Archaeology: Oxford University Press. 07/12/2022, https://www-oxfordreference-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/9780199735785.001.0001/acref-9780199735785-e-0439.

• - , David (2000). «The arrival of strangers». In Carrasco, David et al. (eds.), Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: from Teotihuacán to the Aztecs, 465-513. Boulder "Boulder (Colorado)"): University of Colorado Press.

• - , Yōko (2005). And the city of the gods was left behind: history of the settlements in the Toluca Valley. Mexico City: UNAM.

• -, Saburo and Alejandro (2011). "Teotihuacan". Mexican Archeology "Mexican Archeology (magazine)"), XVIII(107):39-45. Mexico City: INAH-Raíces.

• - , K. A. (2001). Teotihuacan writing. Mexican archeology (48), 58-63. 06/04/2022, https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/la-escritura-teotihuacana.

• -, María Teresa (2005). «Teotihuacán and Bonampak. Relationships beyond time and distance. Annals of the Institute of Aesthetic Research, XXVII(86): 5-27. Mexico City: UNAM Aesthetic Research Institute.

• - ⸻ (2010). "The pyramids and plastic integration." Mexican Archeology: XVII(101):52-55. Mexico City: INAH.

• - , E. (2007). The Teotihuacan writing system, 74-75. , M.ª de L. and , E., chap. Themes in Teotihuacan mural painting. In M. T. and T. (eds.), Museo de murales teotihuacanos Beatriz de la Fuente, 59-77. Mexico: IIE-UNAM, INAH. 04/12/2022, https://www.academia.edu/74263375.

• - , G. (2012). The Names of Teotihuacan. Mexicon, XXXIV(3), 55–58, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/23758942>. (04/09/2022).

• - , D. C. (2005). The Otomi: culture, language and writing (Vol. I, 2 vols.). PhD thesis. Zamora: COLMICH. 07/06/2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/2.1.5100.1280.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Teotihuacán.

• - Wikiviajes hosts travel guides to or about Teotihuacán.

• - Official page of the Municipality of Teotihuacán Archived June 18, 2011 at the Wayback Machine.

• - Teotihuacán at the INAH site.

• - The legend of the Five Suns Archived July 31, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Teotihuacán.com.mx.

• - [1] Studies of Teotihuacán Dr. Cecilio A. Robelo.

• - Teotihuacan culture Archived August 24, 2017 at the Wayback Machine.

• - Teotihuacán in the Cultural Information System of the National Council for Culture and the Arts.

• - Teotihuacán and the fluctuations of the Mesoamerican economy.