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| Teotihuacan civilization | |
|---|---|
| Name | Teotihuacan civilization |
| Caption | Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan |
| Region | Basin of Mexico |
| Period | Classic period |
| Major sites | Teotihuacan, Tlalocan, Ciudadela |
| Built | c. 1st–7th centuries CE |
| Abandoned | c. 7th–8th centuries CE |
Teotihuacan civilization The Teotihuacan civilization emerged in the Basin of Mexico during the Classic period and developed one of Mesoamerica’s largest urban centers, influencing contemporaneous polities across Mesoamerica, Valley of Mexico, and beyond. Archaeological research at Teotihuacan (site), Tlatelolco, Tula (Mesoamerican site), and other locations has clarified chronological phases, architectural programs, and interregional interactions that tied Teotihuacan to entities such as Maya civilization, Zapotec civilization, and the Michoacán region.
Scholars divide Teotihuacan’s development into early, classic, and terminal phases based on stratigraphy at Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, and the Avenue of the Dead near the Ciudadela complex, correlating ceramic sequences with radiocarbon dates and stratified deposits from excavations by Alfonso Caso, Diego Rivera’s archaeological advocacy, and teams from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and universities such as UNAM, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Arizona. Interactions are documented by obsidian sourcing studies linking quarries at Pachuca and Otumba to Teotihuacan workshops, and by glyphic and iconographic references in sites like Copán, Monte Albán, Kaminaljuyu, Cholula (Mesoamerican site), and Cacaxtla, while ethnohistoric sources compiled during the colonial era by authors such as Bernardino de Sahagún and Diego Durán reflect later Aztec memory of Teotihuacan’s role in regional ancestry narratives.
The orthogonal planning centered on the Avenue of the Dead aligns monumental platforms including the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, with apartment compounds surrounding specialized precincts like the Ciudadela and the Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent) Pyramid. Architectural forms incorporate talud-tablero profiles paralleled at sites such as Cholula (Mesoamerican site), Tula (Mesoamerican site), and in distant expressions in the Gulf Coast and Guatemala, while construction techniques used volcanic stone from Teotihuacan Basin and stucco finishes echo practices documented at Monte Albán and among Olmec precedents. Monumental stairways, murals, and compound orientations demonstrate planning comparable to grids in Cahokia and axiality in Tenochtitlan narratives.
Teotihuacan’s economy integrated agricultural production from the Toluca Valley and canalized irrigation evidenced near Lake Texcoco, craft specialization in obsidian workshop districts tied to Pachuca and Ucareo sources, and long-distance exchange with Maya region, Zapotec Oaxaca, Guerrero, Veracruz, Costa Rica, and Southwest United States turquoise networks. Market systems inferred from isotope analyses and distribution of ceramics such as fine orange pottery and thin orange ware connect Teotihuacan to merchant classes analogous to references in Chimú and Mixtec trade narratives, while tribute-like flows of goods appear in iconographic parallels with Aztec Empire tributary motifs and colonial descriptions from Francisco Cervantes de Salazar and Fray Toribio de Benavente Motolinía.
Population estimates for Teotihuacan city and its hinterland derive from settlement surveys by teams from Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Dumbarton Oaks, and Smithsonian Institution, suggesting tens of thousands of inhabitants organized into multiroom apartment compounds, craft barrios, and elite precincts comparable to households described at Monte Albán and neighborhood factions noted in Tenochtitlan ethnohistories. Social differentiation is inferred from burial assemblages, greenstone and obsidian ornaments paralleling elite regalia in Maya burials at Copán and Tikal, and from administrative artifacts analogous to standards recorded in chronicles by Hernán Cortés and colonial-era historians.
Religious life centered on monumental temples such as the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and lunar platforms, with iconography invoking deities later equated to Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and abstract supernatural beings paralleled in Maya religion glyphs and Zapotec codices. Ritual practices included sacrificial offerings, as evidenced by caches containing marine shells from Gulf of Mexico, jaguar remains similar to ceremonial fauna at Copán and Palenque, and obsidian blades akin to sacrificial tools in Mixtec codices; ceremonial choreography resonates with pilgrimage accounts recorded by Bernardino de Sahagún among later Nahua groups.
Mural cycles in compounds show polychrome scenes with supernatural beings, calendrical motifs, and war imagery that relate iconographically to murals at Bonampak and reliefs at Palenque, while portable goods include fine obsidian blades, greenstone masks comparable to Maya elite regalia, and ceramic styles shared with Chalcatzingo and Cacaxtla. Workshop specialization produced standardized figurines, tripod vessels, and thin orange pottery distributed across Mesoamerica, and archaeometric studies link pigment sources to mineral deposits in Chalco and lapis-like trade routes reaching Oaxaca and Guatemala.
The terminal phase saw urban contraction, burning in parts of the city, and reorganization into successor centers that influenced the development of Toltec}}-era narratives at Tula (Mesoamerican site), the emergence of Aztec foundational myths centered on Tenochtitlan, and the persistence of Teotihuacan iconography in Mixtec codices and Maya inscriptions at Yaxchilan and Bonampak. Ongoing research by institutions such as National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institution, University of Cambridge, and École Française d'Extrême-Orient continues to reassess Teotihuacan’s role in Mesoamerican history and its enduring legacy in modern Mexican cultural patrimony and tourism centered on Teotihuacan (site).
Category:Pre-Columbian cultures of Mexico