Teotihuacan: Where One Becomes a God

In the first century CE in the Valley of Mexico, the greatest city of the Western Hemisphere began to take shape: Teotihuacan. This was the largest city ever in the Americas to that point, and for that matter, one of the largest pre-industrial cities of the entire ancient world. At the height of its power, it was the home of roughly one hundred thousand people and was Mesoamerica’s greatest city of the Classic period. To put that in perspective, only a few cities in the world would have been more populous at the time. It was truly world class.

Teotihuacan’s ruins are extraordinary and they inspire complete awe in any visitor, so it’s no coincidence that today it’s the most visited archaeological site in both North and South America. By the time Teotihuacan began to wane, its economic, political, and religious legacy could be felt almost anywhere in Mesoamerica. Let’s explore the story behind one of the greatest sites in American history.

Teotihuacan is nestled in the northeast corner of the Valley of Mexico, in the Teotihuacan Valley. If this map is throwing you for a loop, remember that the Valley of Mexico was dominated by lakes that were later drained for the construction of Mexico City. (As shown on the map, the lakes are now gone.) Prior to the first century BCE, Teotihuacan—or shall we say, the site that would become Teotihuacan—was a small farming community of relatively little importance. A closer look at the geography doesn’t reveal any important secrets; if anything, a closer examination is underwhelming. The Teotihuacan Valley is not particularly fertile. Much richer agricultural lands are found in the southern basin, which receives almost twice as much rain as the northern parts of the basin. The northern basin was dominated by the salty and brackish Lake Texcoco, while people in the southern basin would have enjoyed the freshwater Lake Chalco. The San Juan River provides a source of fresh water, as do several natural springs in the area.

So, with such an unimpressive resume, how did Teotihuacan grow into that massive city of more than one hundred thousand people? To the south, in those fertile areas I mentioned earlier, the big player of that time was the city-state of Cuicuilco on the western side of Lake Chalco. Cuicuilco is an impressive site; it has a very large, rounded pyramid that reaches 23 meters. It probably had a population of something in the neighborhood of 20,000 people. This would have been the chief rival of the up-and-coming Teotihuacan, but not for long. In a cruel twist of fate to the people of Cuicuilco, a series of volcanic eruptions ruined much of the land around the city and sent the population fleeing north, where they found a new home in Teotihuacan. There’s also some evidence that climatic changes may have affected the rainfall and agricultural productivity in the region. Regardless of the exact causes, what is important is that between 150 BCE and 200 CE, a mass migration began from Cuicuilco and the other southern sites to Teotihuacan, which caused the city to swell to unheard-of proportions.

So how did the city accommodate this tremendous influx of population? Let’s take a look at the site of Teotihuacan itself. Obviously, the Teotihuacano leadership needed to plan the city’s expansion carefully, and they did not disappoint. The city is laid out on an orthogonal grid. This is very important because no other previous city in Mesoamerica had been laid out like this, as far as we can tell. Even after Teotihuacan, it’s not a common urban layout. At 1 CE, it was a Mesoamerican first and, dare I say, a very modern design choice. This design was so important that the Teotihuacanos diverted the local San Juan River so that its course ran parallel to the grid. That grid is not laid out on a north-south axis but on an axis of 15.5 degrees east of north. That orientation is not arbitrary; archaeoastronomers believe that the city architects took into account the setting of the sun on August 12th and April 29th. Some of you more astronomically inclined viewers may be scratching your head because those aren’t equinox or solstice dates. What gives? For anyone who keeps the Mesoamerican calendar and is really good at math, those dates are separated by 260 days, which is the length of the sacred calendar. With this orientation, they were honoring that sacred calendar.

Saburo Sugiyama believes that the design of the city’s monuments honors that calendar as well, and he’s even shown that later Nahuatl units of measurement appear to show calendar numbers in the measurements of these monuments. For example, the Pyramid of the Sun appears to measure 520 units by 520 units. 520 is double 260, the number of days within the sacred calendar. Very impressive.

With this layout, the city could grow in an orderly manner. When the site of Teotihuacan was ambitiously mapped by René Millon in the 1960s, it was discovered that most of the city was made up of walled apartment compounds. These would have replaced earlier urban dwellings and allowed the city to accommodate an enormous and dense population. Every compound would have housed multiple families or kin groups. Every family would have had its own private domestic space as well as shared religious and economic spaces. The typical compound would have been centered around an open courtyard, often with a small ritual space, which would have had a dozen rooms and specialized spaces organized around it, all on a single floor. Since these were densely packed together, windows would not have been common, but some rooms appear to have had open roofs to allow light, fresh air, and possible rain water, not unlike the atria that the Romans were building in their homes at the same time. And while we’re talking about ancient Rome, it’s worth mentioning that Rome had very similar strategies for dealing with their population by relying on apartment complexes. Both cities in antiquity were actually about the same size, though Rome had a much bigger population. Unlike Rome’s multi-story insulae, Teotihuacano apartments are only single-story buildings. They can vary in size from 400 square meters to 7,000 square meters.

Nearly all citizens would have had decorations in their home, some of which survive today. Some even had indoor plumbing for waste removal. These apartments are a gold mine for learning about daily life in Teotihuacan. While excavating pyramids, palaces, and temples is glamorous and sexy, archaeology of residential areas like these tells us a lot about everyday life. Perhaps one of the most interesting things that archaeology has uncovered are the presence of ethnically distinct neighborhoods. Just like how modern cities have Greek, Mexican, and Chinese neighborhoods, Teotihuacan had its own ethnic areas too. These were Zapotec, Maya, Gulf Coast, and Michoacano neighborhoods. In those areas, artifacts and burials specific to those cultures have been found, which show that from its inception, Teotihuacan integrated a diverse population. It’s a cool reminder that all these different cultures were not isolated but very aware of each other and interconnected.

These apartment complexes performed a variety of functions that can cue us into what daily life was like. What really stands out is the sheer amount of craft production that was occurring in these neighborhoods. These show a very high degree of specialization. There have been workshops discovered for obsidian crafting, pottery, textiles, hide working, basketry, lapidary and shell work, plaster production, sculpture, bone working, masonry, and butchering. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. There’s also evidence that multiple crafts were practiced in the same household and that many of these trades were passed on via apprenticeship.

Teotihuacan’s ceramics produced here are very distinct. You can recognize them easily from their tripod bases. In many cases, these are brightly colored and painted. If you’re curious about how these colors were achieved, the pottery was actually stuccoed after it was fired in the kiln and then painted. Another common ceramic type produced at the site is Thin Orange pottery, which was a simpler, everyday-use ware. But Teotihuacan’s most famous industry was its obsidian production. Teotihuacan was blessed with easy access to multiple obsidian sources, including the rare green obsidian of the Pachuca mines. Not only was this the material of choice for tools, but also the material of choice for weapons, and that’s going to be important down the road.

These manufactured goods would have been valuable trade commodities and also everyday items for most of the population. And that’s a really fascinating insight. One would assume that a city of this size would have a huge wealth gap, but work by archaeologists Michael Smith and David Carballo has shown that even humble, working-class households had access to simple yet high-quality goods and even imported items. Unlike most other ancient cities, the commoners were quite well off and had personal space and access to luxuries that were unparalleled. No other city in Mesoamerica would have had this high a standard of living. It was truly remarkable. This egalitarian prosperity no doubt would have made immigration to Teotihuacan very appealing to people near and far.

The backbone of all this was agriculture, specifically maize agriculture. The Valley of Mexico had always been a fertile area, and Teotihuacan took advantage of that. Apart from maize, goosefoot, amaranth, nopal cactus, and cactus fruit were consumed as well. Also important was pulque, a fermented beverage made from agave. Analysis of large pots and amphorae show that this drink was very common and may have constituted a large part of the diet. Pulque was also very important for religious ceremonies and libations, similar to chicha in South America. Teotihuacanos made use of the fauna around them as well. Although the locals hunted wildlife where they could, there was also a large reliance on domesticated animals, particularly dogs and turkeys. Recent discoveries also show that jackrabbits and cottontails were being bred for consumption at Teotihuacan as a food source, so it’s possible that they may have been domesticating these rabbits as well.

But let’s turn our attention from physical nourishment to spiritual nourishment. Remains of Teotihuacan religion and its pantheon abound. As I mentioned earlier, small household shrines can be found in the apartment complexes of Teotihuacan, showing that religion was an important part of daily life for everyone. These religious elements are equal part familiar and mysterious. On one hand, there are several continuities to later Aztec and other Central Mexican religions that we can easily interpret. On the other hand, certain elements of Teotihuacan religion seem wholly unique.

Fire appears to have been an important element in Teotihuacan religion because we find lots of braziers at the site that were most commonly used for burning incense and offerings. Anyone familiar with the Aztec New Fire ceremony also knows the importance of fire in ancient Mexican religion. These braziers are often made in the image of the Old Fire God, or if you’re familiar with the Aztec pantheon, Huehuetéotl. Now, a word about the names of the gods here: there’s a lot of continuity between Teotihuacan and later Mexican cultures like the Aztecs, and so it’s not uncommon to see these deities referred to by Aztec names out of convenience. I’m going to refer to many of the gods by their later Aztec names, but just keep in mind that these are likely misnomers and that the Teotihuacano gods may be different from their later Aztec counterparts.

One of the most important deities of the city was the storm god, Tlaloc. This isn’t the first time we see him in Mexico, but he played a pivotal role in Teotihuacan. He was a god with benevolent and malevolent aspects, and there are many different portrayals of him, although I should note that some people believe these to be multiple aspects of one god while others assert that they are separate gods. He is sometimes portrayed with various plant fronds or maize, other times with lightning and water, and sometimes with a shield and lightning bolt. Tlaloc’s signature feature in his war persona are his goggle eyes. Remember those goggle eyes because they’re going to come up down the road. Tlaloc was such a popular deity that he outlasted Teotihuacan and survived all the way up to Spanish contact without a lot of change.

Other familiar faces which survive in later times that make appearances here include the maize god and Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. One god that doesn’t survive so visibly in later records is the water goddess, or the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, who is shown here in this huge monolithic sculpture that was found at the site. Some people identify her as Chalchiuhtlicue, an Aztec goddess of water, rivers, and fertility. A mural at the site shows this goddess below a large tree full of water, insects, and birds. This goddess’s identity is a complete mystery, and she lacks easy comparison to later Mexican goddesses. Her presence in such a central position is very unique to Teotihuacan.

Okay, I think we’ve established enough context, so let’s introduce the stars of the show and Teotihuacan’s most famous monuments: its pyramids. After all, these are probably what come to your mind when you think of Teotihuacan, so what’s the story with them? All of the pyramids of Teotihuacan line the main axis of the site, the Avenue of the Dead, which would have served not just the everyday pedestrian traffic of the city but also the ritual processions as well. All the pyramids of the site were built between 1 and 250 CE. My sources actually conflict on whether the Pyramid of the Sun or the Pyramid of the Moon was built first, but regardless, they began to be erected early in the city’s history.

Now, a word about pyramids in Mesoamerica. When we think of pyramids, we typically think of the Great Pyramids of Egypt, and the only thing they really have in common with Mesoamerican pyramids is their shape. Egyptian pyramids are just cut stone blocks arranged in the shape of a pyramid. Those pyramids were also used as tombs for a single ruler. In Mesoamerica, pyramids are basically a mound of earth or rubble that’s faced with cut stone and other materials. Most of the time, these would have been covered with plaster and then painted brightly. Furthermore, most of these pyramids were not built in a single construction. These would have started out much smaller and then got built over and expanded again and again. You can almost think of them like a Russian doll. Mesoamerican pyramids do sometimes serve as burial places, but in almost all cases, they’re not built as a tomb for just one person. Mesoamerican pyramids are also topped by a temple or, in some cases, an elite residence. Finally, Mesoamerican pyramids are usually stepped pyramids, often with decorations on the facade of each step. This style is called talud-tablero, and it’s a signature style of Teotihuacan in later Mesoamerican architecture. Talud-tablero architecture is characterized by a sloping talud leading to a tablero layer, shown here. The tablero panel would have housed decorative elements in art. Everyone clear on that? Good.

Let’s work our way from north to south and start with the Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Moon is the second-largest pyramid at the site. It’s 43 meters tall and has a large platform at the front. These platforms are referred to as adosadas, by the way. If you’re wondering where the name of the pyramid comes from, it actually comes from the Aztecs, as does the name of the Pyramid of the Sun. It’s unknown if it would have had this name originally. The pyramid was first constructed around 100 CE, originally as a small pyramid that was enlarged over and over again during the following centuries. The original pyramid was probably one of the first buildings completed at the site. Excavations in the pyramid have also unearthed several dedicatory ritual deposits and sacrificial animal and human burials within the pyramid. These sacrificial burials most likely function as consecration offerings. They appear to have happened repeatedly at each stage of new construction. What’s interesting about these burials is that the analysis of bodies and grave goods shows that most of these victims were not from Teotihuacan and that they were warriors, which suggests that they were likely war captives that were sacrificed to the pyramid’s patron deity. But who was that? It’s believed that the Pyramid of the Moon was dedicated to the water goddess that we met earlier. Remember that colossal statue I showed you? That was found on the western side of the pyramid, reinforcing this. The mountain directly behind the pyramid, Cerro Gordo, is still considered a female deity by the indigenous people today. Interestingly, the moon is considered feminine in Aztec mythology, so the name that the Aztecs gave the pyramid may actually be very fitting.

Now let’s go south and look at the largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun. This pyramid is staggering; it’s one of the largest pyramids on the planet. The base measures 215 meters on either side and it’s 70 meters high. A lot of sources will tell you that this was the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere until the advent of the skyscraper, but that’s actually debatable because I’ve seen other pyramids with larger reported heights, but that’s for another episode. Like the Pyramid of the Moon, several offerings have been found at the base and within the pyramid itself. Unlike the other pyramids at the site, the Pyramid of the Sun is unique because it was built in a single construction. The amount of labor needed to do that must have been extraordinary, and it really underscores the enormous population that was living at the site at the time. At the top would have been a temple dedicated to the patron deity. Judging by the offerings found around the pyramid, this was most likely Tlaloc, the storm god, or the Old Fire God, Huehuetéotl. The top of the pyramid was actually botched when it was reconstructed in the early 20th century. Here’s a reconstruction that will give you a better idea. At the front of the pyramid is a large adosada platform, which would have likely been used for ceremonies. The discovery of a large brazier decorated with the visage of the Old Fire God, Huehuetéotl, has led many to propose that this pyramid was the site of many fire ceremonies and, most importantly, the New Fire ceremony to celebrate the end of the 52-year solar calendar cycle. Although you can’t see it on the reconstruction model, the side of the pyramid would have been decorated with panels and relief sculptures, and the pyramid itself would have been flanked on three sides with canals, possibly to recreate a mythological altepetl.

But perhaps the most interesting feature is actually beneath the pyramid. In 1971, a passageway below the pyramid was discovered by chance. This passageway was a man-made tunnel that was carved to look like a cave, six and a half meters below the surface and over a hundred meters long. Caves are extremely important in Mesoamerican mythology because they represent not only entrances to the underworld but also places of creation. In many Mesoamerican mythologies, they are wombs from which gods and ancestors emerge, so the symbolism here is particularly rich. The cave terminates with four chambers at the very end. Unfortunately, the cave was looted in antiquity, so it’s uncertain what this cave once held. It’s been proposed that this may have been where Teotihuacan’s kings and rulers were interred, but we’ll never know.

South of the Pyramid of the Sun is the Ciudadela and the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. Of the three pyramids, it’s the youngest of the bunch; it was finished in the early 3rd century CE. It is the smallest of all the pyramids, but what it lacks in size, it compensates for in decor. The pyramid was built in multiple stages, and what you’re seeing in this photo is actually the middle stage that was covered up by the final phases when they built the adosada platform. The face you’re seeing here in the tablero is most commonly identified as the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl. You can see the body wrapping around the talud before ending in a rattle. The face next to him is a matter of some debate. Traditionally, scholars have said that this is Tlaloc with his signature goggle eyes, someone wearing his face mask, or even a war serpent. But recently, scholars have begun to suggest that this is the primordial crocodile of Mesoamerican mythology, Cipactli. Personally, and this is strictly my opinion, I prefer the Tlaloc interpretation, especially when you consider that there are 137 warrior burials that have been recovered from excavations within the pyramid, most likely sacrificial offerings dedicated to its construction. So the war imagery certainly fits, but I’m just a YouTuber and I’m not a professional, so take that with a grain of salt. At the bottom of the tablero panel is another undulating serpent. Note the seashells that are also in the talud, because that aquatic imagery is going to be important soon.

You may be wondering why was such a beautiful pyramid covered up by that adosada. It’s likely that that later construction represents a change in leadership or some type of shift in the city’s paradigm. This also would have coincided with the later phases of the Pyramid of the Moon. Now, like the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent also has a man-made tunnel below it as well. This was only discovered in 2003 after heavy rains opened up a hole in the ground and exposed the tunnel. The construction of this actually predates the pyramid itself. It’s much deeper than the tunnel below the Pyramid of the Sun, going down 13 meters. If you’re wondering why that is, it’s because the Teotihuacanos wanted to hit the water level so that they could recreate the watery underworld within the tunnel. Recall the water imagery on the pyramid that we just discussed; this was very intentionally planned. Like the previous tunnel, it’s about 100 meters long and terminates in a multi-chambered area. Unfortunately, it had also been looted at some point in antiquity, but there were still plenty of incredible things inside. In parts of the tunnel, archaeologists found several pyrite chunks that were inserted into the ceiling. Pyrite is a very shiny and metallic rock, and these were most likely used to recreate the stars in the night sky. There was also liquid mercury in there, most likely to simulate the water of the underworld. While there were no tombs discovered in the cave, a huge amount of offerings were found. There’s actually too many to go through here, but imported ceramics, jewelry, shells, feline skulls, rubber balls, slate discs, and sculptures, among other things, were recovered. One thing that I do want to call out that I found particularly interesting is this figurine. For those of you that have seen our Olmec episode, the facial features should look familiar because they’re clearly inspired by the Olmec were-jaguar sculptures. It’s really cool to see the continuity that’s occurring here. The excavations also discovered that the chamber had been sealed off three times, the last one occurring roughly at the same time of the completion of the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. This suggests that the cave was used for very private rituals and that the construction of the Ciudadela and the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent likely replaced it as a more public venue.

And speaking of the Ciudadela, let’s turn our attention there. The Ciudadela refers to the plaza and the surrounding complex in front of the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. Originally, this space would have contained several buildings, among them a sanctuary which was likely used in tandem with the tunnel. This sanctuary and other buildings were removed when the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent was completed. What this giant space was used for is not entirely certain. Priestly or elite residences have been proposed, but recent scholarship has theorized that this space was a large public ritual space designed for tens of thousands of people to participate in public ceremonies. One other thing to note about this space is that it could have also doubled as a ball court. Teotihuacan is unique in that it lacked a formal ball court for most of its history, and some have suggested that the Ciudadela may have been the site where the ball game was played.

All of this incredible construction and design might have you asking, who exactly organized all of this? And that has actually been a very frustrating question for scholars to answer. For many decades, scholars believed that Teotihuacan was ruled by a king, and indeed many still do, like Saburo Sugiyama. This does make a lot of sense. Teotihuacan is without a doubt a planned city, and kings are dominant in Mesoamerica during the Classic period. But there’s a problem with this theory that other scholars have pointed out: none of the art of Teotihuacan appears to depict rulers. This is in stark contrast to what we see in the Maya areas during the Classic period, where we see monuments to kings and rulers all over the place. Not only that, but there’s not a clear single palace in the city but multiple palatial residences. Even worse, while some elaborate burials have been found, no royal burial has ever been discovered at Teotihuacan. So if not a king, who was running the show at Teotihuacan? Others theorize a more complex and representative system of government. Linda Manzanilla has proposed that Teotihuacan was divided into quarters, and that each quarter would have produced a leader that would have been part of a ruling council. She points to the collective nature of life in the city and the egalitarian living conditions. Remember all those apartment compounds? People aren’t living separately but instead they’re living in groups, so there’s clearly a sophisticated social organization at the very bottom of Teotihuacano society. Now, regardless of what you think is correct, I do want to point out that Sugiyama and Manzanilla are not upstart archaeologists; both are highly respected and have decades of research experience at Teotihuacan. And this huge disagreement about the government of Teotihuacan illustrates just how elusive the rulers of Teotihuacan are to us.

What is clear about the leadership of Teotihuacan is that the military played a huge role in the projection and maintenance of Teotihuacan’s power. Warriors and warfare are a common motif at the site, which allows us to see what these warriors would have looked like. These show warriors dressed in elaborate war dress. The military was also very likely a unifying force over a very diverse population. As is the case with armies, ancient and modern, military service often provides an avenue of social advancement and assimilation, especially for foreign-born immigrants, so this would have been an important tool in integrating the populace.

Teotihuacan’s military reputation is impressive. From an early date, they were in firm control of the Valley of Mexico and began to dominate the surrounding area. However, the best and most dramatic accounts we have of Teotihuacan’s military success come not from Central Mexico but from the distant Maya lowlands, where surviving written records record an incredible encounter. Teotihuacan had had close links with the Maya region for a long time, but things really got violent at the site of Mutal—or Tikal, if you’re using the modern name—where in 378 CE, a Teotihuacano warlord referred to in the Mayan inscriptions as Siyaj K’ak’, or “Fire is Born,” led an army into the city after an apparent diplomatic falling out between the two cities. After subjugating Mutal, Siyaj K’ak’ most likely murdered its king, Chak Tok Ich’aak I, or as he’s also known, Great Jaguar Paw. By the way, if anybody watching this is expecting a child, I would encourage you to consider the name “Fire Born” as an awesome name for your child and future world conqueror. Siyaj K’ak’ appears to have installed Yax Nuun Ayiin II on the Mutal throne, the son of Spearthrower Owl. Now, Spearthrower Owl’s exact identity is a bit of a contentious topic. Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube proposed in the late 90s that he was a powerful Teotihuacano noble, possibly even the king of Teotihuacan itself. As we’ve seen, though, the notion of a Teotihuacan king is very debatable. There’s also new evidence from strontium analysis of Yax Nuun Ayiin II’s bones that show that he was not a foreigner to Mutal but a local. Regardless, the evidence of a Teotihuacan intervention into the Maya lowlands is very compelling. Now, we’ll go into more detail on this fascinating incident when we discuss the history of Mutal someday, but for just a second, let’s pull back and admire what just happened. A Teotihuacano leader, possibly even the king himself, led an army from Teotihuacan through Mexico into the Petén rainforest and toppled the dynasty of the largest and most powerful Maya city. This is when I really wish we had more sources on this because I would love to know what the logistics were. Without any beasts of burden, mind you, Teotihuacan mounted a massive expedition that was not just feasible but successful. And if you think that’s impressive—which it totally is—there’s even more, because Teotihuacan does the exact same thing to the Maya city of Ashwitik—the modern ruins of Copán in modern-day Honduras. Not even the Aztecs at the height of their military power ventured so far away in their conquests.

Now, it’s tempting to hear all this and conclude that Teotihuacan was the center of an empire spanning from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from Central Mexico to the Guatemalan rainforests. But the real picture is much more murky, I’m sorry to say. From about 350 CE to 450 CE, Teotihuacan adopted a very heavy-handed foreign policy where they were able to intervene in the politics of neighboring states to safeguard their interests. If there was an imperial presence outside of Central Mexico, it was very short-lived and would have required incredible resources to sustain it. Teotihuacan’s foreign relations may have been far more nuanced and indirect, as opposed to any kind of direct imperial rule. And honestly, that’s fairly typical of major powers that will come and go in Central Mexico. Finding information on this was actually not as easy as I would have hoped, but new research is starting to focus on Teotihuacan’s interaction with its neighbors, so hopefully we can explore this in greater detail down the road.

But just as important as Teotihuacan’s military prowess was their economic preeminence. As we saw earlier with the extremely high levels of craft production across the city, Teotihuacan was an economic juggernaut that managed long-distance trade with distant areas. This helped Teotihuacan’s cultural influence spread all over Mesoamerica. You’ll recall that talud-tablero style I mentioned earlier. That same style begins to pop up all over Mesoamerica and sticks around long after Teotihuacan’s demise. (Here it is in Chichen Itza centuries later.) Teotihuacan-style ceramics can be found all over Mesoamerica. Another diagnostic Teotihuacano item is their green obsidian that came from the nearby Pachuca mines. These can be found as far afield as Maya territory, even in areas that don’t show any evidence of Teotihuacan conquest. At the highland site of Kaminaljuyu, Teotihuacan art is found in plenty, and their signature talud-tablero style was appropriated for multiple structures at the site as early as 200 CE. The citizens of Teotihuacan were not just exporters but consumers of imported exotic goods as well. Recall those foreign barrios and neighborhoods that we mentioned earlier. Those were most likely housing merchants, traders, and artisans who could get goods from the Maya region, Oaxaca, Michoacan, and the Gulf Coast into Teotihuacan.

So what finally slowed down this powerhouse? After a zenith of 100 to 150 years, the city began a gradual decline in about 450 to 500 CE. Small signs of this slow decline can be detected in the fact that luxury goods and burials become steadily more rare. Despite this, the end was not inevitable, and the city was still a force to be reckoned with, with a massive population. But studies in grave offerings suggest that disparity in wealth was growing. Many scholars have also pointed out that drought, soil erosion, and deforestation likely degraded the environment around the city and impacted its food production. All of this finally culminated in an incredible event around 550 to 650 CE. The monumental structures in the civic-ceremonial center were burned and public artwork was destroyed. The cause of this isn’t certain, and many colorful theories abound, such as foreign invasion, internal revolution, and political upheaval. Whatever the cause, it spelled the end of Teotihuacan’s heyday and really sped up its decline. Now, Teotihuacan wasn’t abandoned at this point, and it still chugged along for a few centuries in a very diminished state with a population of perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 people. At this time, its population had dropped drastically, but there were still thousands of people living there. Think of Rome under the emperors followed by Rome under the popes: still an important city but not the seat of a great power. After that 650 CE date, the ceramic style changes, likely as a result of new migrants from the Bajío in the west. In fact, Teotihuacan material culture dries up in the wake of the collapse. This phase is referred to as the Coyotlatelco, and it carries on into the Post-Classic period. With Teotihuacan in its twilight, other cities like Xochicalco, Cacaxtla, Cholula, and Tula begin to ascend and fill in the power vacuum left by Teotihuacan.

Even after its decline, Teotihuacan was still honored. It left a huge influence on subsequent cultures of Mesoamerica. The Aztecs in particular had a special reverence for the city, and it’s said that Montezuma II used to make regular pilgrimages there. Aztec mythology placed Teotihuacan at the center of creation, and this mythology has still been passed down to us: “And so there it was that the humble Nanahuatzin cast himself into the fire to become the fifth sun and bring light into the world.” This is actually what gives Teotihuacan its name, which appropriately means “Where One Becomes a God.” To later Nahua people, this site was sacred.

Today, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and deservedly so. Unfortunately, development continues to threaten certain areas of the site, so don’t take it for granted and, if you live in Mexico, raise some hell about it so that the site stays protected. If you ever get a chance to visit the site and this article still hasn’t convinced you, I highly recommend it. It’s only a bus ride away from Mexico City, so it’s very accessible.