In 2003, a heavy rainstorm opened a large sinkhole at the Temple of Quetzalcoatl researchers have been excavating the site since.īy late 2015, they had unearthed 75,000 artifacts of various type, including seashells, pottery, animal bones and human skin. Teotihuacan CollapseĪround 600 A.D., major buildings were deliberately burned and artworks and religious sculptures were destroyed, suggesting an uprising from the poor against the ruling elite.Īnother theory holds that invaders sacked and burned it-though Teotihuacan exerted its military power over other cultures, the city lacked fortifications and military structures.īy 750 A.D., the remaining inhabitants of the city had all abandoned their homes to join neighboring cultures or return to their ancestral homes. The art and architecture styles of Teotihuacan are found widely throughout Mesoamerica, suggesting the city had far-reaching influence. Other deities include Quetzalcoatl (a vegetation god whose meaning changed in subsequent civilizations), the rain god Tlaloc, and the god of spring Xipe Totec, among others. The art and architecture of the city shows it was a polytheistic society, with the primary deity being the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, which is depicted as a spider goddess. They had a glyph-based written language, but it may have been limited to dates and names. Little is known about the language, politics, culture and religion of the Teotihuacan people. It’s thought that the city reached its peak around 100 years later, with a population as high as 200,000 people. Whatever the case, Teotihuacan was founded as early as 400 B.C., though the largest structures of the city weren’t completed until about 300 A.D. Teotihuacan appears to contain features of various cultures, including the Maya, Mixtec and Zapotec. But the Toltec culture (900-1150 A.D.) flourished hundreds of years after Teotihuacan peaked.Īnother theory holds that immigrants flooded into the Teotihuacan valley following the eruption of a volcano, and those immigrants built or augmented the city. Scholars once believed the ancient Toltec civilization may have built the massive city, based largely on colonial period texts. The 38-acre (15-hectare) courtyard contains multiple elite residential complexes and is dominated by the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, a kind of truncated pyramid that is adorned with numerous stone heads of the Feathered Serpent deity. The Ciudadela is situated at the south end of the Avenue of the Dead. Facing west, the pyramid stands at 216 feet (66 meters) with a base measuring approximately 720 by 760 feet (220 by 230 meters). Less than half a mile south of the Pyramid of the Moon stands the largest structure in Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Sun. Standing at 140-feet (43-meters) high with a base measuring 426 by 511 feet (130 by 156 meters), the Pyramid of the Moon is the second largest structure in Teotihuacan. Surrounded by smaller pyramids and platforms, the Pyramid of the Moon is situated at the northern end of the Avenue of the Dead and faces south.
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