Exploring the Teotihuacan

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7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 1 Exploring the Teotihuacan: From an Archaeological Perspective KC Robertson Department of Anthropology, Western Michigan University ANTH 2100: Introduction to Archaeology Professor Erika Hartley December 6, 2021

7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 2 The Teotihuacan the great bustling Mesoamerican city that inspired many cultures after their fall. At the height of its growth, it had an estimated population of 200,000 which was one of the largest in the world. The location was a smart move at the time being almost in the central section of Mexico, this is what made their trade system flourish all the way to Guatemala. In the time they flourished, A.D. 200 to 750, they built the third largest pyramid; the Pyramid of the Sun. The culture of these people was varied and greatly recognized by other cultures later after its fall. Economically they built themselves up by irrigation, markets, military, and religion. Politically they had a grip on foreign relationships so they could have bigger trading, less hostilities, and better diplomatic exchanges. Around 300 to 400 A.D. the crafting production had a major increase with the expansion of the state going beyond the Valley of Mexico. A huge part of the material used was obsidian, and the city had an estimated four hundred obsidian workshops at its height. This was questioned for a bit due to the estimate being from the high number of obsidian shards found, but was quickly proven to be correct with the excavation of Compound 17 in the Tlajinga district. Their military is guessed from the crafting pieces found as well such as, thrusting spears, shields, slings, axes, and knives. All other weaponry is unknown, and they only had one other armor they used which was a helmet of quilted cotton. The shields were held by a single strap at the top, this did not permit effective use of the shield and the atlatl, a better hand thrown spear, so this suggests two combat strategies. At its height it is figured they had an offensive army of 2,550 men and an effective maximum army of just over 4,300 men and that’s just counting if only the nobles participated. The Teotihuacan was powerful society with a leadership that matched, but the lack of dedicatory monuments differs from other societies that were like it. The migration to the city

7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 3 could have proven to be a reason for this, which may have meant their society was flexible and adaptive to incorporate outsiders, more so emphasizing residence over kin links in citizenship. By A.D. 100, Teotihuacan had grown to at least sixty thousand inhabitants. Due to close relationship to the rest of the local towns so its likely that they joined forces with all the settlements in the Valley of Mexico, so it would bring the offensive army to just under 9,600 and effective maximum to slightly more than 16,000. The finds from Armillas in 1954 and Millon in 1957 have pointed to a system of agriculture that is well thought out for the land around them, the finds include an abandoned floodwater irrigation system and the Marvilla system which had three diversionary dams, a reroute system, and a small canal. These were the main finds that encouraged excavations on the topic of agriculture in the Teotihuacan. Based on what seeds and bones were found on excavations it suggests that these were some of the items grown here; maize, squash, beans, chili peppers, prickly pear cactus, deer, domesticated rabbits, turkeys, domesticated dogs, ducks, and fish. We are unclear if they were raising the turkeys or if they were wild hunted like the deer. The maize was being used as feed for the rabbits and hares along with agave, which was found to be human-cultivated. The Teotihuacan had a blooming market system as well that boosted their economy and political power. Most of the marketplaces were set in the home or attached to the home, there were market places that were sponsored by wealthy patrons that needed their goods closer. The apartment complex homes building also kept residents in the same craft together, this was very normal and it’s deemed that the shops that were not clustered with these were of wealthier standing or needed more by wealthier patrons. It also seems that competitive shops such as ceramics, or the obsidian workshops were often independent from others. The obsidian tools

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7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 4 made were usually for foreign trade or urban consumers, although this is heavily debated in all manners. The Teotihuacan’s three great pyramids is what holds the answers to the political and religious aspect of the culture. The first built of the three pyramids, the Moon Pyramid, was build in seven stages and had five burial complexes found by the excavations done with George Cowgill. The first four burial complexes are at the bottom of the pyramid, they each had one or more sacrificial victims and wealth objects, none of these tombs appear to be of a ruler. Burial number five was the highest ranking thus far and first from the top of the pyramid rather than the bottom. Three very high-status foreign sacrifices are found and theorized that they may have been war captives, this type of sacrifice is a statement of the power and authority their military possessed. Two other sacrifices were found as well, both wild and captive powerful carnivores. Sacrifices in public buildings usually celebrated important events, perhaps the expansion of the Moon Pyramid links with inauguration of a new ruler or a major conquest. The Sun Pyramid was the second pyramid built and seems to hold more of the ceremonial and religious events and processes. The pyramid is associated with the storm god, astronomy, the sun, and the Pleiades. These associations put a guess on the semi-detached platform as the place for New Fire ceremonies. These ceremonies celebrated the end of a fifty-two-year cycle and new cities, houses, temples being founded or new authorities coming into power. The Feathered Serpent Pyramid was the third and last large temple built. The pyramid was placed on the street of the dead and the dedication of this temple included offerings of elaborately sacrificed warriors. Some of these warriors had been in Teotihuacan since childhood and about half of them were of foreign lineage or lived in a foreign locale at some point. The

7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 5 central tomb had been tunneled into and looted in Teotihuacan times, which may point to that tomb being that of a ruler. This tomb and another that’s in the front of the pyramid are debated on being a ruler’s tomb, but they do know that one of them was just a multiple sacrificial burial. Teotihuacan was a multiethnic city, which suggests multiple cities that they may have also traded with. The Merchants’ Barrio was one of these colonies looked at because of their ties to the Gulf Coast, Ruiz and Soto in 2004 brought about papers that described the interactions Teotihuacan had with the Gulf Coast and with diplomacy. Another colony that’s brought up is the Zapotec enclave at the Teotihuacan, which was excavated by Croissier to find a two room Oaxaca style temple built with Teotihuacan construction techniques. Kaminajuyu located in highland Guatemala was suggested to be a Teotihuacan merchant colony or a port of trade, due to craft items found that were of Teotihuacan style. The diplomacy that the Teotihuacan’s had with foreign places was debated as there wasn’t many written documents about the topic. In 2000, ‘Stuart translated a Tikal text that refers to an “arrival of strangers from the east” dated to A.D. 378.’ This coincides with the disappearance of Tikal’s’ king, which leads to a direct Teotihuacan presence in the southern lowlands and meddling in the dynastic successions of Tikal and Copan. It’s also theorized that the new Tikal king, Yax Nuun Ayiin, was of Teotihuacan descent or the son of a Teotihuacan ruler. The Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP) was the biggest accomplishment for the site and no ancient city has been mapped to the same detail. The work began with Rene Millon becoming interested in the Teotihuacan and inspired by the works of the mapping projects in Mayapa and Tikal. The map is still used to look at the history of urbanism and the inner

7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 6 workings of cities. To build the map they used low-altitude aerial survey to gain a picture of the size and where to start fieldwork. Field survey began in 1962 with nine months of fieldwork and continued for three years from June 1963 to October 1966 and by that point 90% of the city was mapped. In 1963 laboratory analysis began and with the multitude of data they started computerizing the data in 1965. George Cowgill had joined the project around that time as well and used statistical analyses in combination with a graphics program (SYMAP). The work was finally published in 1973. The Bayesian model was used for calibrating the radiocarbon dating. The samples were collected during thirteen archeological excavation seasons from 1997 to 2005. The samples included charred wood from hearths used for rituals and charred wood from a collapsed ceiling. For the dating/calibrations they used the Calib 5.0 and the online BCal program. The results show the calendar intervals spanning up to 440 years. The findings confirmed the chronology of the ancient city but found that the Xolapan phase is around A.D. 550, 100 years earlier than proposed in 1991. One question that is greatly wondered about, by not only myself but other archaeologists whom had researched and excavated the site. What was the Teotihuacan’s form of governance? There is no straight-out evidence that points to a single ruler and so far, there have been zero ruler tombs found. Given how fast the city grew and how adaptive the nature of it was I assume it was an Oligarchic Republic. The several palaces and separate political complexes found also further this belief. As for any archaeological methods that would be helpful for later excavations, I would suggest using Magnetometry. This tool is great at finding tombs and would prevent the hard labor of excavation in places were there aren’t any tombs. If we associate riches to high standing individuals, wouldn’t the highest standing tomb be filled with riches?

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7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 7 The second question that’s wondered about was thought about by the first researcher of the site and remains unanswered to this day. Who was the original creators of the city? The theory that is given on this are refugees coming from a colony that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Which is very possible, but could we perhaps get a linage of these people that ties with us today. In an earlier paragraph I bring up people thinking the new king of Tikal being the son of one of the Teotihuacan’s rulers, if we have his daughters or wife’s bones, we could try to trace the linage to what we have in the database now. This would bring a line to at least one of the leaders which would lead us to a closer conclusion of who created the ancient city or where the grave may have been or is. Overall, the great city of Teotihuacan is still a mystery to us all and may never be solved. The things we know of the culture from its farmland to its foreign ties it still astounds us and will continue to shock. Hopefully one day the questions that remain unanswered will be answered with great evidence and fantastic excavation.

7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 8 References Hagerman, K. L. (2018). Domestic Ritual and Identity in the Teotihuacan State: Exploring Regional Processes of Social Integration Through Ceramic Figurines. UC San Diego. ProQuest ID: Hagerman_ucsd_0033D_17022. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m55x767h. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8wc9w29z Nichols, D. L. (2016). Teotihuacan. Journal of Archaeological Research, 24(1), 1–74. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43956797 Beramendi-Orosco, Gonzalez-Hernandez, G., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., Manzanilla, L. R., Soler- Arechalde, A. M., Goguitchaishvili, A., & Jarboe, N. (2009). High-resolution chronology for the Mesoamerican urban center of Teotihuacan derived from Bayesian statistics of radiocarbon and archaeological data. Quaternary Research, 71(2), 99–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2008.10.003 RITUAL DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL IDENTITIES: A STUDY OF MORTUARY BEHAVIORS AT TEOTIHUACAN. Sarah Clayton. . Arizona State University (ASU), School of Human Evolution and Social Change. 2009 ( tDAR id: 5686) ; doi:10.6067/XCV84X56R2 Cowgill, G. L. (1997). State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of Anthropology, 26, 129–161. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2952518 Hirth, K., Carballo, D., Dennison, M., Carr, S., Imfeld, S., & Dyrdahl, E. (2019). EXCAVATION OF AN OBSIDIAN CRAFT WORKSHOP AT TEOTIHUACAN, MEXICO. Ancient Mesoamerica, 30(1), 163-179. doi:10.1017/S0956536118000561

7993b85fadc22784d9335e45e35e950fbb822b71.docx 9 Nichols, D. L., Spence, M. W., & Borland, M. D. (1991). WATERING THE FIELDS OF TEOTIHUACAN: Early Irrigation at the Ancient City. Ancient Mesoamerica, 2(1), 119- 129. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26307345 Millon, R., & Altschul, J. (2015). THE MAKING OF THE MAP: THE ORIGIN AND LESSONS OF THE TEOTIHUACAN MAPPING PROJECT. Ancient Mesoamerica, 26(1), 135-151. doi:10.1017/S0956536115000073 Hassig. (1992). War and society in ancient Mesoamerica / Ross Hassig. University of California Press. Cowgill. (2015). Ancient Teotihuacan: early urbanism in Central Mexico / George L. Cowgill, Arizona State University. Cambridge University Press.

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