The Valley of Mexico

1. The Valley of Mexico ANTH 221: Peoples and Cultures of Mexico Kimberly Martin, Ph.D.

2. MesoAmerican Timeline

3. Pre-Classic 1500 BCE – 250 BCE • Chalcatzingo 1500 – 500 BCE • Tlatilco (Cuicuilco) 1200 – 200 BCE

4. Chalcatzingo 1500-500 BCE • Southern end of the Valley of Mexico • Population of 500-1000 individuals • Trade Center • Residences of several classes • Burials under residences • Central plaza with an Olmec style altar • Platform structures • Bas relief carvings

5. Water Dancing Group Carvings

6. Water Dancing Group Carving Detail

7. Tlatilco 1200 BCE – 200 BCE • Complex settlement patterns • Economic specialization • Stratification • Long distance trade • Pottery vessels and figurines • Burials

8. Tlatilco CultureCuicuilco Site, Valley of Mexico

9. South Side Cuicuilco Pyramid

10. Tlatilco Archaeology Sites: Burial Goods

11. Tlatilco Archaeology Sites: Burials

12. Deformed SkullCultural standard of beauty obtained by wrapping infant skulls to shape their growth.

13. Tlatilco Archaeology Sites: Body with Burial Goods

14. Tlatilco Ceramics

15. Monument 1El ReyWoman seated inside cave (God’s Mouth) with rain clouds and rain

16. ChalcatzingoStela 31:Feline figure, human figure, S cloud formation and raindrops

17. Classic 250 BCE – 900 CE • Teotihuacan • Cholula

18. Teotihuacan • 125,000-200,000 population • 8 square miles (20 square kilometers) • Planned city laid out in a grid pattern • Monumental architecture in “talud-tablero” style • 15 degrees, 25 minutes east of north • N/S Avenue of the Dead – 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) • Bisected by E/W Avenue of same length • Northern arm runs from the • Pyramid of the Moon PAST THE • Pyramid of the sun TO THE • Ciudadela and Quetzalcoatl Pyramid, THE HALF WAY MARK OF AVENUE OF THE DEAD

19. Teotihuacan

20. Teotihuacan (Museum Model)

21. Teotihuacan Talud-Tablero Style

22. Pyramid of the Sun • 700 ft (215 m) long • 200 ft (60 m) high • Two layers of construction • Fill =41,000,000 cu ft of sun dried brick • Built over a lava tube cave • 330 ft long, 20 ft deep • Stone channels for water run into the cave

23. TeotihuacanFrom the Pyramid of the Moon

24. Pyramid of the Moon • Six layers of construction • Three ritual offerings in the foundation • One human victim • Felines • Eagles • Obsidian carvings • Greenstone carvings

25. Teotihuacan from Pyramid of the Moon

26. Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl • Smaller than the other two pyramids • Last monumental architecture constructed in 200 AD • Seven tiered talud-tablero structure located within the Ciudadela • Tableros covered with two opposing feathered serpent motifs • Mosaic headresses of warriors • Shells suggesting water context • Two serpents may be creation story • Life, greenness, peace VS heat, desert, war in a primordial sea • Built in a single stage • 200 human sacrificial victims buried within

27. Teotihuacan Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl

28. Teotihuacan

29. TeotihuacanHuman Sacrifice • Two groups of eighteen young warriors with hands tied behind backs buried at north and south • Near N/S burial pits smaller number of young women • More warriors at E/W edges of pyramid • Four corners each had the burial of an other warrior individual • In the center of the pyramid, 20 victims buried with thousands of jade, shell and other types of artifacts • Using calendar numbers of 18 (months) and 20 (number of days in a calendar month) • Using the N/S/E/W directions related to the Mesoamerican world view of reality

30. Teotihuacan

31. Xochicalco • 650 AD • Step-pyramid temples • Palaces • Three ballcourts • Sweat-baths • Circular altars • A cave with observatory features • Free-standing sculptured stelae

32. Xochicalco

33. Xochicalco Ball Court

34. Xochicalco Feathered Serpent Temple

35. Observatory Cave

36. XochicalcoStelae

37. Cholula • 600 CE to Conquest • Cholula Pyramid • Largest monument by volume in the world • 4.45 million cubic meters in volume • 450m x 450 m • Excavated into the side of the pyramid

38. Cholula Museum Model

39. Cholula Pyramid with Church

40. Cholula Pyramid Interior Staircase

41. Post Classic 900 CE – 1519 CE • Tula • Tzintzuntzan • Tenochtitlan

42. Tula • 800CE – 1150 CE • ToltecaChichimeca peoples led by Mixcoatl • Tribal peoples from the northwest • Conflict between • Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, peaceful, against human sacrifice (Mixcoatl’s son) • Tezcatlipoca, fierce warrior god, lord of sorcerers • Quetzalcoatl flees the city, journeys to the gulf coast and sets sail to the east from which he was to return some day. • He may have gone to Yucatan, where Maya records report the arrival of Kukulcan (Feathered Serpent) who conquered Chichen Itza • Tezcatlipoca ruled Tula • Traders from as far away as Nicaragua • Fine craftsmen • Warrior Statues “Atlantes” • ChacMool Statues (meaning unknown)

43. Tula Pyramid B

44. Atlantes on Pyramid B

45. Tula ChacMool

46. Mosaic Helmet

47. Tzintzuntzan • 1000CE – Conquest • Overlooks Lake Patzcuaro • P’urepechua language is not related to any other mesoamerican language • Language is closer to Zuni in southwestern U.S. and Quechua in Peru • Power extended throughout Michoacán and parts of modern Guanajuato, Guerrero and Jalisco states • Ceremonial center with plaza on a Grand Platform • Five round “yacata” pyramid structures

48. Tzintzuntzan Aerial View

49. TzintzuntzanYacatas

50. TzintzuntzanYacatas Stirrup Necked Vessels