Ancient Civilizations of the Americas
Lecture 20
Tula of the Toltecs?
The Toltecs from the Ethnohistorical Sources
Two ethnohistorical sources:
Anahuac: Peoples who claimed to be descended from the
Toltecs who were living in the Basin of Mexico at the
time of the conquests. These included the Colhua,
Acolhua, and Tepanec
Aztec: Also claimed a relationship with the Toltecs, and
held them in mystical awe.
Problem: a claim of descent from the Toltecs was viewed
as necessary to bolster legitimacy as a royal lineage
throughout Mesoamerica in the Epiclassic.
Myth of theToltecs or Toltec-Chichimeca
• Nomadic wanderers from the north.
• First possibly settled in Tulancingo in E. Hildago.
• AD 900 Tollan (Nahuatl for “place of reeds” or
perhaps “place where people are as numerous as
reeds”) founded by the Toltecs or by the Toltecs
together with the Nonoalca from the Gulf Coast.
• Said to have worshipped only one god
Quetzalcoatl.
Saga of Ce Acatl Tolpilzin Quetzalcoatl
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(Ce Acatl: One Reed [his birthday] Our Young Prince the
Feathered Serpent)
Son a king (or god) of Tollan Ce Técpatl Mixcoatl.
Benevolent, wise, and learned.
Elevated worship of Quetzalcoatl over Tezcatlipoca, a god
requiring human sacrifice.
Conflict arose between the followers of the two, and an
allegorical series of contests between Quetzalcoatl and
Tezcatlipoca (Lord of the Smoking Mirror), which the
latter won through tricking and disgracing Quetzalcoatl.
He left with his followers for the Gulf Coast, where he
sacrificed himself and became reincarnated as Venus
Morningstar.
Tollan falls apart (or comes into its glory) following his
departure. Toltecs desert Tollan in 1156 or 1168 AD.
Pre-Modern Thinking on Tollan
• Aztec use of the word Tollan led to the
initial identification of Teotihuacan as
Tollan.
• Fray Bernardino de Sahagún visited Tula de
Allende, Hildalgo, between 1542 and 1558.
19th-20th Century Thoughts on Tollan
• Désiré Charnay identifies Tula de Allende
with Tollan in 1880, and conducted the first
excavations. He is also the first
archaeologist to note the similarity between
Tula de Allende and Chichén Itzá (1885).
• 1930’s: Wigberto Jiménez-Moreno matched
topographical references in ethnohistorical
accounts with Tula de Allende, Hildalgo.
• 1941 Mesa Redondo conference affirms
identification of Tula with Tollan.
• 1940’s: Jorge Acosta excavated the
ceremonial center of Tula Grande,
dicovering the warrior and serpent columns,
and colonades. He discovers Aztec offerings
and looting.
Palacio Quemado
“Burned Palace”
Archaeological Investigations at Tula Grande
• Désiré Charnay photographs, maps and excavates
at Tula Grande in 1880. He excavates two
residential structures at the site.
1940 Jorge Acosta of
INAH begins 20 years
of excavation and
restoration of the
ceremonial center at
Tula Grande.
Most structures had been
striped of decorative
stone facings and
sculptures by the
Mexica.
Building 3 Palacio Quemado
Cynthia KrisanGraham believes
these to be kings,
not warriors.
Sunken
patio
• Temple
possibly
dedicated to
Ehécatl, the
wind god
Investigations of the 1970’s
Proyecto Tula An INAH project directed by Eduardo
Matos Moctezuma initiated in 1968. This was an
interdisciplinary project, though most
archaeological work consisted of survey. They
test-pitted Tula Chico. Published in 2 volumes in
’74 and ’76.
University of Missouri: Tula Archaeological Project
1970-1972, 1976. Vol. 1 published in 1989.
Directed by Richard Diehl with goal of investigating
residential structures rather than temples. It turned
into a rescue project when plans were announced
to put an irrigation canal through the site and level
areas for cultivation.
Chronology
• Tula Chico 700-900 AD Marked by Coyotlatelco
pottery, and Prado complex pottery.
• Tula Grande 900-1200 AD
• Full fluorishing of Toltec “Empire” AD 950-1200.
• Tollan destroyed c. AD 1200 between Aztec I and
Aztec II phases.
• Habitation in the Tula region begins in the
Formative with small hamlets and a hilltop
ceremonial center at La Loma, 15 ha in size.
• Teotihuacan imposes its rule over the Tula region
with the establishment of an adminstrative center
at at site called Chingú, 10 km. East of Tula. This
site is served by a massive irrigation system.
Tula Chico’s Prado complex pottery is most closely
related to pottery from Classic period Bajío region of
Querétaro and Guanajuato – suggesting immigration
from the North.
• Prado complex pottery is an elite ware.
• Tula Chico’s morphology is unique for the region,
and it is isomorphic with Tula Grande.
• Tula Grande grew very rapidly, and reached a
maximum extent of 13 sq. km. Population was c.
60,000.
• El Corral compounds and Charnay’s Toltec Palace
were high status compounds.
• El Corral
Elite
compounds
Tula’s inhabitants were not
farmers. They engaged in
specialized craft activities.
Tohil Plumbate wares were found
pointing to cacao exchange with
Soconusco. Other wares were
found from the Huastec region and
northern Gulf Coast. No ceramic
evidence was found of trade
contacts with S. Veracruz or
Yucatan.
Tollan – a contrarian view
• Patricia Fournier and Victor Bolaños point out that
the Tula region was inhabited by the Otomí
(hńähńü) prior to the arrival of the Spanish.
• The Otomí cultivated agave and had a religion
which emphasized the moon goddess Zänä and the
Old Mother, Sinana.
• They excavated at a Epiclassic community called
Chapantongo. There they found buildings that they
claimed had a lunar orientation, and a altar with
skulls placed on top of feet, representing (they
say) Otomí lunar dismemberment rituals.
• “I believe that the ethnohistoric sources
about Tollan and the Toltecs that have
guided previous investigations of Tula are
of limited value regarding the realities of
Epiclassic and early Postclassic
Mesoamerica.”
• “Michael Smith goes further and doubts the
historicity of the Toltecs, and I am inclined
to agree with him.”
- Cynthia Kristan-Graham 2007
“Toltec” Religon
Household level:
•Ancestor Veneration
•Household figurines “gingerbread men.”
Neighborhood (barrio) level:
Small temples dedicated to dieties like Tlaloc
State level:
Human sacrifice: Chacmools, cuauhxicalli, tzompantli the
largest one found to the east of ballcourt 2. Images of
snakes eating humans, eagles eating hearts, etc.
• Compounds in the Canal Locality
Cache of human tibias
• Ancestor Altar
Gods of Tula
Quetzalcoatl Ehécatl - wind
Quetzalcoatl Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli – Venus
Morningstar
Tlaloc
Centeocihuatl – Maize Goddess
Xochiquetzal – “Flower Quetzal” Love Goddess
Xipe Totec – agricultural renewal
Tlazolteotl – “Filth Goddess” Eats filth – absolves sin
Itzpapalotl – “Obsidian Butterfly” Death
Cihuacoatl “Woman Snake” patroness of midwives
and women who died in childbirth
Tula Grande was sacked c. 1200 AD, and hiatus follows which lasts
from 150-200 years.