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

MesoAmerican Timeline

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

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

Water Dancing Group Carvings

Water
Dancing
Group
Carving
Detail

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

Tlatilco Culture
Cuicuilco Site, Valley of Mexico

South Side Cuicuilco Pyramid

Tlatilco Archaeology Sites: Burial Goods

Tlatilco Archaeology Sites: Burials

Deformed Skull
Cultural standard of beauty obtained by wrapping infant skulls to shape their growth.

Tlatilco Archaeology
Sites: Body with
Burial Goods

Tlatilco Ceramics

Monument 1
El Rey
Woman seated inside cave
(God’s
Mouth) with rain clouds and rain

Chalcatzingo
Stela 31:
Feline figure, human figure,
S cloud formation and raindrops

Classic 250 BCE – 900 CE
• Teotihuacan
• Cholula

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

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan (Museum Model)

Teotihuacan Talud-Tablero Style

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

Teotihuacan
From the Pyramid of the Moon

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

Teotihuacan from Pyramid of the Moon

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

Teotihuacan Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl

Teotihuacan
Human 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

Teotihuacan

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

Xochicalco

Xochicalco Ball Court

Xochicalco Feathered Serpent Temple

Observatory Cave

Xochicalco
Stelae

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

Cholula Museum Model

Cholula Pyramid with Church

Cholula
Pyramid
Interior
Staircase

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

Tula
• 800CE – 1150 CE
• Tolteca Chichimeca 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”
• Chac Mool Statues (meaning unknown)

Tula Pyramid B

Atlantes on Pyramid B

Tula Chac Mool

Mosaic Helmet

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

Tzintzuntzan Aerial View

Tzintzuntzan Yacatas

Tzintzuntzan Yacatas
Stirrup Necked Vessels