Teotihuacan: The Religious State

CITY ORGANIZATION

Teotihuacan occupied an area of 8 square kilometers at its earliest occupation.  The city was surrounded by volcanoes and mountains, and scholars generally agree that people living in those regions moved into lower lying Teotihuacan because of volcanic eruptions.  The city began with a modest population of 20-30,000, and that number gradually increased to 60,000 by AD 150.  Citizens relied chiefly on maize and beans for subsistence, cultivating thousands of acres of swamp gardens around the city.

The first monumental structure constructed at Teotihuacan was the Pyramid of the Sun.  A 1971 excavation of the pyramid revealed a pit 7 meters deep that led to a cave with a series of chambers.  Previously buried beneath centuries of accumulated rubble, the entranceway guided archaeologists into what may have been the earliest center of worship at Teotihuacan, a cave that represented the origin of the universe.  In Mesoamerican myth, life sprang forth from the earth’s womb, a cave known as a chicomoztoc.  Heyden (1975) suggests that this cave was the source of a religious cult in Teotihuacan, and the inspiration for the enormous pyramid that now protects it.  She and Millon (1975) suspect that the cave drew a pilgrimage following during the first century BCE, and potentially served as the first sacrificial site in the city.  In Mesoamerica, caves are frequently used as tombs—in death, one returns to the womb, and is reborn.  While plausible, the theory is contestable because the cave holds no skeletal evidence to support it.

Teotihuacan is divided into north and south sections.  Sugiyama (1993) argues that this division represents a separation of earthly and heavenly realms within the city.  The Rio San Juan and Rio San Lorenzo rivers run through the center of the city, but were deliberately redirected to flow along a straight channel.  The modified section of the Rio San Lorenzo is over 2500 meters long and 40 meters wide at its greatest span.  These alterations effectively divide the city into northern and southern zones, with nearly exact measurements.  Changing the natural course of the rivers would have required a level of cooperation and organization consistent with a state level society, though Teotihuacan was foremost a religious civilization, not a political one.  Sugiyama (1993) suggests that while channelization of the rivers may have improved drainage and water transport to the city, the plan reflects a larger cosmological purpose.  The portion of the river that crosses the Avenue of the Dead measures 1360 meters, or twice the number of Mayan calendar days.  The impact of Teotihuacan worldview on other cities is unclear, but symbols used in Teotihuacan glyphs and artwork appear in Mayan Tikal as early as AD 300 (Cowgill 1997).  

ICONOGRAPHY AND BURIAL

Unfortunately for archaeologists, the Teotihuacan notation system has not been deciphered.  Standard signs have been identified, but are largely absent from sculpture and painting, unlike the glyphs used by the Maya.  A few Teotihuacan symbols even appear at Aztec sites, but their meaning is unknown.  It is also unclear as to whether or not access to notation may have been restricted according to rank or occupation, but artwork suggests a lack of social stratification.  Images in both the pyramids and residences of Teotihuacan depict humans as subordinate only to gods, not to other humans (Cowgill 1997).  There are no scenes that suggest control by one group over another, nor are there images that identify particular individuals.  Scenes of daily life are effectively absent, while religious iconography is abundant.  This supports the notion of religion as the reigning force of the city, with many images and themes repeated throughout the same monuments and even the same walls.  The Feathered Serpent Pyramid is rich with paintings and sculptures of predatory animals, meant to express power and dominance—perhaps a reflection of the power of the pyramid itself or the fervor of its disciples.

Archaeologists have identified six distinctive construction phases of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.  This structure, infamously known for the mass burials of sacrificial victims, is a dedication to the Mesoamerican origin myth.  The facades of the pyramid are festooned with imposing serpentine heads.  Looming above those who enter, the ferocious beasts are associated with Cipactli, the legendary crocodilian being who created the earth (Sugiyama 1993).  According to the origin story, the universe contained only sky and water in the beginning.  Cipactli was birthed from the water, which was connected to oceans and the underworld.  Other gods were subsequently created, and through autosacrifice, created humans.  For Teotihuacanos and other Mesoamerican groups, the continuity of the universe depended on the sustenance of the gods, who must be fed human blood.  In sacrificing human lives, Teotihuacanos affirmed their gratitude to their creators, and ensured the progression of time.

The remains of 200 individuals have been unearthed inside and around the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.  Both individual and mass burials were found, and many were accompanied by a variety of grave goods.  Such offerings include shells and bivalves, which likely reflect the water symbolism that permeates Mesoamerican myth—water gave life to the being who created the earth, and is also associated with cave springs.  Approximately 1000 green stone artifacts were also uncovered; green stones were water symbols for the Aztecs several centuries later (Sugiyama 1997).  The majority of skeletons at the pyramid were interred with their hands behind their spines, indicating that the victims were bound before they were killed.  Remains of men and women were found, but males were found with associated weaponry and armor, and likely represented military soldiers.  Many also wore necklaces made from human mandibles.  It remains a mystery as to whether they were war captives or Teotihuacanos, but stable isotope analysis has dated the remains within the pyramid to the time of its initial building phase (Sugiyama 1997).  The mud and stones that formed the base of the structure also served as a blanket for the corpses, suggesting that they were sacrifices to the building itself. 

Small clay figures found among the soldiers were previously thought to be portrait figures, though Teotihuacano figurative art was highly standardized.  Cowgill (1997) posits that these were military figurines.  The statues appear contorted, with chunks of clay missing from the hands, but were probably meant to hold spears that have not been found.  Mural paintings from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid and Sun Pyramid demonstrate a similar disregard for individuality.  Even in representations of gods, gender is indeterminable, and faces are largely obscured by headdresses or costume.  This is considerable evidence for a unified state, rooted in religious ideology that emphasized a cosmological order rather than individual status or achievement.
 

The Pyramid of the Moon, which sets at the western corner of Teotihuacan, was also constructed in multiple phases.  Here, archaeologists have unearthed the decapitated heads of 18 individuals, associated with the fifth phase of the pyramid (Sugiyama 1997).  Also found were the remains of several animals including falcons and snakes—predators represented throughout Teotihuacan’s monuments.  As in the burials at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, these sacrificial victims were interred with obsidian and shell objects, linking them with creation and perhaps rebirth in death.  What remain curiously absent from any of Teotihuacan’s monuments are explicit royal tombs.  The arbitrary placement of bodies and standardized inclusion of grave goods seems to suggest that everyone buried beneath these pyramids is equal in death.  Perhaps there are Teotihuacan leaders among them, or perhaps those graves are yet to be discovered.

RESIDENCE PATTERNS

By the second century AD, Teotihuacan had over 2000 residential apartment compounds.  The structures were mostly concentrated on the northern side of the city, and constructed from rubble and lime plaster (Cowgill 1997).  These apartments were mostly standardized, multilevel buildings with several rooms that spilled into courtyards; however the size of rooms and quality of construction varies throughout the city. 

Manzanilla’s (1996) excavations of the apartment compound Oztoyahualco demonstrated a difference in activities among connected households.  Separate areas of the structure were dedicated to storage, cooking, and refuse disposal, as evidenced by plant and animal remains and tools like grinding stones.  Within the living quarters, Manzanilla found ceramic vessels, tools, chemical compounds, and concentrations of pollen and other faunal remains unique to each of three households.  Differences in household symbolism and raw materials indicate that each household specialized in a distinct craft.  An abundance of blades and rabbit bone in Household 1, for example, signifies that sector’s role in ritual butchering. 

While particular materials are highly represented in designated households, there is little evidence to support the notion of unequal access to resources.  Cowgill (1997) argues that the standardization of the compounds denotes similar socioeconomic status, while the presence and absence of various material indicates craft.  The only striking difference that might suggest elevated status is in wall decoration.  Some apartments house huge wall murals depicting various deities—all with iconography similar to that represented in the pyramids.  However, Cowgill (1997) maintains that this artwork serves as further evidence of craft specialization—if you were an artist, you might practice or utilize that skill within your residence.

Spence (1974) analyzed several samples of skeletal remains from Teotihuacan residential burials, and found closer relations among males than females.  This suggests that Teotihuacanos practiced patrilocal descent patterns, in which households were determined by men.  If related men, like fathers and sons, lived in the same households, it is safe to assume that craft specialization was also connected to kinship.  Young men would have learned a specific trade from an older male relative, presumably a father or an uncle, and remained in the same house after he was married.  His wife would then join his household and adopt the family custom.  With no clear evidence of social stratification, it is unlikely that Teotihuacanos emphasized gender roles.  Sex characteristics are not exaggerated in painting or sculpture, and at times are completely absent in representations of the human form, indicating a low level of importance.  Craft production may have been dictated by male kinship ties, but there is no evidence that women did not participate.  The organization of households according to occupation would have made obtaining and distributing raw materials extremely efficient—it also would have identified families and laborers to the state.

Some research has suggested that palaces, or elite residences, existed in southern Teotihuacan, near the Ciudadela compound, which houses the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.  The complex towers over a series of apartments, all of which are larger and arguably more solid structures than those on the opposite avenue of the city (Cowgill 1997).  These apartments would accommodate approximately 200 individuals.  Some have suggested that the Ciudadela was the administrative center of Teotihuacan, as it is separate from the spiritual Pyramid of the Sun and most residences, and its apartments could have supported a ruler and a small staff.  There is also a curious workshop attached to the compound that contained a wealth of censer ornaments and molds.  Censers were bowls with chimneys in the center, likely used in commemorative or worship rituals (Manzanilla 1996).  These objects appear in nearly every household in Teotihuacan.  A human face is commonly represented on the censer, but like other religious imagery, possesses no individual characteristics to designate it as a particular person or deity.  The ubiquity of censers in domiciles and presence of standardized molds at one location strongly intimates a state imposed or state controlled religion.