Definition of Teotihuacan Culture

There is evidence of the Teotihuacan Culture through the remains found in the territory from the Teotihuacan Valley, a region in northwestern Mexico. These remains are from the IV century BC. C and are related to populationagricultural that inhabited this area until the lX century of our era.

Scholars of the Teotihuacan culture do not know where its inhabitants came from and what their language was, however the hypothesis more accepted defends the idea that they came from the area of ​​the Gulf of Mexico. As for the term Teotihuacan, its meaning refers to the place where the gods live and it is known that this word was used by the Aztecs in the language Nahuatl during the pre-Columbian period.

Main features

Teotihuacan was an urban center surrounded by fertile lands and abundant raw materials, especially clay and obsidian. Teotihuacan became a place mainly destined for religious ceremonies and in the city there were nobles, artisans and farmers.

The urban nucleus had wide roads and the constructions were of adobe covered with stone and with ornaments of geometric shapes colored in red, the favorite color of this

civilization. Among the archaeological remains, the pyramids with stepped platforms (the pyramid dedicated to the Sun is the second largest in Mexico and was intended for sacrifices and offerings for the gods).

The remains found allow us to know that the inhabitants of this region knew ideographic writing and had mathematical and astronomical knowledge. The government it was run by the priestly class that dominated the other settlers. Regarding their beliefs, it is known that they were polytheists and believed in deities related to fertility, rain, the wind or death.

The productive activity was based on an agricultural irrigation system, hunting, fishing and bartering as a way of exchanging products.

Archaeological investigations indicate that Teotiuacan was a territory in which the Mixtecs, the Nahuas, the Mayans and the Zapotecs lived together. The Teotihuacan Culture was spreading beyond its original territories, but its expansion was not due to military reasons but rather to religious and commercial reasons.

First written testimonies of the Teotihuacan Culture

The Spanish Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún inhabited this region of Mexico in the seventeenth century and for years he was working on his main work, "Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España." This missionary learned the Nahualt language and carried out a detailed investigation of the different indigenous cultures.

His objective was to evangelize its inhabitants, but to convert them to Christianity it was necessary to know their gods and their culture. Through the texts of Bernardino de Sahagún it has been possible to know some of the myths of his culture, such as the birth of the Fifth Sun in the city of the Gods.

Photos: iStock - Joel Carillet / Kresopix

Topics in Teotihuacan Culture