Mexico before the Spanish

Physical reminders of México’s pre-colonial past are still visible in the historic center, just beyond the Zocalo. A walk around the side of the Metropolitan Cathedral brought me face to face with the ruins of the Templo Mayor, the ceremonial center of the Mexica (Aztec) people who built Tenochtitlan as their capital in 1325. In 1521, in an attempt to suppress the indigenous religious tradition, the Spanish destroyed the temple and built right over it. 

Excavations at the Templo Mayor site are still going on. The oldest piece found so far dates back to 1350CE. Walkways through the site allow visitors to get a close-up view of several buildings, altars, shrines, and sculptures, as well as the steps made out of volcanic stone blocks. 

There are multiple representations of jaguars, serpents, and frogs. The jaguar represented darkness and the earth. A certain species of serpent was associated with the birthplace of the god Huitzilopochtli. The frog held a special place in the belief system of the Mexica. The croaking of the frogs supposedly announced the imminent arrival of the rainy season. 

One of the altars is decorated is decorated with rows of 240 stone skulls covered with stucco. 

Many of the temple’s treasures have been transferred to excellent exhibits in the onsite museum.

The northern half of the Templo Mayor
was dedicated to Tlaloc, the god of rain.

The southern half of the Templo Mayor
was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli -
"hummingbird of the left" and
the god in charge of the Aztecs.

Relief of the earth goddess  

This cactus shaped element originally
decorated the top of a temple.

Another attraction I didn’t want to miss was the pyramids of Teotihuacan. This ancient Mesoamerican city is located in the Valley of México, about twenty-five miles northeast of Mexico City. I arranged to be part of a group tour but since I was the only person to sign up, it became a private tour. My guide and I took a public bus from México’s Centro de Norte terminal to reach Teotihuacan. This bonus experience allowed me to mingle with the locals and to see some of the smaller towns not typically on the tourist radar. 

Teotihuacan was probably established around 100 BCE. Archaeologists believe that during the first half of the first millennium CE, it had a population of at least 125,000, making it the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas. Teotihuacan was attacked around 550 CE and its major monuments were destroyed. Within a couple of hundred years, the city was abandoned. Several centuries later, the Aztecs discovered the magnificent ruined site. They gave the city the name Teotihuacan, which means “birthplace of the gods” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. They also claimed common ancestry with the city’s builders. Today, much remains unknown about the culture of the city’s original inhabitants.

Although Teotihuacan is still only 20% excavated, it is one of the most impressive sights in all of Mexico. I’d previously seen photos of two of its tall stone pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. From my guide, I learned that unlike the Egyptian pyramids, the pyramids at Teotihuacan were not built to contain burial chambers for a single ruler. Instead, they were built as solid structures that were enlarged several times over the centuries, with new layers being added on top of existing layers. 

Pyramid of the Moon

The pyramids, seen up close, are much larger, and the steps much steeper, than I had imagined. After looking up at the ant-like figures climbing the Pyramid of the Moon, I walked with my guide down the windswept Avenue of the Dead, a broad 1.5-mile dirt road, towards the Pyramid of the Sun. 

Avenue of the Dead with view of the Pyramid of the Sun

At the base of the pyramid, I decided I couldn’t leave without attempting a short climb. I carefully made my way up some extremely steep steps until I reached a platform where I stopped to gaze out at the expansive view of the ruins. The scale of the buildings certainly makes the viewer feel small. 

Pyramid of the Sun 

The site also includes the remains of multiple temples and residential complexes. I especially enjoyed seeing the well-preserved murals, a reminder of Mexico’s long mural painting tradition. The artists used a fresco technique, mixing pigment and plaster to paint on walls of stucco. This accounts for the longevity of the painted images. The designs include depictions of gods, goddesses, and animals, such as the jaguar, puma, owl and other birds. The distinctive motifs influenced later civilizations throughout Mesoamerica. 

residential complex

Many of the murals from Teotihuacan are now on display in the National Anthropology Museum in Chapultepec Park, where I spent the major portion of my final day in México. The museum houses an astounding collection of art and artifacts in its twenty-two separate exhibition areas. 

The exhibition halls are arranged chronologically and geographically. I knew it would be impossible to see the entire museum in a single visit so I concentrated on just five areas, starting with an exhibit about the transition from hunting and gathering to subsistence agriculture as a result of climate change. I then moved on to the Pre-classical Central Highlands (2500BCE-100AD) where the focus was on how population growth and agricultural exploitation led to the emergence of the earliest stratified societies. 

Next, I went to an entire hall devoted to Teotihuacan (100-700CE), the site I had visited the previous day. 

from Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent

Reconstruction of an inner courtyard and central temple
in an apartment compound - they would have been decorated
with murals. There were over 2000 such compounds in Teotihuacan. 

The god Tlaloc (associated with rain and fire)

The goddess Chalchiuhtlicue, consort of Tlaloc,
associated with agriculture and fertility
(found in front of the Pyramid of the Moon)

The adjacent exhibition hall showcased the independent centers that arose in central Mexico following the fall of Teotihuacan. Eventually, the Toltecs emerged as a regional power around 700 CE with a base in the city of Tula. 

a monumental Atlante, an anthropomorphic figure
produced by the Toltecs (900-1250 CE)

solar disk with 300 turquoise plaques
on a wooden base (turquoise obtained from
the southwest U.S.), associated with military costumes

Finally, I spent at least an hour in the exhibit devoted to the Mexica (aka Aztecs), the indigenous group who rose to power in central Mexico with the decline of the Toltecs, around 1200 CE. Their empire dominated Mesoamerica until 1521, the year the Spanish arrived. 

jaguar sculpture 

15th century stone monolith 

the monument of Tizoc,
a Méxica ruler of Tenochtitlan
(the stone was used for sacrifices)

from the cult of the Earth
with the image of a serpent,
capable of devouring its prey and
changing its skin periodically just as the Earth does

figures placed on tombstones 

statue of a priest 

the serpent is associated with the goddess of the Earth
and the female side of nature

a book of traditional herbal medicine

The kitchen of a commoner (peasant)
 who would have lived on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan,
included a comal for cooking tortillas, a metate for making dough,
a mortar for preparing spicy sauces, pots for beans, and
baskets for storing grains, corn cobs and water. 

Stone of the Sun
a large sacrificial altar showing
the god Xiuhtecuhtli at the center,
holding a pair of human hearts,
his tongue transformed into a sacrificial knife

The Codex Boturini (Pilgrimage Strip),
the most important illustrated book of the history
of the Mexica people, tells of their 200-year migration
from Aztlan to their promised land
on an islet in a lake (Tenochtitlan)

from the ball game practiced by the Mexica

I would have liked to continue, but by mid-afternoon, my brain was too saturated to absorb more information. I walked back a couple of miles to the Red Tree House, stopping at a neveria (ice cream shop) along the way to restore my energy.