Teopanzolco
Encyclopedia
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
archaeological site in the Mexican state of Morelos
Morelos
Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....
. Due to urban growth, it now lies within the modern city of Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
. Most of the visible remains date from the Middle to Late Postclassic Period
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
(1300-1521).
Etymology
Teopanzolco comes from the NahuatlNahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
language, it has been interpreted as "the place of the old temple".
Location
Teopanzolco was built upon a hill formed from a lavaLava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
flow. Although this area is now occupied by the Vista Hermosa district of Cuernavaca, in pre-Columbian times it was an area of coniferous woodland
Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests
Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests are a forest biome. They are located in regions of semi-humid climate at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Most tropical and subtropical coniferous forest ecoregions are found in the Nearctic and Neotropic ecozones, from Mexico to Nicaragua and on the...
.
History of the site
The Morelos Valley was settled from about 2000 BC. During the Classic Period, Teopanzolco came under the influence of the great metropolis of TeotihuacanTeotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
in the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
. By the Postclassic
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
, various Nahua groups had moved into the Altiplano
Mexican Plateau
The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano or Altiplanicie Mexicana, is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico...
; the Tlahuicas founded nearby Cuauhnahuac (Cuernavaca) and Teopanzolco itself. They were conquered in 1427 AD by the Aztec emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, after which they were integrated into the Aztec Empire and were obliged to pay tribute and participate in Aztec military campaigns. The prehispanic history of Teopanzolco was brought to a close by the Spanish Conquest in 1521, at which time the Tlahuicas were still living in the area and paying tribute to the Aztecs.
Teopanzolco was probably the original centre of the city of Cuauhnahuac during the Early Aztec period (AD 1150–1350) before the ceremonial centre was moved to a more defensible location, now the centre of the modern city of Cuernavaca. After the relocation of the ceremonial centre no new construction was undertaken at Teopanzolco.
The site of Teopanzolco was rediscovered in 1910, during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, when the revolutionary forces of Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution...
installed an artillery emplacement upon the Great Platform (Building 1) in order to shell federalist positions in the centre of Cuernavaca. The resulting cannon fire shook loose the soil, revealing the stonework below.
The modern history of Teopanzolco begins with the first excavations at the site in 1921, no further investigations took place until it was excavated in 1956-7 by Mexican archaeologists Román Piña Chan and Eduardo Noguera, who investigated the temple of Ehecatl and established a ceramic sequence for the site. Further archaeological investigations took place in 1968-9 (by Angulo Villaseñor) and in 1980 (by Wanda Tomassi). INAH has undertaken maintenance and minor excavations annually since 1985.
The site
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
. Although nothing survives of the original finishing, the buildings were presumably covered with painted plaster, as at other archaeological sites. Although the site had been developed by both the Tlahuicas and the Aztecs, the dominant architectural style and the majority of the excavated ceramics are Aztec in origin.
- Great Platform or Building 1. This is the principal building within the archaeological zone. It consists of a westward facing rectangular pyramidal base that once supported twin temples; the northernmost was dedicated to TlalocTlalocTlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water. In Aztec iconography he...
, the Aztec rain god, while the southern temple was dedicated to HuitzilopochtliHuitzilopochtliIn Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli , was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.- Genealogy :...
, the god of war. Two parallel stairways give access to the temples. This style of double temple is Aztec in origin. Two phases of building are evident, the second practically identical to the first and built on top of it. Only the platform survives from the second phase but sections of the walls of the twin temples survive from the earlier building phase. The later phase of construction appears to have been interrupted by the Spanish Conquest. - Temple of Tlaloc This consisted of a small enclosure surrounded by four pillars that presumably supported a wide roof that extended beyond the temple enclosure itself. It is situated upon the Great Platform.
- Temple of Huitzilopochtli This was larger than the temple of Tlaloc and consisted of two rooms, one lying behind the other and accessed through it. The remains of an altar have been found in this inner sanctum . It is situated upon the Great Platform.
- Building 2 This is a low, irregular platform with a wide north-facing stairway.
- Building 3 is a small rectangular platform with an east-facing stairway.
- Building 4 is a wide but shallow rectangular platform with a borderless east-facing stairway. A pit was found in this structure, which contained a great number of human bones together with two obsidianObsidianObsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
knives. The bones belonged to 35 individuals of both sexes who had been sacrificed and dismembered.
- Building 5 is another small rectangular platform with an east-facing stairway.
- Building 6 is a small rectangular platform with an east-facing stairway.
- Building 7 is a small, low circular platform with an east-facing stairway. It was a shrine dedicated to EhecatlEhecatlEhecatl is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted as the aspect of the Feathered Serpent deity as a god of wind, and is therefore also known...
, the Aztec god of wind, one of the manifestations of QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
. A sunken chamber was found inside this platform, it was filled with offerings of ceramic vessels and human skulls, probably belonging to sacrificial victims.
- Building 8 is a very small rectangular platform with an east-facing stairway.
- Building 9 is another low circular platform. It was another shrine to Ehecatl, slightly larger than the similar Building 7.
- Building 10 is a long rectangular platform running east-west, located behind buildings 3 to 6. It has two stairways facing east and another facing to the west. It appears to have been expanded several times during its history.
- Building 12 is a large platform aligned with the Great Platform, lying directly to the north. It has three west-facing stairways.
- Temple of TezcatlipocaTezcatlipocaTezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. One of the four sons of Ometeotl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty,...
or Building 13 is directly behind (i.e. to the east of) the Great Platform. Its lower level had a double stairway that faced towards the latter. The upper level has a single, wide stairway. The combination of a cannonball strike during the Mexican RevolutionMexican RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
and a large looters' pit has inflicted extensive damage upon the remains.
- Platform 15 was excavated in 1997. It is located at the southern edge of the archaeological site. It was a large platform in a poor state of preservation. Below the platform were found the remains of a residence whose inhabitants manufactured dyes, as evidenced by the discovery of hearths with tools and traces of iron oxide-based pigments. The residence was demolished in order to build the overlying platform, leaving only the foundations containing domestic human burials.
The site is in the care of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History) and is open to the public.
See also
- Santa Cecilia AcatitlanSanta Cecilia AcatitlanAcatitlan is an archeological zone of the early Aztec culture located in the town of Santa Cecilia, in the municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz in Mexico State, about 10 km northwest of Mexico City...
- Templo Mayor
- TenayucaTenayucaTenayuca is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Mexico. In the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology Tenayuca was a settlement on the former shoreline of the western arm of Lake Texcoco, located approximately 10km to the northwest of Tenochtitlan...
- Tlatelolco (archaeological site)Tlatelolco (archaeological site)Tlatelolco is an archaeological excavation site in Mexico City, Mexico where remains of the pre-Columbian city-state of the same name have been found...