>>10381175

(Please read from the start)

The last notable is the site of Teotihuacan. I’m unfamiliar with it, so I’m reading just like the rest of anons. Let’s take a look at it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan

“Teotihuacan /teɪˌoʊtiːwəˈkɑːn/[1] (Spanish: Teotihuacán) (Spanish pronunciation: [teotiwa'kan] (modern Nahuatl pronunciation) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is the most important and largest pre-Columbian city in Mexico. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the first millennium CE, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more,[2][3] making it at least the sixth-largest city in the world during its epoch.[4] After the collapse of Teotihuacan, central Mexico was dominated by the Toltecs of Tula until about 1150 CE.

The city covered 8 square miles; 80 to 90 percent of the total population of the valley resided in Teotihuacan. Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead, and its vibrant, well-preserved murals. Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that are found throughout Mesoamerica. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BCE, with major monuments continuously under construction until about 250 CE.[2] The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries CE, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 CE.

Teotihuacan began as a religious center in the Mexican Highlands around the first century CE. It became the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas. Teotihuacan was home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate the large population.[2] The term Teotihuacan (or Teotihuacano) is also used for the whole civilization and cultural complex associated with the site.

Although it is a subject of debate whether Teotihuacan was the center of a state empire, its influence throughout Mesoamerica is well documented; evidence of Teotihuacano presence can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region. The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, modifying and adopting aspects of their culture. The ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is the subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua, Otomi or Totonac ethnic groups. Scholars have suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state since they find cultural aspects connected to the Maya as well as Oto-Pamean people.

The city and the archaeological site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Mexico City. The site covers a total surface area of 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.[5] It is the most visited archaeological site in Mexico, receiving 4,185,017 visitors in 2017.[6]

“Name

The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 CE. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods", or "place where gods were born",[7] reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as "place of those who have the road of the gods."[8] This is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. […]

The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in hieroglyphic texts from the Maya region as puh, or "Place of Reeds".[9] This suggests that, in the Maya civilization of the Classic period, Teotihuacan was understood as a Place of Reeds similar to other Postclassic Central Mexican settlements that took the name of Tollan, such as Tula-Hidalgo and Cholula.

This naming convention led to much confusion in the early 20th century, as scholars debated whether Teotihuacan or Tula-Hidalgo was the Tollan described by 16th-century chronicles. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement. In the Mesoamerican concept of urbanism, Tollan and other language equivalents serve as a metaphor, linking the bundles of reeds and rushes that formed part of the lacustrine environment of the Valley of Mexico and the large gathering of people in a city.

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>>10390614

(Please read from the start)

“History

The first human establishment in the area dates back to 600 BC, and until 200 BC there were scattered small villages on the site of the future city of Teotihuacan. It is estimated that the total population of the Teotihuacan Valley during this time was approximately 6,000 inhabitants. During the period from 100 BC to AD 750, Teotihuacan had evolved into a huge urban and administrative center with cultural influences throughout the broader Mesoamerica region.

The history of the city of Teotihuacan is distinguished by four consecutive periods, known as Teotihuacan I, II, III and IV.

Period I occurred between 200 - 1 BC and marks the genesis of a real city. During this period, Teotihuacan began to grow into a city as farmers working on the hillside of the Teotihuacan Valley began to move down into the valley, coalescing around the abundant springs of Teotihuacan.

Period II lasted between AD 1 to 350. During this era Teotihuacan exhibited explosive growth that caused it to be the largest metropolis in Mesoamerica. Factors influencing this growth include the destruction of other settlements due to volcanic eruptions and the economic pull of the expanding city.[12] This influx of new residents caused a reorganization of urban housing to the unique compound complexes that typify Teotihuacan.[12] This period is notable both for its monumental architecture and its monumental sculpture. During this period, the construction of some of the most well-known sites of Teotihuacan, the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, were completed.[13] Further, the shift of political power from the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and its surrounding palace structure to the Street of the Dead Complex occurred in this period sometime between AD 250 and 350.[14] Some authors believe that this represents a shift from centralized, monarchical political system to a more decentralized and bureaucratic organization.

Period III lasted from the year AD 350 to 650 and is the so-called classical period of Teotihuacan, during which the city reached the apogee of its influence in Mesoamerica. Its population was estimated at 125,000 inhabitants, or more, and the city was among the largest cities of the ancient world, containing 2,000 buildings within an area of 18 square kilometers.[15] It was also during this high period when Teotihuacan contained approximately half all people in the Valley of Mexico, becoming a kind of primate city of Mesoamerica.[15] This period saw a massive reconstruction of monuments; the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, which dates back to the previous period, was covered with a rich sculptural decoration. Typical artistic artifacts of this period were funeral masks, crafted mainly from green stone and covered with mosaics of turquoise, shell or obsidian. These masks were highly uniform in nature.

Period IV describes the time period between AD 650 and 750. It marks the end of Teotihuacan as a major power in Mesoamerica. The city's elite housing compounds, those clustered around the Street of the Dead, bear many burn marks and archaeologists hypothesize that the city experienced civil strife that hastened its decline.[16] Factors that also lead to the decline of the city included disruptions in tributary relations, increased social stratification, and power struggles between the ruling and intermediary elites.[12] Following this decline, Teotihuacan continued to be inhabited, though it never reached its previous levels of population.”

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>>10390618

(Please read from the start)

“Origins and foundation

The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BCE, people of the central and southeastern area of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements.[17] Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch.[17] The city was already in ruins by the time of the Aztecs. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec. This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the Florentine Codex, which attributed the site to the Toltecs. However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" generally means "craftsman of the highest level" and may not always refer to the Toltec civilization centered at Tula, Hidalgo. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.”

>> This is very interesting anons = NO ONE KNOWS WHO THE FOUNDERS ARE?

“In the Late Formative era, a number of urban centers arose in central Mexico. The most prominent of these appears to have been Cuicuilco, on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the Xitle volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley. These settlers may have founded or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan.

Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan and have suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state since they find diverse cultural aspects connected to the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Maya peoples.[19] The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, called chinampas, creating high agricultural productivity despite old methods of cultivation.[17] This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic, to transport food from farms around the city. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BCE. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 CE.”

>> So they were advanced enough to turn a swamp into very fertile farm lands but they were primitive enough to use “old methods of cultivation”: REALLY? This doesn’t make sense. And what they say about the site have diverse cultural aspects that might indicated a multi-ethnic founders of the city. Has it crossed the mind of anyone that it might be the other way around? What does it mean here: well, according to this paragraph, they are saying that there is a possibility (theoretically) many ethnic groups gathered and founded the city. But what if this was the other way around? What if the “founders” of the city were the “origin ethnic group” that gave birth to multiple ethnicities? What if it was one group that built the city and with time, from that group, the other groups were born and split, migrated and founded their own civilizations?

Farfetched for anons? well, wasn’t this the case with Mesopotamia? Didn’t we see the Sumerians, the Akkadians and the people of Elam co-exist and build their City-States. But they all came from one place = one origin = the Armenian Highlands, If that was possible in Mesopotamia, why can’t it be the same in Mesoamerica? = they had one origin and from there they got divided into multiple subgroups that later on formed their own civilizations. For now please take notes of this for later on.

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>>10390625

(Please read from the start)

“Zenith

“The city reached its peak in 450 CE, when it was the center of a powerful culture whose influence extended through much of the Mesoamerican region. At its peak, the city covered over 30 km² (over 11 1⁄2 square miles), and perhaps housed a population of 150,000 people, with one estimate reaching as high as 250,000.[25] Various districts in the city housed people from across the Teotihuacano region of influence, which spread south as far as Guatemala. Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures.

The nature of political and cultural interactions between Teotihuacan and the centers of the Maya region (as well as elsewhere in Mesoamerica) has been a long-standing and significant area for debate. Substantial exchange and interaction occurred over the centuries from the Terminal Preclassic to the Mid-Classic period. "Teotihuacan-inspired ideologies" and motifs persisted at Maya centers into the Late Classic, long after Teotihuacan itself had declined.[26] However, scholars debate the extent and degree of Teotihuacano influence. Some believe that it had direct and militaristic dominance; others that adoption of "foreign" traits was part of a selective, conscious, and bi-directional cultural diffusion. New discoveries have suggested that Teotihuacan was not much different in its interactions with other centers from the later empires, such as the Toltec and Aztec.[27][28] It is believed that Teotihuacan had a major influence on the Preclassic and Classic Maya, most likely by conquering several Maya centers and regions, including Tikal and the region of Peten, and influencing Maya culture.

Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are found widely dispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researchers have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan's far-reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance.[29] A style particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero, in which an inwards-sloping external side of a structure (talud) is surmounted by a rectangular panel (tablero). Variants of the generic style are found in a number of Maya region sites, including Tikal, Kaminaljuyu, Copan, Becan, and Oxkintok, and particularly in the Petén Basin and the central Guatemalan highlands.[30] The talud-tablero style pre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic period; it appears to have originated in the Tlaxcala-Puebla region during the Preclassic.[31] Analyses have traced the development into local variants of the talud-tablero style at sites such as Tikal, where its use precedes the 5th-century appearance of iconographic motifs shared with Teotihuacan. The talud-tablero style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Preclassic period, and not specifically, or solely, via Teotihuacano influence. It is unclear how or from where the style spread into the Maya region. During the zenith main structures of the site, including the pyramids, were painted in dark-red (maroon to Burgundy) colors (only small spots remain now) and were a very impressionable view.”

>> Here AGAIN we have a “hint” pointing us in the direction that Teotihuacan was the starting point = the “origin” and the other civilizations tried to copy/ got influenced/ tried to imitate this specific architectural design. It’s like the point of origin was the site and it spread to the others where it went through a few modifications and/or changes. Which is normal in my opinion because of local culture kinda absorbs that influence and blend it in a way that is best to the locals.

“The city was a center of industry, home to many potters, jewelers, and craftsmen. Teotihuacan is known for producing a great number of obsidian artifacts. No ancient Teotihuacano non-ideographic texts are known to exist (or known to have existed). Inscriptions from Maya cities show that Teotihuacan nobility traveled to, and perhaps conquered, local rulers as far away as Honduras. Maya inscriptions note an individual nicknamed by scholars as "Spearthrower Owl", apparently ruler of Teotihuacan, who reigned for over 60 years and installed his relatives as rulers of Tikal and Uaxactun in Guatemala.”

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