76 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
The administrative institutions of this city were complex and involved councils
of political lords, priests, and warrior groups representing different political factions.
Like other major contemporary cities in Mesoamerica, Chichén Itzá likely served as
a cultic center where rulers of allied polities went to perform ceremonies that sanc-
tioned their right to govern, as William Ringle has proposed.Northern Mesoamerica.
In the tenth century, Tula emerged as the largest urban center since the fall of Teoti-
huacan. Tula was the home of the Toltecs, a group about which archaeology and eth-
nohistory are in disagreement. According to Aztec native historical accounts, the
Toltecs were wise and great. They were devout, and they invented all of the useful arts
and crafts. Their capital, Tula, was a magnificent metropolis with buildings con-
structed of precious stones. The Toltec dynasty was revered by the Aztecs and other
Postclassic groups. Rulers of Late Postclassic Aztec city-states as well as Mixtec and
Mayan elites traced their descent and legitimacy back to the Toltec kings.
Whereas the Toltecs of Tula were glorified by later groups, archaeology paints
another picture. Tula had some impressive public architecture, but it was a far cry
from the size and grandeur of the earlier Teotihuacan, and it had far fewer imported
goods. Nevertheless, Tula was a large and an important capital city. It had one of the
largest plazas in Mesoamerica, and its public architecture was arranged in a highly
formal fashion around the plaza. A large pyramid, Structure C, stood on the east side
of the plaza. Structure B on the north side was flanked by large colonnaded halls, an
unusual form in Mesoamerica (this is one of the architectural similarities with Chichén
Itzá noted earlier). Large ballcourts were built on the west side of the plaza and north
of Structure B, and the south end of the plaza was filled out with several palaces. Nu-
merous low-relief carvings at Tula depict scenes of battles, rituals, and trade.
Tula was an important city in Early Postclassic Mesoamerica, although its role
was exaggerated by Aztec historians who looked back to Tula as the source of Aztec
greatness. At some point around A.D. 1150, Tula was abandoned.
Elsewhere, beyond Mesoamerica’s northern frontier, the trading centers of Alta
Vista and La Quemada developed during the Epiclassic/Early Postclassic periods.
Located in the modern Mexican state of Zacatecas, these sites were located in a re-
gion rich with minerals that were highly desired at Mesoamerican centers such as
Tula. Alta Vista and La Quemada also served as important trade intermediaries be-
tween Mesoamerica and the American Southwest, and the valuable turquoise de-
posits there. By A.D. 1200, with many of the great Epiclassic/Termial Classic and Early
Postclassic centers abandoned or in decline, the scene was set for the rise of the Late
Postclassic polities (as related in Chapter 2 to follow).SUGGESTED READINGS
BRASWELL, GEOFFREYE. (ed.) 2003 The Maya and Teoti-
huacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction.Austin:
University of Texas Press.
CARRASCO, DAVID, LINDSAYJONES, and SCOTTSESSIONS(eds.)
2000 Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to
the Aztecs.Boulder: University of Colorado Press.