Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

foreground) is a century or more later, about 150–250 CE.The
shapes of the monumental structures at Teotihuacan echo the sur-
rounding mountains. Their imposing mass and scale surpass those
of all other Mesoamerican sites. Rubble-filled and faced with the
local volcanic stone, the pyramids consist of stacked squared plat-
forms diminishing in perimeter from the base to the top, much
like the Stepped Pyramid (FIG. 3-5) of Djoser in Egyptian Saqqara.
Ramped stairways led to crowning temples constructed of perish-
able materials such as wood and thatch, no longer preserved. A dis-
tinctive feature of Teotihuacan construction is the alternation of
sloping (talud) and vertical (tablero) rubble layers. The employment
oftalud-tablero constructionat other sites is a sure sign of Teotihua-
can influence.

The Teotihuacanos built the Pyramid of the Sun over a cave,

which they reshaped and filled with ceramic offerings. The pyramid

may have been constructed to honor a sacred spring within the

now-dry cave. Excavators found children buried at the four corners

of each of the pyramid’s tiers. The later Aztecs sacrificed children to

bring rainfall, and Teotihuacan art abounds with references to wa-

ter, so the Teotihuacanos may have shared the Aztec preoccupation

with rain and agricultural fertility. The city’s inhabitants rebuilt the

Pyramid of the Moon (currently being excavated) at least five times

in Teotihuacan’s early history. The Teotihuacanos may have posi-

tioned it to mimic the shape of Cerro Gordo, the volcanic moun-

tain behind it, undoubtedly an important source of life-sustaining

streams.

Mesoamerica 369

14-5Aerial view of Teotihuacan (looking south), Mexico. Pyramid of the Moon (foreground), Pyramid of the Sun (top left), and the Citadel
(background), all connected by the Avenue of the Dead; main structures ca. 50–250 CE.

At its peak around 600 CE, Teotihuacan was the sixth-largest city in the world. It featured a rational grid plan and a two-mile-long main avenue.
Its monumental pyramids echo the shapes of surrounding mountains.