Central Mexico

Question 1

Teotihuacan Location

Answer 1

• Began as a village built on discovered ruins
• Known as the place where gods are born
• Rich in springs and natural deposits
• Located along a good transportation and trade route
• Built environment designed to fit in with the natural environment
• Located in a sacred mountain range

Question 2

Buildings

Answer 2

• Pyramid of the sun and moon
• Temple to Quetzalcoatl on top of a cave system where you could descend into the underworld
• All measurements were multiples of 57
• Buildings were oriented east-west in accordance with the sun on the solstices
• Pyramids were built using the crossbow system where curving and vertical sections support each other

Question 3

Religion

Answer 3

• Sun worship
• Belief in cyclical time
• Interest in creatures that transform such as snakes
• Jaguars and eagles represent the sun during the day and its passage into the underworld at night
• Diverse gods representing every aspect of life
• Most gods and ideas shared across Mesoamerica
• Multiple local cults to different gods and the state

Question 4

Religious Ceremony

Answer 4

• Destruction of all household goods every 57 years to bring about renewal
• Ceremonial wearing of jaguar skin ad eagle plumes
• When humans dress up as a god, they become that god rather than just a representation of them

Question 5

Influence on Others

Answer 5

• Massive economic and sociopolitical influence
• Their massive constructions meant that they had the economic influence to be able to fund them
• Most of their wealth was gained through trade of jade, pottery, and obsidian
• Man with warrior artifacts found at the temple of the moon suggesting that Teotihuacan was not as pacifist as previously thought
• Layout of the city taken and used by many others even after its destruction

Question 6

Material Culture and Art

Answer 6

• Statues found representing the warrior culture of the Aztecs. Women were warriors, and if they died in childbirth it was equivalent to dying in battle
• Sculptures were seen as physical embodiments of the gods
• Statues of crickets and toads and things that came out in the spring represented renewal
• Large round sculpture found in the temple of the moon which depicts the moon goddess being dismembered by the sun and war god, symbolic of the struggle between day and night
• Art was always symbolic, and was an example of how human thought can carry on for centuries after a person or civilization dies
• Codex Mendoza contains images of daily life including the education of citizens to make them productive, as well as the conventions of war

Question 7

Human Sacrifice

Answer 7

• Warrior man’s position suggests that he was a sacrifice
• They thought the sacrifice was the only way to appease the gods and stay alive
• Skeletons grouped in 3, 4, 18, and 20, the basis of the Aztec calendar
• People were sacrificed every 57 years for the fire renewal
• Sacrifices were considered food for the gods. Since the gods sacrificed themselves to start up the sun, it was the people’s job to feed them
• People sacrifices for a major festival before the rainy season. Their skins were flayed and worn by priests for 20 days, then stored. The priests would emerge from the skins like new life. The puckering effect of dead human skin is represented in sculptures. Their hearts were taken out and their face was skinned separately and worn as a mask