Misplaced Pages

#7992

83-643: The site isn’t to be confused with Tenochtitlan , the Aztec capital located within Mexico City . Administrative names were translated into Aztec/Nahuatl and spread alongside Catholic names during the European conquest, replacing any original locality names, as the original Olmec name was lost. The earliest evidence for Olmec culture is found at nearby El Manatí , a sacrificial bog with artifacts dating to 1600 BCE or earlier. Sedentary agriculturalists had lived in

166-452: A temāzcalli , similar to a sauna bath, which is still used in the south of Mexico. This was also popular in other Mesoamerican cultures. When we saw so many cities and villages built in the water and other great towns on dry land we were amazed and said that it was like the enchantments (...) on account of the great towers and cues and buildings rising from the water, and all built of masonry. And some of our soldiers even asked whether

249-639: A CIA case officer and as a part of a front organization, Western Enterprises in Taiwan , as part of efforts to counter the influence of the Mao Zedong regime in China. Coe's graduate advisor was Gordon Willey . In his Harvard dissertation at La Victoria, Guatemala, he established the first secure chronology of ceramics for southern Mesoamerica. With Richard Diehl at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , he used new magnetometry techniques to locate and salvage most of

332-404: A bit about how houses were organized. Wendt studied refuse throughout the site, using that information to infer the layout of buildings. Clutter refuse, that is, refuse that is potentially valuable or hazardous, was studied and progressed through several stages of disposal: discarded along areas near house walls, then moved to dumps or pits. When people abandon a house, they usually leave refuse that

415-682: A central patio area. Various types of Olmec style pottery and figurines originating in San Lorenzo area were exported to other areas in Mesoamerica. For example, at the Canton Corralito site in coastal Chiapas state, very large numbers were found. Over 5,000 objects produced in the early Olmec style were found at Canton Corralito. In fact, many more Initial Olmec (1250-1150 BCE) and Early Olmec (1150-1000 BCE) type objects were found at Canton Corralito than at San Lorenzo area. For

498-563: A cluster of three settlements on an island in the swamps and marshes west of the Coatzacoalcos. San Lorenzo proper occupies the slopes and summit of a plateau that rises 50 m above the floodplain of the Coatzacoalcos River. The archaeological site of Tenochtitlán lies within the modern village of the same name at the northern end of the island, and Potero Nuevo occupies a hill east of the plateau. Another large site occupies

581-924: A number of popular works for the non-specialist audience, several of which were best-selling and much reprinted, such as The Maya (1966) and Breaking the Maya Code (1992). With Rex Koontz, he co-authored the book Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs , published in 1962. Coe was born in New York City, the son of designer Clover Simonton and banker William Rogers Coe . He attended Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts , and St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire . He graduated from Harvard College in 1950, and he received his PhD in anthropology from

664-441: A population of 212,500 living on 13.5 km (5.2 sq mi). It is also said that at one time, Moctezuma had rule over an empire of almost five million people in central and southern Mexico because he had extended his rule to surrounding territories to gain tribute and prisoners to sacrifice to the gods. When Cortés and his men invaded Tenochtitlan , Moctezuma II chose to welcome Cortés as an ambassador rather than risk

747-516: A war which might quickly be joined by aggrieved indigenous people. As Cortés approached Tenochtitlan , the Tenochcah celebrated Toxcatl . At this event the most prominent warriors of each altepetl would dance in front of a huge statue of Huitzilopochtli . The Spanish leader, Pedro de Alvarado , who was left in charge, worried that the natives planned a surprise attack. He captured three natives and tortured them until they said that this

830-623: Is 4 meters (13 ft 1 in) in diameter and weighs over 18.1 metric tons (20 short tons; 17.9 long tons). It was once located half-way up the great pyramid. This sculpture was carved around 1470 under the rule of King Axayacatl , the predecessor of Tizoc , and is said to tell the history of the Mexicas and to prophesy the future. In August 1987, archaeologists discovered a mix of 1,789 human bones five meters (16 ft 5 in) below street level in Mexico City. The burial dates back to

913-473: Is out of mind: behind large furniture, in corners, or outside on the periphery. Using this information, Wendt determined the likely architectural organization of the site. The data suggested that the architectural organization most likely followed the solar pattern of highland Maya house-lots. The solar pattern is unrestricted in space and has separate areas designated for separate activities, i.e. sleeping, cooking, etc. All these detached structures are built around

SECTION 10

#1732765044008

996-643: The pochteca were merchants who traveled all of Mesoamerica trading. The membership of this class was based on heredity. Pochteca could become very rich because they did not pay taxes, but they had to sponsor the ritual feast of Xocotl Huetzi from the wealth that they obtained from their trade expeditions. Status was displayed by the location and type of house where a person lived. Ordinary people lived in houses made of reeds plastered with mud and roofed with thatch. People who were better off had houses of adobe brick with flat roofs. The wealthy had houses of stone masonry with flat roofs. They most likely made up

1079-459: The traza . Although many native residents died during the siege of Tenochtitlan, the indigenous still had a strong presence in the city, and were settled in two main areas of the island, designated San Juan Tenochtitlan and Santiago Tlatelolco, each with a municipal council that functioned the entire colonial period. San Juan Tenochtitlan was a Spanish administrative creation, which amalgamated four indigenous sections, with each losing territory to

1162-521: The tzompantli or rack of skulls; the Sun Temple, which was dedicated to Tonatiuh ; the Eagle's House, which was associated with warriors and the ancient power of rulers; the platforms for the gladiatorial sacrifice; and some minor temples. Outside was the palace of Moctezuma with 100 rooms, each with its own bath, for the lords and ambassadors of allies and conquered people. Also located nearby

1245-686: The Angkor civilization of ancient Cambodia, Angkor and the Khmer Civilization (2003, 2nd ed. 2018), was described by David P. Chandler as "the most thoroughgoing, accessible, and persuasive synthesis of precolonial Cambodian history, society and culture" that he had ever read. Coe added qualified support to the "Cultura Madre" view of the Olmec as the "mother culture of Mesoamerican civilization". His use of information obtainable from looted Maya ceramics attracted criticism. Some of Coe's work in

1328-506: The Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1959. In 1955, shortly after commencing his graduate studies program at Harvard University, he married Sophie Dobzhansky , the daughter of the noted evolutionary biologist and Russian émigré Theodosius Dobzhansky . She was then an undergraduate anthropology student at Radcliffe College . Sophie translated the work of Russian mayanist Yuri Knorozov , The Writing of

1411-651: The Maya , and was among the foremost Mayanists of the late twentieth century. He specialised in comparative studies of ancient tropical forest civilizations , such as those of Central America and Southeast Asia. He held the chair of Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, Yale University , and was curator emeritus of the Anthropology collection in the Peabody Museum of Natural History , where he had been curator from 1968 to 1994. Coe authored

1494-700: The Popol Vuh was but a fragment of a great lost pan-Maya mythology, and that Classic Maya rulers were shamanic figures as well as administrators. Aside from his work on the Maya, his short paper published during the height of processual archaeology , entitled "The Churches on the Green", which imagined how that approach would fail to discern the origins and purpose of three churches on the New Haven Green if they were studied five thousand years later. His book on

1577-415: The 10th century BCE. Coe and Diehl originally suggested internal revolt or external conquest, but Diehl has since changed his mind. He now believes that the monuments were frequently recarved and reused before the collapse and the "mutilation" was simply the middle of that process. Warfare, environmental changes, economic decline, and the emergence of rival centers have all been suggested as possible causes for

1660-512: The 1480s and lies at the foot of the main temple in the sacred ceremonial precinct of the Aztec capital. The bones are from children, teenagers and adults. A complete skeleton of a young woman was also found at the site. Michael Coe Michael Douglas Coe (May 14, 1929 – September 25, 2019) was an American archaeologist , anthropologist , epigrapher , and author. He is known for his research on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , particularly

1743-599: The Coatzacoalcos basin, areas to the east (such as the area where La Venta would rise to prominence) and north-northwest (such as the Tuxtla Mountains ) were home to independent polities. Built on some 700 hectares (1,700 acres) of high ground between then-active tributaries, the core of San Lorenzo covers 55 hectares (140 acres) that were further modified through extensive filling and leveling; by one estimate 500,000 to 2,000,000 cubic metres (18,000,000 to 71,000,000 cu ft) of earthen fill were needed, moved by

SECTION 20

#1732765044008

1826-473: The Cuadros phase (Early Olmec horizon), 15 percent of the carved pottery (Calzadas Carved) and nine percent of the incised pottery (Limón Incised) was imported from San Lorenzo area. At the same time, none of the San Lorenzo objects examined so far were found to be imports from any other area. The cause of San Lorenzo's demise and later replacement with La Venta is unknown, although it most certainly occurred in

1909-585: The Late Formative Remplás phase (ca. 300–50 BCE), and while there was occupation in the surrounding area during the Early and Middle Classic periods, the site itself was not reoccupied until late in the Villa Alta phase (800–1000 CE). At the top of the plateau of San Lorenzo, massive thrones, colossal heads, and smaller sculptures of humans, felines, birds, and supernatural monsters proclaimed

1992-468: The Loma del Zapote, a long ridge extending southward from the plateau, which includes the locality known as El Azuzul at its southern tip. The archaeological sites of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán can be visited Monday to Sunday, from 8:00 to 15:00 hours local time. The San Lorenzo site is well known for the multitude of stone sculptures displayed. Some of these sculptures depict supernatural deities, while others

2075-578: The Maya Indians (1967). Knorozov based his studies on De Landa's phonetic alphabet and is credited with originally breaking the Maya code. Coe's brother, William Robertson Coe II , was also a prominent Mayanist, associated with the University of Pennsylvania . The two brothers had a falling-out in the 1960s and rarely spoke of each other afterward. During the Korean War , Coe worked as

2158-493: The Mexica capital. Tenochtitlan was one of two Mexica āltepētl ( city-states or polities ) on the island, the other being Tlatelolco . Traditionally, the name Tenochtitlan was thought to come from Nahuatl tetl [ˈtetɬ] ("rock") and nōchtli [ˈnoːtʃtɬi] (" prickly pear ") and is often thought to mean, "Among the prickly pears [growing among] rocks." However, one attestation in

2241-490: The Olmec colossal heads now known, such that he is now considered one of the discoverers of the Olmec. Coe and his students have contributed greatly to the decipherment of Maya writing. He championed Yuri Knorosov and the phonetic approach to decipherment, against the public rebukes of J. E. S. Thompson . At Yale University he taught the Mayanists Peter Mathews , Karl Taube , and Stephen D. Houston ,

2324-604: The Olmec field came under scrutiny by two scholars of Pre-Columbian art . For example, his work on the Cascajal Block and on the Wrestler was called into question. The scholars disputed his claims and found his work inadequately supported by evidence. The Cascajal block was argued to have many features fully consistent with Olmec imagery. The same was said for the Wrestler . Their criticisms were based on what

2407-589: The Olmec history into four stages: Formation stage (1700–1300 BCE), Integration stage (1300–900 BCE) Expansion stage (900–300 BCE) and Disintegration stage (300 BCE – 200 CE). Another term archaeologists use is for categorizing the Olmecs is the Formative Period, meaning the pivotal years that laid the ground work for state-level complex societies. Formative Mesoamerica can be divided into three periods: Early Formative (1800–900 BCE), Middle Formative (900–400 BCE) and Late Formative (400 BCE – 200 CE). San Lorenzo

2490-592: The Spaniards were seeking gold, Moctezuma expressed that he had very little of the sort, but all of it was to be given to Cortés if he desired it. Soon after arriving in Tenochtitlan , Cortés came up against problems. At Vera Cruz , the officer left in charge received a letter from Qualpopoca , the leader of Nueva Almería , asking to become a vassal of the Spaniards. He requested that officials be sent to him so that he could confirm his submission. To reach

2573-491: The Spanish traza . The Spanish laid out the streets of the traza in a checker board pattern, with straight streets and plazas at intervals, whereas the indigenous portions of the city were irregular in layout and built of modest materials. In the colonial period both San Juan Tenochtitlan and Santiago Tlatelolco retained jurisdiction over settlements on the mainland that they could draw on for labor and tribute demanded by

San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán - Misplaced Pages Continue

2656-407: The Spanish capital of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Despite the extensive damage to the built environment, the site retained symbolic power and legitimacy as the capital of the Aztec empire, which Cortés sought to appropriate. For a time this ciudad de españoles , the highest rank in the Spanish hierarchy of settlement designation, was called Mexico–Tenochtitlan. Charles Gibson devotes

2739-556: The Spanish, but increasingly those subordinate settlements ( sujetos ) were able to gain their autonomy with their own rulers and separate relationship with the Spanish rulers. Concern about the health of the indigenous population in early post-conquest Mexico–Tenochtitlan led to the founding of a royal hospital for indigenous residents. There are a number of colonial-era pictorial manuscripts dealing with Tenochtitlan–Tlatelolco, which shed light on litigation between Spaniards and indigenous over property. An account with information about

2822-579: The animals. There was also a botanical garden and an aquarium . The aquarium had ten ponds of salt water and ten ponds of fresh water, containing various fish and aquatic birds. Places like this also existed in Texcoco , Chapultepec , Huaxtepec (now called Oaxtepec ), and Texcotzingo . Tenochtitlan can be considered the most complex society in Mesoamerica in regard to social stratification. The complex system involved many social classes . The macehualtin were commoners who lived outside

2905-460: The area for centuries before San Lorenzo developed into a regional center. San Lorenzo was the first Olmec site that demonstrates state level complexity. The site dominated the gulf coast lowlands, creating Olmec cultural diffusion throughout the rest of Mesoamerica. The iconic finds at the site are the famous colossal heads. The colossal heads stand up to 340 centimetres (130 in) tall. According to archaeological finds, archaeologists have divided

2988-481: The awe-inspiring way that the Olmec viewed their deities. It also showed the power the rulers had, because a successfully delivery of a stone or finished sculpture involved complex organization and the ability to order extreme amounts of labor. In the 1960s, Michael Coe and Richard Diehl conducted excavations on San Lorenzo and surrounding sites, and defined eight major phases of occupation. The Ojochi (ca. 1750–1550 BCE) and Bajío (ca. 1550–1450 BCE) phases constituted

3071-491: The basketload. The rulers of San Lorenzo played a crucial role in integrating a population that changed the natural environment into sacred and secular landscapes for the glorification of the San Lorenzo polity. Archaeologists Michael Coe and Richard Diehl calculated that the 77 square kilometres (30 sq mi) area of San Lorenzo that they studied could produce approximately 500 metric tons (490 long tons; 550 short tons) of maize annually, enough to feed 5,556 people, more than

3154-628: The city were woodcuts published in Augsburg around 1522. Each calpulli had its own tiyanquiztli (marketplace), but there was also a main marketplace in Tlatelolco – Tenochtitlan 's sister city. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés estimated it was twice the size of the city of Salamanca with about 60,000 people trading daily. Bernardino de Sahagún provides a more conservative population estimate of 20,000 on ordinary days and 40,000 on feast days. There were also specialized markets in

3237-476: The city. The city was interlaced with a series of canals , so that all sections of the city could be visited either on foot or via canoe . Lake Texcoco was the largest of five interconnected lakes. Since it formed in an endorheic basin , Lake Texcoco was brackish . During the reign of Moctezuma I , the " levee of Nezahualcoyotl " was constructed, reputedly designed by Nezahualcoyotl . Estimated to be 12 to 16 km (7.5 to 9.9 mi) in length,

3320-480: The city; and began its rebuilding, despite opposition. The reconstruction involved the creation of a central area designated for Spanish use (the traza ). The outer Indian section, now dubbed San Juan Tenochtitlan , continued to be governed by the previous indigenous elite and was divided into the same subdivisions as before. The people of Tenochtitlan were soon exposed to diseases to which they had no immunity. Symptoms were often delayed for up to ten days, when

3403-407: The decline, although multiple causes were likely. Evidence shows that the rivers of the region did change course at the time; that may have initiated or exacerbated other problems at the site of San Lorenzo. 17°45′13″N 94°45′36″W  /  17.75361°N 94.76000°W  / 17.75361; -94.76000 Tenochtitlan Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan ,

San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán - Misplaced Pages Continue

3486-484: The early 20th century, but major excavations did not take place until 1978–1982, after utility workers came across a massive stone disc depicting the nude dismembered body of the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui . The disc is 3.25 meters (10 ft 8 in) in diameter, and is held at the Templo Mayor Museum. The ruins, constructed over seven periods, were built on top of each other. The resulting weight of

3569-775: The enormous El Chayal obsidian fields . Coe discovered the Primary Standard Sequence, a sequence of hieroglyphs appearing around the rim of many Classic Maya ceramic vessels. Coe organized an exhibit of some of those ceramics at the Grolier Club in New York, where he also publicized, for the first time, a newly-discovered Maya codex — the first found in the Americas — and only the fourth known to exist. Some of Coe's other insights were given in casual comments to his students or in short reports, including that

3652-430: The establishment pattern of community and regional levels (" en el patrón de asentamiento en los niveles de comunidad y de región ". The original Olmec name of the area, like all of the Olmec language, is unknown. The name "San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán" was coined by Stirling in 1955, taken from the nearby present-day villages, and refers to the entire complex of sites. Matthew Stirling gave the name San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan to

3735-428: The estimated population at the time. Residents of San Lorenzo also consumed domestic dog, snook, tarpon, mojarra, catfish, and turtles. Although some claim that manioc was cultivated here, no evidence for this has been found. San Lorenzo also boasted an elaborate drainage system which used buried, covered, channeled stones as a type of "pipe". Fresh spring water was available on the elevated lands, but not as available in

3818-527: The fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, and consequently brought an end to the Aztec empire Tenochtitlan's main temple complex, the Templo Mayor , was dismantled and the central district of the Spanish colonial city was constructed on top of it. The great temple was destroyed by the Spanish during the construction of a cathedral. The location of the Templo Mayor was rediscovered in

3901-402: The final chapter of his classic work, The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule , to what he called "The City", with later historians building on his work. The Spaniards established a cabildo or town council, which had jurisdiction over the Spanish residents. The Spanish established a Europeans-only zone in the center of the city, an area of 13 blocks in each direction of the central plaza, which was

3984-524: The flesh-and-blood embodiments on earth. Up to 124 stone sculptures have been discovered, and it is suspected that many more remain buried. The sculptures range in size, with the gigantic Colossal Heads weighing up to 28 tons. All the basalt used in this artwork originated at the Cerro Cintepec volcano in the Tuxtla mountains. These sculptures were not only done for aesthetic beauty, but also symbolized

4067-473: The grandest ever in Mesoamerica. Hernan Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on 8 November 1519. Although there are not precise numbers, the city's population has been estimated at between 200,000 and 400,000 inhabitants, placing Tenochtitlan among the largest cities in the world at that time. Compared to the cities of Europe, only Paris , Venice and Constantinople might have rivaled it. It was five times

4150-550: The house complexes that were arranged around the inner court. The higher officials in Tenochtitlan lived in the great palace complexes that made up the city. Adding even more complexity to Aztec social stratification was the calpōlli . Calpōlli is a group of families related by either kinship or proximity. These groups consist of both elite members of Aztec society and commoners. Elites provided commoners with arable land and nonagricultural occupations, and commoners performed services for chiefs and gave tribute. Tenochtitlan

4233-409: The infection would spread throughout the body, causing sores, pain, and high fever. People were weak to the point that they could not move, nor obtain food and water. Burial of the dead became difficult to impossible, due to the pervasiveness of the people's illness. The people of Tenochtitlan began to starve and weaken. The death toll rose steadily over the course of the next 60 days. Cortés founded

SECTION 50

#1732765044008

4316-451: The island city of Tenochtitlan. The pipiltin were noblemen who were relatives of leaders and former leaders, and lived in the confines of the island. Cuauhipiltin , or eagle nobles, were commoners who impressed the nobles with their martial prowess, and were treated as nobles. Teteuctin were the highest class, rulers of various parts of the empire, including the king. Tlacohtin were slaves or indentured servants . Finally,

4399-608: The landscape around San Lorenzo also include causeways or dikes. The two largest ones bordered ancient river courses at Potrero Nuevo and El Azuzul, respectively. These may have provided some measure of flood control and possible served as wharfs for loading and unloading canoes. Further archaeological study was conducted at the El Bajio section of El Remolino, a site in North San Lorenzo, by Carl J. Wendt. This, coupled with studies of more central San Lorenzo, revealed quite

4482-567: The late 16th-century manuscript known as "the Bancroft dialogues" suggest the second vowel was short, so that the true etymology remains uncertain. However, it is also thought that the city was named after Tenoch . Tenochtitlan covered an estimated 8 to 13.5 km (3.1 to 5.2 sq mi), situated on the western side of the shallow Lake Texcoco . At the time of Spanish conquests, Mexico City comprised both Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco . The city extended from north to south, from

4565-463: The latter of whom collaborated with David Stuart . He sometimes collaborated with his Yale colleague, anthropological linguist Floyd Lounsbury . Coe also advised the authors of The Blood of Kings , a work about Classic Maya rulership, Mary Ellen Miller , at Yale, and Linda Schele , at the University of Texas at Austin. Coe's Breaking the Maya Code (1992), which describes these breakthroughs,

4648-444: The levee was completed c.  1453 . The levee kept fresh spring -fed water in the waters around Tenochtitlan and kept the brackish waters beyond the dike, to the east. Two double aqueducts , each more than 4 km (2.5 mi) long and made of terracotta , provided the city with fresh water from the springs at Chapultepec . This was intended mainly for cleaning and washing. For drinking, water from mountain springs

4731-439: The lowlands. Long lines of U-shaped drain stones directed water to the edges of the plateau, which reflected how the rulers directed and controlled this precious resource. Some researchers have inferred that the purpose of this system was not only to provide drinking water for the population but for ritual purposes as well, and that the rulership was "intimately linked to the figure of a patron water supernatural". Matthew Stirling

4814-411: The midst of a large agricultural area. San Lorenzo seems to have been largely a ceremonial site, a town without city walls, centered in the midst of a widespread medium-to-large agricultural population. The ceremonial center and attendant buildings could have housed 5,500 while the entire area, including hinterlands, could have reached 13,000. It is thought that while San Lorenzo controlled much or all of

4897-455: The north border of Tlatelolco to the swamps , which by that time were gradually disappearing to the west; the city ended more or less at the present location of Avenida Bucareli . The city was connected to the mainland by bridges and causeways leading to the north, south, and west. The causeways were interrupted by bridges that allowed canoes and other water traffic to pass freely. The bridges could be pulled away, if necessary, to protect

4980-506: The other central Mexican cities. In the center of the city were the public buildings, temples, and palaces. Inside a walled square, 500 meters (1,600 ft) to a side, was the ceremonial center. There were about 45 public buildings, including: the Templo Mayor , which was dedicated to the Aztec patron deity Huitzilopochtli and the Rain God Tlaloc ; the temple of Quetzalcoatl ; the tlachtli ( ball game court) with

5063-456: The power of its rulers and its sacred source. Most of these sculptures were carved from imported basalt. The elites of San Lorenzo lived in large structures raised on low clay platforms amid the monuments that legitimized their authority. An elite residence named the "Red Palace" had earthen walls and floors, which were plastered with sand stained by hematite. Massive columns that were 4 metres (13 ft) tall and carved out of basalt supported

SECTION 60

#1732765044008

5146-724: The pre-Olmec Initial Formative sequence. In the Early Formative Chicharras phase (ca. 1450–1400 BCE) more characteristically Olmec artifacts appear on the site. San Lorenzo rose to the height of its power in the San Lorenzo phase (ca. 1400–1000 BCE). However, it suffered a decline in the beginning of the Middle Formative period. This period encompasses the Nacaste (ca. 1000–800 BCE) and the Palangana (ca. 800–400 BCE) phases. Its population declined further in

5229-399: The province, the officers would have to travel through hostile land. The officer in charge of Vera Cruz decided to send four officers to meet with Qualpopoca. When they arrived, they were captured and two were killed, the other two escaping through the woods. Upon their return to Vera Cruz, the officer in charge was infuriated, and led troops to storm Almería. Here they learned that Moctezuma

5312-533: The size of the London of Henry VIII . In a letter to the Spanish king, Cortés wrote that Tenochtitlan was as large as Seville or Córdoba . Cortés' men were in awe at the sight of the splendid city and many wondered if they were dreaming. Although some popular sources put the number as high as 350,000 the most common estimates of the population are of over 200,000 people. One of the few comprehensive academic surveys of Mesoamerican city and town sizes arrived at

5395-437: The slopes of the plateau, stepping down to a level 40 m below the summit. Their houses were thatched wattle–and-daub houses. Impressive amounts of labor went into building the San Lorenzo terraces. One of these terraces was held in place by a 7-metre (23 ft) high retaining wall. It is unclear if these terraces and houses were ordered to be constructed by rulers, or initiated by a group of commoners. Landscape modifications to

5478-558: The structure's roof, and L-shaped basalt benches are thought to have been used as step coverings. Blocks of bentonite clay and limestone have been found in the debris, and may have been used in the walls. Several structures had walls that were made of thick mud and 40 centimetres (16 in) thick, and lacked post-molds. They were evidently constructed using a rammed earth technique. Other structures employed bentonite masonry fixed with mud mortar. Floors were made of gravel or packed earth, or paved with bentonite blocks. The common folk lived on

5561-451: The structures caused them to sink into the sediment of Lake Texcoco; the ruins now rest at an angle instead of horizontally. Mexico City's Zócalo , the Plaza de la Constitución , is located at the site of Tenochtitlan's original central plaza and market, and many of the original calzadas still correspond to modern city streets. The Aztec calendar stone was located in the ruins. This stone

5644-418: The things that we saw were not a dream? (...) I do not know how to describe it, seeing things as we did that had never been heard of or seen before, not even dreamed about. The city was divided into four zones, or camps ; each camp was divided into 20 districts ( calpullis , Nahuatl languages : calpōlli , pronounced [kaɬˈpoːlːi] , meaning "large house"); and each calpulli , or 'big house',

5727-483: The war of Tenochtitlan against its neighbor Tlatelolco in 1473 and the Spanish conquest in 1521 is the Anales de Mexico y Tlatelolco, 1473, 1521–22 . Anthropologist Susan Kellogg has studied colonial-era inheritance patterns of Nahuas in Mexico City, using Nahuatl - and Spanish-language testaments. On the 13th of August 1521, after over two months of fighting,Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés succeeded in bringing about

5810-587: Was captured by the Tlaxcaltec and the Spanish in 1521 . At its peak, it was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas . It subsequently became a cabecera of the Viceroyalty of New Spain . Today, the ruins of Tenochtitlan are in the historic center of the Mexican capital. The World Heritage Site of Xochimilco contains what remains of the geography (water, boats, floating gardens ) of

5893-468: Was a large Mexican altepetl in what is now the historic center of Mexico City . The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the city. The city was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico . The city was the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the 15th century until it

5976-564: Was crossed by streets or tlaxilcalli . There were three main streets that crossed the city, each leading to one of the three causeways to the mainland of Tepeyac , Iztapalapa , and Tlacopan . Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that they were wide enough for ten horses. Surrounding the raised causeways were artificial floating gardens with canal waterways and gardens of plants, shrubs, and trees. The calpullis were divided by channels used for transportation, with wood bridges that were removed at night. The earliest European images of

6059-451: Was greeted by the ruler and his lords, but forbidden to touch him. Cortés gave him a necklace of crystals, placing it over his neck. They were then brought to a large house that would serve as their home for their stay in the city. Once they were settled, Moctezuma himself sat down and spoke with Cortés. The great ruler declared that anything that they needed would be theirs to have. He was thrilled to have visitors of such stature. Although

6142-450: Was indeed planned to happen. During the festival, the Spaniards came heavily armed and closed off every exit from the courtyard so that no one would escape. This happened during their last days in Tenochtitlan. Nobles lined each side of the city's main causeway, which extended about a league (4.83 km). Walking down the center came Moctezuma II, with two lords at his side, one his brother, the ruler of Iztapalapa . Cortés dismounted and

6225-533: Was nominated for a National Book Award. Coe was the first to date El Baúl Stela 1 correctly (Coe 1957; cf. Parsons 1986:61); this sculpture from the Southern Maya Area (SMA) is one of three known with Cycle 7 Long-count dated monuments, predating all Lowland Long-count dated sculptures. With Kent V. Flannery , he was the first to observe that the greatest southern area site, Kaminaljuyu , probably profited greatly from its proximity to and exploitation of

6308-648: Was perpetually enlarged as Tenochtitlan grew to become the largest and most powerful city in Mesoamerica . Commercial routes were developed that brought goods from places as far as the Gulf of Mexico , the Pacific Ocean and perhaps even the Inca Empire . After a flood of Lake Texcoco , the city was rebuilt during the rule of Ahuitzotl , which was between 1486 and 1502, in a style that made it one of

6391-428: Was preferred. Most of the population liked to bathe twice a day; Moctezuma was said to take four baths a day. According to the context of Aztec culture in literature, the soap that they most likely used was the root of a plant called copalxocotl ( Saponaria americana ), and to clean their clothes they used the root of metl ( Agave americana ). Also, the upper classes and pregnant women washed themselves in

6474-421: Was supposedly the one who ordered the officers executed. Back in Tenochtitlan , Cortés detained Moctezuma and questioned him. Though no serious conclusions were reached, this negatively affected the relationship between Moctezuma and the Spaniards. Cortés subsequently besieged Tenochtitlan for over 90 days, causing a famine. Having gained control, he then directed the systematic destruction and leveling of

6557-403: Was the cuicalli , or house of the songs, and the calmecac . The city had great symmetry. All constructions had to be approved by the calmimilocatl , a functionary in charge of the city planning. The palace of Moctezuma II also had two houses or zoos , one for birds of prey and another for other birds , reptiles , and mammals . About 300 people were dedicated to the care of

6640-486: Was the capital of the Mexican civilization of the Mexica people, founded in 1325. The state religion of the Mexica civilization awaited the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy: the wandering tribes would find the destined site for a great city whose location would be signaled by an eagle with a snake in its beak perched atop a cactus ( Opuntia ), which had grown from the heart of Copil . The Mexica saw this vision on what

6723-515: Was the first to begin excavations on the site after a visit in 1938. Between 1946 and 1970, four archaeological projects were undertaken, including one Yale University study headed by Michael Coe and Richard Diehl conducted between 1966 and 1968, followed by a lull until 1990. Coe's research faced criticism from ecologically minded archaeologists, although his ecological study of San Lorenzo in the second volume of his book silenced his critics. The archaeological work recommenced in 1990, putting emphasis on

6806-407: Was the largest city in Mesoamerica from roughly 1200 BCE until 900 BCE, at which time it had begun to be overtaken by the Olmec center of La Venta . By 800 BCE, there was little or no population, although there was an important recolonization of the San Lorenzo plateau from 600 to 400 BCE and again from circa 800 to 1000 CE. In contrast to La Venta's swamp-like environs, San Lorenzo was situated in

6889-629: Was then a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco , a vision that is now immortalized in Mexico's coat of arms and on the Mexican flag . Not deterred by the unfavourable terrain, they set about building their city, using the chinampa system (misnamed as "floating gardens") for agriculture and to dry and expand the island. A thriving culture developed, and the Mexica civilization came to dominate other tribes around Mexico. The small natural island

#7992