Built upon Lake Texcoco, thousands of people flocked to the Great Pyramid. The inauguration of the latest reconstruction by Ahuitzotl occurred in the year 8 Reed (1487). Warrior after warrior captured in the Flower War climbed to the top to be sacrificied to the gods. Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli would be pleased with their followers; blood flowed like a river down the endless staircase. But this was not the final bloodshed - the Spaniards were coming.

Scale model of the Great Pyramid at Tenochtitlan previously located at Templo Mayor museum. Currently on display at the Zocalo Metro Station. [Wikipedia/Wolfgang Sauber CC-SA-3.0]

Aztec ritual human sacrifice portrayed in the page 141
(folio 70r) of the Codex Magliabechiano.
[Wikipedia/Public Domain]

Flower Wars :: name given to the the battles fought between the city-states of the Triple Alliance: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlalcopan, and Huejotzingo. These ritual battles began during the reign of Moctezuma I when a great famine struck the land. Though many interpretations of the Flower Wars exist, the most popular idea is that these wars were a special institutionalized type of warfare used to satisfy the religious needs of the combatants. The warriors captured were honorably sacrificed for the good and welfare of their nation.

Many are familiar with the Aztec empire that flourished from 1325-1519, until the conquest led by Hernan Cortes. Their great capital, Tenochtitlan, was made possible by the cultural unity and political power of their time. But how is a city built on a lake?

Tenochtitlan began as a tiny marsh island in Lake Texcoco and was surrounded by chinampas - an agricultural system created by layering mud and vegetation in shallow parts of lakes. The city was connected to the mainland by three large causeways, which served as dikes - separating the city's freshwater from the surrounding salty waters. Chinampa canals helped convey traffic around the city.

Chinampa model at the Templo Mayor Museum

© Melanie Magdalena

Discovery

It wasn't until the 1900s when the temple was found in ruins. A waterway built tore through the site destroying even more of Mexico's ancient history. Mexico was well aware of the existence of the Great Pyramid; the Catedral Metropolitana (Metropolitan Cathedral) was purposely built on top of the site to enforce Catholicism on the Aztec people. The site visible today was excavated after in 1978.

Waterway constructed under the street Guatemala
in the 1900s © Melanie Magdalena

Understanding the Ruins

Today the Templo Mayor is open to the public. Much of its majesty and mystery remains buried at the heart of the Zocalo.

Taking that first step into the ruins sends you almost a thousand years back in time. Modern elevated paths take you through the site through its many phases of construction. What are these phases?

Templo Mayor cut-out. The ruins today are visible inside.
© Melanie Magdalena

Each ruler of Tenochtitlan was responsible for enlarging or expanding the Great Pyramid. Not only did the expansions reflect the growing population but may have been motivated by the constant floods the city suffered. These stages of construction are visible "thanks to" the conquest when the city was destroyed.

Templo Mayor and Coyolxauhqui monolith :: Stage IVb
Tlatoani, or lord of Tenochtitlan, Axayacatl expanded the main facade of the Great Pyramid at the beginning of his reign (1469-1481). Four serpent head sculptures were added next to the stairway. Today, two serpents can be seen (one included in the photo) with remains of their original coloring.  © Melanie Magdalena

Destruction of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan fell in 1521 and was almost completely destroyed. The Avila brothers, the conquerors, built their homes on top of the ruins. The brothers and Martin Cortes, son of Hernan Cortes, were arrested and sentenced to death in 1566 for conspiring against the Spanish crown.

For Further Viewing

Please visit our Google Plus album to view all of our photos of Templo Mayor taken during the MexiArch Project :: View album>>

MexiArch Project photos by Melanie E Magdalena are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available. Contact editor@bermudaquest.com for commercial permission.

For Further Reading

"Tenochtitlan." Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.

This article is part of the MexiArch Project (2012) by BermudaQuest

The Toltec Civilization was one of three great empires of the Basin of Mexico, after the fall of Teotihuacan and before the rise of the Aztecs. The capital was at Tula (a.k.a. Tollan), in the Valley of Mexico, was home to 40,000 to 60,000 people, Tula controlled most of central Mexico, the Yucatan peninsula, the Gulf coast, and perhaps even Chiapas. Although the Postclassic has become virtually synonymous with Aztec rule, central Mexico was Toltec domain with their influence spread throughout central and eastern Mexico during the Toltec heyday (about AD 900-1200).

The Tula archaeological site, 40 miles north of Mexico City, is best known for its nearly 15-foot-high stone warriors, which once served as columns supporting a pyramid. Structures worth seeing include the Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Pyramid, Coatepantli (Serpent Wall) and the Burnt Palace. There is also a small museum. One of their notable inventions was the tzompantli, a wall adorned with the heads of sacrificial victims, particularly prisoners of war.

Tula, Hidalgo [commons.wikimedia.com]

The Toltec in Mesoamerican have been used in different ways by different scholars to refer to as a population of pre-Columbian central Mexico or to the mythical ancestors mentioned in the mythical/historical narratives of the Aztecs.

It is an ongoing debate whether the Toltecs were an actual ethnic group in Mesoamerican history or if they are only an Aztec myth. Amoung scholars, it is a debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events. The scholars who have maintain that continued analysis of the narratives understood the Toltecs as an actual ethnic group and see the sources as actual history, and connect the Toltec to the archaeological site of Tula, Hidalgo, the supposed Tollan of Aztec myth.

Another controversy relating to the Toltecs are reasons behind similarities in architecture and iconography between the archaeological site of Tula and the Maya site of Chichén Itzá. There is no knowledge of influence between the two sites.

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

Easter Island is a volcanic Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. It is a special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called Moai, created by the early Rapanui people. The name “Easter Island” was given by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, the island's first European visitor, who encountered the island on Easter Sunday, 1722. He named the island “Paasch-Eyland”, which is 18th century Dutch for "Easter Island”. The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means "Easter Island".

The Rapa Nui (or Rapanui) are the native inhabitants of Easter Island and make up 60% of the island's population, with some living also on the mainland, Chile. They mostly speak Spanish (which is the most widely spoken language on Easter Island as well as being the primary language of education and administration). The 2002 census counted 3,304 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast. The Rapa Nui's main source of income comes from tourism, which focuses on the giant Moai sculptures.

The Moai are monolithic human statues carved from rock between the 12^th and 15^th century. Nearly half of them are located in Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater and the main Moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. The tallest Moai erected, called Paro, is almost 33 feet high and weighs 82 tons. The heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter Moai at Ahu Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if were completed, would have been approximately 69 feet tall with a weight of about 270 tons.

The Moai are commonly referred to as "Easter Island heads" even though they are whole-body statues. Most of them are buried up to their shoulders so only their heads are visible. Their disproportionate sized heads (a three-to-five ratio between the head and the body, a sculptural trait that demonstrates a cheifly head) make it appear that most Moai are just heads. Some of them  have been excavated, their bodies uncovered, and examined to reveal that they do have a body and markings that have been protected from erosion by their burial.

Characteristics of Moai statues:

• large, broad, elongated noses
• pronounced chins
• heavy brows
• rectangle-shaped ears
• distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils
• deep eye slits
• less eroded Moai have designs carved on their backs and posteriors.
  [The Moai carved from tuff hardly show carvings since tuff is easily eroded. The best place to see the designs are on the few Moai carved from basalt or ones that are buried.]
• some of the moai were painted
  [Hoa Hakananai'a was decorated with maroon and white paint, now housed in the British Museum in London.]
• Material: 834 carved from tuff, 13 carved from basalt, 22 from trachyte,17 from fragile red scoria

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

Skara Brae home

Of the coast of Scotland in the Orkney Isles are the well-preserved remains of the Neolithic village Skara Brae. The organized housing complexes contain what can only be described as “fitted furniture.” These closely built [nearly identical] homes of the Neolithic farming community have a dresser, central hearth (fireplace), box beds, and a tank that may have been for fishing bait. These homes also had stone doors (a possible symbol for privacy and security). Based on the lack of evidence of weapons, this was a very peaceful and secure community.

From left to right: House 9 (visible hearth), House 8 (stone walls), House 1 (furniture remains) 

Skara Brae is the best preserved Neolithic village in Northern Europe. “In 1850 a violent storm ravaged the Bay of Skaill in the Orkney Isles to the north-east of mainland Scotland, revealing the Neolithic village of Skara Brae buried beneath the sand dunes. It is the best preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe and it offers us a unique window into the lives of the farmers who lived there between 3,200 and 2,500 BC. Skara Brae's remarkable survival through the ages is thanks to the design of the original builders who buried the stone-slab walls up to roof level in clay soil and waste material in order to provide insulation and protection from the elements” (BBC). This type of tightly knit and communal village life is unusual for early farming communities; there seems to have been little room for “non-conformists.”

Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site

Skara Brae is part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, which also includes:

• A large chambered tomb, Maes Howe;
• Two ceremonial stone circles, the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar;
• Together with several unexcavated burial, ceremonial, and settlement sites.

These Orkney monuments are the only records we have of the indigenous cultural tradition, which flourished 500-1,000 years and disappeared around 2,000 BCE. UNESCO states in “The Heart of Neolithic Orkney, “They are testimony to the cultural achievements of the Neolithic peoples of northern Europe, during the period 3000-2000 BC.”

Visiting Skara Brae

Those who wish to visit Skara Brae can tour the original homes as well as a reconstructed version that shows visitors what Neolithic life was like; plus in the Visitor Center, you can explore the site’s history with touchscreen presentations, fact-finding quizzes for children and adults, and see artifacts discovered during the 1970s excavations.

For Further Reading:

• "Heart of Neolithic Orkney." by UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 
• "Skara Brae." on Historvious.
• "Skara Brae Prehistoric Village." by Historic Scotland. Historic Scotland
• Towrie, Sigurd. "Skara Brae - The Discovery and Excavation of Orkney's Finest Neolithic Settlement." on Orkneyjar. 

Image Credits: Wknight94 via Wikimedia Commons (CC)

About the Author

I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]

Jericho
Greatcommission.com

In the Old Testament, we have an account of the Israelites defeating the city of Jericho when they came into the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. According to the biblical account, after the Israelites marched around the city once a day for six days, on the seventh day they encircled the city seven times. On the seventh time around, the priests blew the trumpets, the people shouted and the walls fell flat.

Charles Warren rediscovered these walls in 1868. Jericho, also known as present day Tell es-Sultan, is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 BCE.

During the Natufian phase (10,800-8,500 BCE), sedentary hunter-gatherers lived in large semi-subterranean oval stone structures. By the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A phase (8,500-7,300 BCE) roofed, oval semi-subterranean dwellings appear as a village. During this time, the first tower was built along with a defensive perimeter wall. Inhabitants began engaging in long distance trade and growing domesticated crops. Plastered human skulls appear in rectangular houses with red- and white-painted floors during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B phase (7,300-6,000 BCE). “Plastered skulls are a known trait from PPNB sites, such as Kfar HaHoresh, Beidha, Çatalhöyük and Beisamoun, and similar eerie statuary at 'Ain Ghazal” (Kris Hirst). 

Tell es-Sultan
Wikipedia Commons

By the Early Neolithic (6.000-5,000 BCE), Jericho was mostly abandoned. Throughout the Middle and Late Neolithic (5,000-3,100 BCE), there was very minimal occupation. Extra defensive walls and towers were added during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (3,100-1,800 BCE). In the Late Bronze Age (1,800-1,400 BC), Jericho is destroyed.

“The citizens of Jericho were well prepared for a siege. A copious spring which provided water for ancient, as well as modern, Jericho lay inside the city walls. At the time of the attack, the harvest had just been taken in (Joshua 3:15), so the citizens had an abundant supply of food. This has been borne out by many large jars full of grain found in the Canaanite homes by John Garstang in his excavation in the 1930s and also by Kenyon. With a plentiful food supply and ample water, the inhabitants of Jericho could have held out for perhaps several years.

After the seventh trip around the city on the seventh day, Scripture tells us that the wall ‘fell down flat’ (Joshua 6:20). The Hebrew here carries the suggestion that it “fell beneath itself.”5 Is there evidence for such an event at Jericho? It turns out that there is ample evidence that the mudbrick city wall collapsed and was deposited at the base of the stone retaining wall at the time the city met its end.

After the city walls fell, how did the Israelites surmount the four to five meter (12–15 foot) high retaining wall at the base of the tell? Excavations have shown that the bricks from the collapsed walls formed a ramp against the retaining wall so that the Israelites could merely climb up over the top. The Bible is very precise in its description of how the Israelites entered the city: ‘the people went up into the city, every man straight before him [i.e., straight up and over],’ (Joshua 6:20). The Israelites had to go up, and that is what archaeology has revealed. They had to go from ground level at the base of the tell to the top of the rampart in order to enter the city.” – Bryant Wood

After this, Jericho lost its power as a political center and was ruled by Babylonians, the Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empire, and others up until present day. 

Panorama of Jericho
Wikipedia Commons

About the Author

I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]

Experimental archaeology is used to determine how something was done or made. Experiments are designed to determine the archaeological correlates of ancient behavior. Prehistoric techniques died with their practitioners, so archaeologists rediscover them.

In Tiwanaku, Paul Harmon was puzzled about the Tiwanaku pyramids. How were they made if there was a lack of nearby quarries? The red sandstone quarries were 10 kilometers away; an incredible distance considering that one of the stones alone weighted over 130 tons. Most elaborate carvings and monoliths were made of green andesite stone, and the only source of this stone is on the Copacabana peninsula, across Lake Titicaca.

Verzonken Temple, Tiwanaku, Bolivia
[ufo-contact.com]

Kalasasaya Temple, Tiwanaku, Bolivia
[worldgreatestsites.com]

Harmon believed that these giant andesite stones were transported some 90 kilometers across Lake Titicaca on reed boats, then dragged another 10 kilometers to the city. Using only traditional techniques and locally available materials, Harmon and his team tested his theory by recreating the Tiwanaku building process with a group of leading Aymara experts in totora reed boat building.

Reed boat manufacturing in the region includes gathering and joining bundles of totora reeds and fastening them with rope from dried out prairie grass called ichu. Then the reed bundles are connected to more ichu to make the spine of the boat. Finally rows of bundles are pounded into a crescent shape. The ancient design made a raft that filters water from waves. If made properly the transportation of the stone will be a success across the lake.

Once the stone reached the other side of the lake, the stone was then dragged to Tiwanaku. At arrival to the site local masons carved the stone into a reproduction of one of the statues of the site, the Ponce monolith. The original was taken to the newly constructed museum to be protected from erosion and the replica will be put in its place with the fanfare and celebrations of the indigenous communities.

Read more about the project!

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

Cosquer Cave
Image courtesy culture.gouv.fr

Cosquer Cave is located at Cape Morgiou, in the Calanques (Calanques are limestone cliffs very steep and with very deep waters with steep and dangerous shores), near Marseilles. It can be accessed through a tunnel 175 metres in length, which is 37 metres under the sea level due to the rise of the Mediterranean in Paleolithic times. It was discovered by diver Henri Cosquer in 1985, but its contents were not made public until 1991, when three divers became lost in the cave and tragically died.

In 1991 Cosquer made his fifth attempt to reenter with a new batch of experienced divers from his own club. This time they entered the other lake; from there Cosquer noticed an image of a human hand on the walls and was photographed. Reaching home when the films were developed he could notice two more hands and a feeling that they have bumped upon something marvelous began to haunt them. If Cosquer was not lucky enough to notice the ‘hand’ and the outside world would never have come to know about this prehistoric treasure that existed.

Stencil of a human hand dated 27,000 BCE, 

shown at the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale

(National Museum Archeology)

in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

The most unique feature of this cave is that it contains several dozen works painted and engraved between 27,000 and 19,000 years ago, decorated with a variety of land animals, penguins, cats, and engravings on the walls, but also with seals and auks, fifty-five hand stencils, and numerous digital markings, dozens of geometric symbols, as well as the extraordinary representation of a "slain man".

Caves were the initial homes of men and he could not but give expression to his artistic talents on its walls during resting or idle times may be the usual concept of the images those appear on the walls of caves. But David Lewis Williams states that there is a pattern in the carvings and images on the walls of caves and that would not have done as a time pass. His studies based on ethnography pictures of things happened in the ‘Cro-Magnon arts in the following pattern.

References:

"Cosquer Cave" - Accessed on 25 January 2012

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.