Pyramid+of+the+Sun

 =The Pyramid of the Sun: A fortress against the natural world = by Daniel Cannon

**__Introduction__**
 At the peak of its power, Teotihuacan was a major hub of Mesoamerican power and influence. This site represents one of the earliest urbanized civilizations in the Valley of Mexico, and through its construction and growth managed to unite the the surrounding independent villages into a single centralized polity. The city, though built in stages, would be carefully laid out and built to specific dimensions and purposes, all with a meaning behind them. The Pyramid of the Sun, a central structure in the ancient city, was the first building of the main ceremonial complex and holds many significant features regarding the Teotihuacano world view and belief system. The Pyramid of the Sun and the greater Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan was constructed not separately, but side by side with the supernatural arm of the Mesoamerican world.

**__Layout and Architecture of Teotihuacan and the Pyramid of the Sun__**
 The main ceremonial complex of Teotihuacan is centered around a long road known as the Avenue of the Dead. On the northern end lies the Pyramid of the Moon, preceded by the Plaza of the Moon. On the southern end lies Ciudadela and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. And along the eastern edge of the middle of the avenue lies the Pyramid of the Sun. The north-south orientation of the Avenue of the Dead suggests a physical representation between the heavens in the Pyramid of the Moon, and the underworld in the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. In this way, Teotihuacan was built as not necessarily just a place of worship for their preferred gods, it became a physical representation of how the Teotihuacanos believed the world to be arranged and the inhabitants hoped to gain some power and supernatural influence by doing so.



The Pyramid of the Sun utilized two architectural advances from the monumental buildings of Cuicuilco in the southern valley. The village of Cuicuilco included some modest stone architecture, and included the baluster and the talud-tablero. The baluster was a miniature pillar used to support handrails on a balcony or stair set. Talud-tablero is an architectural style used on Mesoamerican pyramids in which a flat surface known as the tablero would rest at different intervals up the face of the pyramid, interrupting the angled Talud. These innovations in building construction can be traced back to the city of Cuicuilco and their appearance in Teotihuacan shows a transfer of people or ideas towards the city form the surrounding area.

__Celestially Significant Architecture and Planning of the Pyramid of the Sun__
 The Pyramid of the Sun consists of a simple but significant base plan. It was constructed on a square base in multiple stages, and its dimensions are often directly related to important numbers in their calendar system. The most immediately significant measurement involved in the construction of the Pyramid of the Sun is its proposed height. It's current cap is there only through unreliable reconstruction, but it likely measured 60.6 meters high at its peak. This would measure out into 73 proposed TMU's (Teotihuacan Measurement Units). The number 73 shows up often in Teotihuacano architecture as there are 73 cycles in a 52-year century. The length of one side of the pyramid measures out to 260 TMU's as well, meaning all of the four sides are separate lengths of 260 TMU's. This is significant because there are exactly 260 days in the Tonalpohualli calendar cycle. Measurements of the Pyramid of the Sun directly relate to cosmic numbers of time keeping and show the importance placed on keeping and recreating cosmological order in their own malleable world. 

**__The Cave Beneath the Pyramid of the Sun__**
In 1971, a cave was discovered at the foot of the main stairway of the Pyramid of the Sun. The cave faces west towards the setting sun, as does the temple entrance, from which 103 meters of cave run almost directly under the pyramid and end in a four petaled cloverleaf pattern. Despite being covered up in the late Tlamimilolpa phase (A.D. 200-400) there is evidence for ancient dividers which may have seperated the cave into between 25-30 separate chambers eventually leading to the last four petal chambers. This cave clearly holds some clues into the essence of what Teotihuacan was founded upon and why because the glyph for Teotihuacan is quite literally 2 pyramids and a cave below them. And therefore the cave must be essential to our understanding of the city's priorities.

__Artifacts Found__
The caves themselves included little material culture, but what was found is no less important because of it. Found among poorly crafted vessels were thin basalt discs which seem to be the backs to what would once have been mirrors. The backs of which included reliefs of anthropomorphic figures, men in animal costumes including a bird and a jaguar. Millon, the excavator, believes the artifacts to date to the late Tlamimilolpa phase (A.D. 250-450). What little artifacts found have been crucial in helping determine which uses this cave served and allows us to infer possibilities of significance from the archaeological record.

__Uses for the Cave__
 Whether the cave was used for sacrifice, goddess worship, or the location of a communicator with the gods, one can separate two facts and one inference. The exact position of the cave combined with the importance of caves in Mesoamerican myth suggest that the location of The Pyramid of the Sun was not arbitrary. And the archaeological record of material culture and accounts suggest that the cave was used for religious rituals of some kind. By piecing this evidence together one can infer that the location of The Pyramid of the Sun, and therefore the entire city of Teotihuacan, was placed established in its position because of purely religious reasons and solidifies the city's direct and early relationship to the supernatural.
 * There are multiple hypothesis' debating what the actual use of the pyramid's cave was used for, but all of which defend its supernatural significance and forward the divine influence in the city's planning. The first of which suggests that the cave may have been used as a Yopico, or an area where sacrificial victims may have been flayed or had their skins stored afterwards. This is suggested archaeologically by the close images of Xipe, a flayed god, as early as Teotihuacan II in the area. Another explanation relies on the idea that the Pyramid of the Sun might be in honor of the Mother Goddess. In this instance the cave may have been used as an Ayauhcalli. In this usage, the cave would store the bodies of young virgins sacrificed to the Mother Goddess as in other locations in the region. Although they are still debated, I believe a third option is most supported by the archaeological record at this time. In this explanation the cave would be the location of a divine oracle, not uncommon to the Mesoamerican belief system. In the // Relac'ion Georgra'fica 1580 // , the author refers to an oracle “next to or underneath“ the monumental pyramids of Teotihuacan. Though the language is somewhat vague on the subject, it is defended by the earlier find of mirror backs in the cave as they were commonly used in divination and other acts of divination performed by oracles. **

The discovery of the cave beneath the Pyramid of the sun was a significant breakthrough in the archaeological understanding of the site as a whole. Its position almost directly underneath the pyramid makes it highly possible that the pyramid was purposefully built in that location. In Mesoamerican myth, caves often symbolize a place of birth and creation. And as important as the earth was in their world view, caves were a natural manifestation of an earthen womb. Therefore it isn't surprising that the first monumental building of Teotihuacan, a city based on forging a new relationship with the natural and supernatural world, an idea to be explored further later, would be centered on a symbol of creation and new life. This would send a clear message of legitimacy and divine connection to the inhabitants of the city which we can infer would have been completely purposeful, and further the idea that Teotihuacan's entire layout and existence was based on supernatural relationships.

__Cuicuilco and the Final Piece of the Puzzle__
Several points of concern still regarding the growth and development of a supernaturally planned Teotihuacan. The first of which is how a new city in the Valley of Mexico, which had never before seen a population density as high as Teotihuacan, could rise in population to over 90,000 people. The concern is a simple matter of where these people were coming from and why. The final piece to this puzzle will be that once the people or peoples who influenced the founding of Teotihuacan are known, why did they put so such a supernatural emphasis on their new city's planning and purpose. Both of these solutions can be addressed by looking at the history of the site of Cuicuilco, a southern polity in the Valley of Mexico, and its destruction. Cuicuilco was a modestly sized Mesoamerican city with medium sized stone architecture dating to around 400-200 B.C. As a highly volcanic area, the Valley of Mexico includes many volcanoes. What kept the many cities safe was their odds. Of the volcanoes, many are mono-genetic and erupt only once in their lifetime. And even then this eruption will be a slow lava flow sometimes occurring over the course of several years. Volcanoes were known by the natives to erupt, but rarely did their effects ever come into contact with an inhabited settlement. This would make it even more devastating around 50 B.C. when Mt. Xtile, a mono-genetic volcano in the southern valley erupted. The city was slowly engulfed in lava, destroyed, and abandoned. The high rate of natural disaster in the Mesoamerican environment have been attributed to influencing their world view so centralized on angry gods and the chaotic state of the natural world.

The destruction caused by the eruption by Xtile must have shocked the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico just as the destruction of a middle sized city would cause panic in the present. This disaster may have directly led to the rapid population expansion in Teotihuacan, and its especially supernatural goals when planning and constructing the city.

Evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was founded shortly afterward this disaster and can be seen as a direct result of it. The population of the valley was looking for a way to protect themselves from the danger of the natural world and within Teotihuacan's borders may have been the solution. Through the first main structure's construction it is known that the founders of Teotihuacan approached the outlying communities more as priest-leaders than kings. They sold Teotihuacan as a city which would be based on celestial harmony and a safe haven from the chaos and unpredictable conflict of the natural world. Therefore, by moving to Teotihuacan the surrounding populations would be investing in their own safety and attempting to mold their world in the image which they wanted rather than just accept that which was given to them.

In this way Teotihuacan was a sort of fortress with the Pyramid of the Sun as its center stronghold. Built on top of the birthplace of life, whether taken literally or allegorically, this pyramid was a man-made volcano standing in defiance of volcanoes and other natural dangers that can befall man. All of these protective measures, most of which worked within the confines of the gods and not against them, helped to encourage immigration into the city. It was so appealing in fact that by 1 A.D. it had led to the depopulation of the surrounding villages and the swelling of Teotihuacan's population to over 90,000 people.

__Conclusions__
A defensive ideology may have accompanied the founders in their creation of the city as, displayed by earlier mentioned evidence, finite details and considerations were made to plan out, align, and utilize the space to its full spiritual and defensive potential. They added architectural calculations which they believed would add spiritual significance and allow them to be looked upon favorably by the gods. Their positioning of the Pyramid of the Sun on top of the birthplace of life, whether used for sacrifices, an oracle, or any other spiritual reason, was a way of protecting themselves through appeasement and directing their own lives. And finally, through a direct promise, the founders of the city recruited others from surrounding areas to strengthen their position in the cosmos. The Teotihuacano's had hoped that by acknowledging these spiritual considerations into the construction of the Pyramid of the Sun and greater Teotihuacan they would be more in control of their own destiny and less vulnerable to chance and the will of gods. This is not entirely unfathomable. Man always does what is possible to improve his position in the universe, and in this way the present is no different than the past. All we are able to do is take the precautions known to us to protect us from the natural world. And whether that be in the form of a vaccine or a prayer, a dam or an oracle, essentially they are all just different means to a similar goal.

__Bibliography__
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