It Placed Near Mexico City, Teotihuacan is the home of the famous Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, Avenue of the Dead, a stone city, and Qetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent.
Eleanor and I were continually surprised by the influence of pre-Hispanic culture in Mexico. Even the advertising at the Cinemex megaplex featured pyramids. Many place names are not in Spanish but in indigenous languages such as Nahuatl. In Mexico, archaeology is limited not by the ability to find good places to dig but by funding. There are ancient ruins under much of Mexico city and in many other places as well, but few are as grand as Teotihuacan.
This picture is of the spectacular view from the top of the Pyramid of the Moon. The large pyramid in the distance on the left is the much larger Pyramid of the Sun.
This whole site was once a thriving marketplace. Originally the main export from this area was obsidian a black volcanic glass that can be chipped into many forms including sharp tools and beautiful sculptures.
Finally, the crown jewel of Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Sun. The pyramids of the sun and moon were dedicated to a pair of gods. Merchants now sell small obsidian figurines of the gods.
The pyramids had been covered with dirt over the years so the restoring team, in a hurry to meet a deadline for a site dedication used explosives to clear the dirt from the stone pyramids. That meant that much of the pyramid had to be rebuilt. The director of the project led the reconstruction from the ground which allowed him, inadvertently, to reproduce an optical illusion that makes the angles appear correct from the ground. Still, the pyramid is extremely tall.
