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User:AuthenticAphrodite/Avenue of the Dead, Teotihuacan

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The Avenue of the Dead, also known by the Nahuatl name, Miccaotli, is the central road at Teotihuacan, a pre-Columbian site in central Mexico whose principal construction began in the first century CE. The avenue is 40 meters wide (141 feet) and 2.2 kilometers long (1 mile). The Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, and the Quetzalpapálotl complex are connected to the avenue.

The name Miccaotli was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of Teotihuacan around 550 CE. The Aztecs mistook the palace residences along the street for tombs and named it for the mythical underworld of the Aztecs, also known as Mictlān. Although mortuary bundles similar to the Mixtec tradition are believed to have been placed there, no burials or human remains have been excavated near the avenue.[1] The first reference to "Mic offica," or "Street of the Dead," is originally traced to a map of San Franciso Mazapan dated to 1560.[2][3]

Architecture

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The Avenue of the Dead runs on a north-south axis, beginning at the cleft over the summit of the Moon Pyramid and approximately ending beside the Quetzalpapálotl complex.[4] The Ciudadela and Great Compound sit opposite on the Avenue. The street runs northward directly towards Cerro Gordo, an extinct volcano. Apartment compounds are proportionally aggregated along the Avenue.[4]

The distinctive talud-tablero Teotihuacan architectural style was used in platforms that line the Avenue on the east and west sides. These platforms have stairs on both the north and south sides. Murals decorate buildings that line the Avenue. The Avenue is periodically interrupted by slight changes in elevation.

The timeline of the Avenue of the Dead's construction is a bit unclear. Construction most likely began during the Tzacualli-Early Tlamimilolpa periods (1-250 CE) as the Ciudadela and the Moon Pyramid and Sun Pyramid were also being built and their orientation faces the avenue.[5] [6] An earlier version of the Ciudadela was excavated and dated to the Patlachique period (150-1 BCE), but its orientation was different, suggesting the Avenue wasn't a codified concept at the time.[6] Excavations in the southern part of the avenue, passing through the Tlajinga district, revealed construction involved cutting through tepetate, a hard volcanic tuff common in the area.[7] [6] The road was shaped through the bedrock.

Function

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The Avenue served as a public space, mostly likely used for various activities, such as religious rituals, commerce, government affairs, processions and social events.

Elite Worship

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Some scholars suggest the architecture of the Avenue amplifies the state and its elites. The southern section is lower in elevation, further enhancing the visual prominence of the Moon Pyramid.[1] The inward-sloping style of the talud-tablero imparts a "continuous effect", giving a 'trapped' feeling to visitors.[1] This trapped feeling reminds the residents of their duty to pursue the goals of the state and reinforces the cult of war.[1] Though the Plaza of the Moon Pyramid opens onto the avenue on its southern border, it may not have been accessible for the public on ordinary days. The relative elevation and selective access may have contributed to Teotihuacan’s internal social hierarchy.[8] Monuments incorporate stairways facing the street which may have permitted Teotihucan's elites "to ascend the temples in moments of ritual activation" and veneration.[8] A series of buildings surrounding the avenue between the Río San Juan and the Sun Temple, called the Avenue of the Dead Complex, could have served as an elite administrative center.[8] [5] High status individuals and families lived closer to avenue. The mortuary bundles with stone masks housed along the avenue suggest ancestor worship, following nearby Mixtec tradition.[9]

Cosmological Significance

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The north-south axis of the Avenue reflects the cosmological and astrological ideologies of Teotihuacan. [1] The road represented a passage to the underworld, conceived by the Aztecs as Mictlān in a fashion that may echo pre-Aztec ideas. North was associated with ascending, accentuated by the staircase to the Moon Pyramid.[10] The pyramid is dedicated to the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, goddess of water, fertility, the earth, the underworld and creation. The mortuary bundles add more evidence to the road's potential underworld connection. South was associated with descending, accentuated by Cerro Gordo. The mountain serves as an anchor to the Earth. The road also served as a physical representation of the Milky Way. In Mesoamerica, the Milky Way is conceptualized as a road taken by the dead. [11] The Milky Way was the physical manifestation of Wakah-Chan or the Mesoamerican world tree.[1] The Avenue of the Dead served as axis mundi or the center of the world.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Headrick, Annabeth (2007). The Teotihuacan Trinity: The Sociopolitical Structure of an Ancient Mesoamerican City. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292716650. Cite error: The named reference ":1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ Gamio, Manuel (1979). la población del valle de teotihuacan. instituto nacional de antropología e historia. ISBN 978-9688220061.
  3. ^ Kubler, George (1982). "The Mazapan Maps of Teotihuacan in 1560". Indiana. 7: 43-56.
  4. ^ a b Sugiyama, Saburo (2005). Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership: Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Cambridge University Press. Cite error: The named reference ":2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cowgill, George L. (2016). Ancient Teotihuacan: Early Urbanism in Central Mexico. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521870337. OCLC 965908977. Cite error: The named reference ":4" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Robb, M. H., & Carballo, D. M. (2017). Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire. San Francisco, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco-De Young and University of California Press. Cite error: The named reference ":3" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ "The Southern Street of the Dead". sites.bu.edu/patt/. Tlajinga Teotihuacan Archaeology Project.
  8. ^ a b c Barnes, Trenton. "Teotihuacan (ca. 100 BCE–800 CE)". www.metmuseum.org.
  9. ^ "Teotihuacan Mask". www.artsbma.org.
  10. ^ Headrick, Annabeth (2002) "The Great Goddess at Teotihuacan" in Andrea Stone Heart of Creation: the Mesoamerican World and the Legacy of Linda Schele, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, ISBN 0-8173-1138-6
  11. ^ Freidel, David; Schele, Linda; Parker, Joy; Kerr, Justin; Everton, Macduff; I, Jay (1993). Maya Cosmos : Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path (1st ed.). William Morrow. ISBN 9780688140694.
  12. ^ Cowgill, George (2000). "Intentionality and meaning in the layout of Teotihuacan, Mexico". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 10 (2): 358-365.
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