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lies the remains of a city that

continues to perplex archaeologists

and historians. Of all the ancient cities of the

Americas, Teotihaucán is the most

enigmatic. Nobody knows what race of

people built it, what they used it for, or why

it was abandoned. Indeed, the remains are

awe-inspiring, but it is believed that 90 per

cent of the city is still buried under the arid

Mexican soil. And yet, this great city of

culture held 200,000 inhabitants at its peak.

So what happened at Teotihaucán?

When later Aztec races found this amazing

urban development they were so impressed

by its construction that they named it

‘Teotihaucán’, meaning ‘The great city where

men become gods’. The focal point of the

city, which spread over 12 square miles, was

an immense building called the Pyramid of

the Sun. This 216-foot-tall structure had a

temple at its summit which indicated the

city was ruled by native religion. At the base

of the pyramid ran a north-south avenue,

which stretched for almost three miles. The

Aztecs called this the ‘Avenue of the Dead’,

believing the small platforms that lined the

series of connecting courtyards to be tombs.

In fact, they were probably temples – it has

since been discovered that the Teotihaucáns

actually buried the dead in their own houses.

At the northern end of the avenue, nearest

the Sun Pyramid, there was a slightly smaller

construction, named the Pyramid of the

Moon. About a mile south down the avenue

there was a vast open area called the Citadel.

This was also surrounded by temples and

had the important Temple of the Feathered

Serpent in its centre. Intersecting the Avenue

of the Dead at its halfway point was another

avenue. The city was therefore based on a

grid system of four quarters. The houses in

this format were built in complexes of

pyramids, being erected from the first

surface area, and housed around 100,000

people. Within two centuries this number

had doubled.

But who were the inhabitants?

Archaeologists and historians really do not

know for certain. They were much too early

to be Aztecs, and the Toltec race, despite

having a similar sense of architecture and

civil engineering, did not appear until 200

years after the initial building of Teotihuacán.

There is a possibility that the Olmecs, a race

of great builders and craftsmen who had

ancestors. However, there is no proof to

confirm this, and the writings and records

left by the Teotihaucáns, which would

provide us with their own version of their

history, have never been successfully

translated to. Whoever founded the city did

so with intelligent laws and a strict reverence

for religious matters. It has been suggested

that the city was a major destination for

pilgrims and the training centre for priests.

Despite the people enjoying a structured,

dignified and privileged life, the city of

Teotihaucán was largely destroyed by the

population may have been too great for the

local resources although this has been

countered by the knowledge that the rulers

of Teotihaucán were good enough social and

civil engineers to provide for this. It is more

likely that invading barbarians from the

north attacked the city. Indeed, what

historians have garnered from Teotihaucán

murals suggests the roles of soldiers took on

more prominence in the city’s later years.

Teotihaucán itself was not designed to repel

attacks, and recent excavations have

indicated that large, prepared fires were

started in the city during its last days.

Although the origin of the Teotihaucán

race is unknown, the influence it had across

the Mexican region has been proven to be

immense. Some experts consider the

possibility that a mass exodus of

Teotihaucán citizens founded another town

with structure similar to the earlier pyramids

at a site 700 miles away in Kaminaljuyú. But

nothing is known for certain. Even after

nearly a century of intense historical investigation,

the mysterious story of Teotihaucán

is as unknown now as it has been for a

thousand years.