Annual Review of Anthropology · 1997 · 228 citations · 40 references
Mexican HistorySacred WarLatin American ArchaeologyColonialismLatin American StudyArtsLatin American HistoryLatin American ReligionAnthropologyCultural HistoryCentral MexicoLanguage StudiesMexico PopulationSpanishCultural AnthropologyMexican Culture
Between 100 BCE and 200 CE, Teotihuacan expanded rapidly, relocating most of the Basin of Mexico’s population, constructing massive civic‑religious structures, and evidencing early war significance. The study finds that while rulers were powerful, the city’s growth stalled, governance became more collective, a war‑and‑fertility state religion served elite interests, a female goddess was less pervasive, political control was limited, commerce remained unclear, yet Teotihuacan’s prestige spread widely through war symbols.
Between 100 BCE and 200 CE, the city of Teotihuacan grew rapidly, most of the Basin of Mexico population was relocated in the city, immense civic-religious structures were built, and symbolic and material evidence shows the early importance of war. Rulers were probably able and powerful. Subsequently the city did not grow, and government may have become more collective, with significant constraints on rulers' powers. A state religion centered on war and fertility deities presumably served elite interests, but civic consciousness may also have been encouraged. A female goddess was important but probably not as pervasive as has been suggested. Political control probably did not extend beyond central Mexico, except perhaps for some outposts, and the scale and significance of commerce are unclear. Teotihuacan's prestige, however, spread widely in Mesoamerica, manifested especially in symbols of sacred war, used for their own ends by local elites.
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Excavations at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala
Α. V. Kidder · American Antiquity · 1945 · 185 citations
Latin American Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, Archaeological Excavation +8
Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan.
Thomas H. Charlton, Janet Catherine Berlo · Man · 1994 · 139 citations