City of the gods/ Just 30 miles from Mexico's modern capital lie the

MEXICO CITY - What ghosts walk here, no one knows. Despite all the excavation, and speculation, the grand stone city of Teotihuacan remains a mystery.

The question of who built the now-empty halls, vast plazas and steep temples of one of the Western Hemisphere's most important archaeological sites may forever thwart the best guesses of the world's top archeologists and anthropologists.

"Welcome to my grandfather's house," says Bestours guide Juan Carlos Mejia, who favors the Aztecs, from whom he is descended.

"This is a place of mystery. The truth is, we really don't know who built this city, or why," says Mejia. It may have been the Olmecs, but for lack of a better term, they are sometimes just referred to as Teotihuacanos.

Carbon 14 dating tells us it was built about 200 B.C. and that its builders lived there until 800-850 A.D. By the time the Aztecs arrived and found it, it had been abandoned for 500 years - again, no one knows why.

"We know (when it was first occupied) it was the largest city in the Americas at that time, with 200,000 to 250,000 inhabitants," he says. With more than 2,000 structures, covering as much as 9 to 12 square miles, it also was likely the first urban center in the Americas. It's about 30 miles from modern Mexico City.

It was meticulously planned and purposefully symmetrical, with a broad avenue - called the Avenue of the Dead - running through the center of the city. At one end is a lesser temple and the other is crowned with two temples that can be seen from miles away. There also are lesser buildings, including a palace that surely housed royalty of some kind.

Its temples have been compared to the Egyptian pyramids, Mejia says, though they are flat on top rather than pointed, and they have steps up at least one side, allowing access to that top where, theoretically, ceremonies or sacrifices were performed.

When the Aztecs found it, "they must have been surprised," Mejia says. Also impressed. They named it "City of the Gods." And although they did not live there in great numbers, it became a religious site for them, he adds.

This arid site, dotted with maguey (like overgrown Colorado yucca or Arizona agave), seems stark today. But the San Juan River still runs through here and likely was larger centuries ago, if the remaining signs are true.

It becomes obvious, with the help of an interpreter, that these people were excellent astronomers and mathematicians.

"They had moon and sun calendars, and observed cycles of 52 years, rather than centuries," Mejia says.

They also indulged in human sacrifice.

At the southern end of the complex is the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, named for representations of the mythic creature that resembles a feathered serpent. Here, much of the original temple has been excavated, and another section rebuilt (you can tell the rebuilt section by the stone-dotted mortar). About 80 percent of the visible site is reconstructed; much of the city still lies buried.

Inside the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, archaeologists found 270 human skeletons. They had been bound, their skulls were broken, and shards of obsidian (from knives) were found lodged in their breastbones.

How did these supposedly primitive tribes develop such sophisticated math, astronomy and architectural skills?

"There are many theories," Mejia says. Some think such knowledge was brought by visitors long before the Spaniards stepped ashore.

Some think they may have been Vikings. Others believe they were Asians. But Mejia personally subscribes to the theory that they may have been Phoenicians, masters of sea travel, and who not only possessed such advanced knowledge, but also had seen the pyramids of Egypt.

It must have been glorious in its heyday, Mejia says.

"Once, these fantastic buildings were coated with adobe and painted red and white," Mejia says. The remnants of color have been found. The colors themselves came from natural sources and were sealed with a varnish made from cactus juice.

The Temple of the Sun is the highest building here. Originally, it had 365 steps to the top. During reconstruction, those were made into 244 more manageable steps. It's still a steep climb, at 8,000 feet above sea level, but hundreds of people (even some women in high heels) make it on any given day.

At the top, in the center of the small plaza, is a silver medallion. Here, visitors kneel and cross their hands over the disc to draw energy from the temple.

The original temple had four stepped platforms, but it was erroneously reconstructed into five platforms in the early 20th century. No one knows exactly what was on top, because nothing remains of that structure.

The Temple of the Moon is at the northernmost point of the Avenue of the Dead.

Because of its location, with the broad avenue and enormous plaza spread out at its base, Mejia suspects it was used for large public ceremonies.

Some archaeologists believe that Teotihuacan grew out of a number of smaller hamlets into a major city. Underlying the city is a four- chambered lava tube cave that, in the religion of Mesoamericans, would have been a place for the emergence of gods and ancestors, as well as entrances to the underworld.

It probably had a population of many ethnic groups who likely worshipped a number of deities. Human sacrifice apparently was part of those regions, because several mass grave sites have been found in this valley.

Excavation continues to-day, as archaeologists search for historical and cultural enlightenment, but each find raises as many questions as it provides answers.

One is this: Why did the builders leave this fabulous city?

"Once again, it is a mystery. Some think maybe plague, but where are the bodies? Some think war, but again, no bodies." Others think possibly the now-tame San Juan River may have flooded. That the large population may have depleted the area's natural resources. Or that religious oppression caused the common people to leave, and then the priests had no reason to stay. It did burn sometime between 650 and 800 A.D. - whether accidentally or intentionally.

"Maybe the Aztecs knew the history of this place," Mejia says. "But most of them were killed by the Spaniards."

So the mystery remains. Only the ghosts know the answers.

- Linda DuVal may be reached at 636-0371 or duval@gazette.com Edited by Joanna Bean; Headline by Linda DuVal

Destination: Teotihuacan, Mexico

GETTING THERE: From Mexico City, it's a 30-mile drive. Bestours of Mexico City offers tours with an English-speaking guide for $30. That includes pick up and drop off at your hotel, transportation, the guide and the entrance fee. The trip can take the better part of a day - and is worth it.

ADMISSION: About $3.50.

HIGHLIGHTS: Temple of Quetzalcoatl, Temple of the Moon, Temple of the Sun, Avenue of the Dead, and the Quetzalpapalotl Palace next to the Moon Temple.

PRONUNCIATIONS: They're not as hard as they look. Teotihuacan is Tay-oh-tee-wah-con. Quetzalcoatl is Ket-zal-kwatl.

INFORMATION: Check guidebooks or go online and search for Teotihuacan on the Yahoo search engine. Or call Mexico Tourism at (800) 44- MEXICO.

Copyright 2000
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