Teotihuacan Essay -- essays papers

TeotihuacanThe ancient world of Mesoamerica entered a long period of alternate that shortly led to the development a mammoth city that would aid as a regional center for to a greater extent than 600 years. Beginning in about 1000 B.C. the majority of the people in the Valley of Mexico relocate to one of two primary sites, that of Cuicuilco in the southwest corner and Teotihuacan in the northeast. By about 300 B.C., Cuicuilco dominated the region, but its heyday would soon diminish. (Sabloff 2000, p 60)For the next two hundred years the dominion would swallow to shift towards the side of Teotihuacan, a city that would undergo rapid evolution never seen before on such a large scale. This was in part due to final demise of Cuicuilco influence from the eruption of Xitli in 50B.C. (Weaver 1981, p 104) This smothered their fields and soon thereafter swallowed the entire site. This was catastrophic because it destroyed their means of survival by wiping out agricultural land, which no t only served as a artificial lake of subsistence but also as an economic base. Eventually the entire city was c everyplaceed over, thus finishing its years of prestige and aiding the development of its major rival. (Sabloff 2000, p 61)This event change Teotihuacan into the central city of the region, and soon masses began to flood in. Within a very short period the population was believed to consist of between 80-90% of the nitty-gritty population of the Valley of Mexico. This fluxuated but by the time of Christ, m each were abject into the area again and soon began the construction of this great city. (Weaver 1981, p 189) The reasons for this in-migration are unknown but surveys have proven that the city was live as the countryside was depopulated. This resettlement policy, whether forced or encouraged, soon provided the landed estate with replete manpower to bring this center into it excellence. This let the state relocate some(prenominal) of the residents onto the most productive agricultural lands to provide a subsistence base for the community. (Sabloff 1981, p 221) The political advantage of this widespread influence if quite apparent. This would permit the state to have direct control over the urban population as well as those it chose to send out to work in dress hat agricultural lands. Also, most important, this control minimized the threats to the state by eliminating any other strong centers that may rise up against it. The... ...interesting finds, but these were in the beginning skeletal remains of fish, dogs, deer, waterfowl, and rabbit. The fish bones suggest that these people were exploiting the lakes to the south, as well as the remains of the fowl and turtles. The excavations also uncovered many an(prenominal) remains within numerous compounds that suggest a commercial relative as well. One of the most significant was that it had a nearby source of obsidian. (Sabloff 1997, p62) This volcanic rock, found only in the highland area s containing volcanoes, was used chiefly to make tools and weapons. This was very valuable at the time and control over the sources would provide great power and source of a valuable disdain item. There are two main kinds of obsidian, gray and green. Of the studies preformed on artifacts with modern techniques like trace analysis, numerous sources have been identified in Guatemala and Mexico. The gray was more common and came from more than 15 identified sources. parking lot obsidian was found to have only one source, Pachuca, Hidalgo, making it much more desirable and proved to be a sign of higher side individuals. (Weaver 1981, p 205)Bibliography(Weaver 1981, p 205)(Sabloff 1997, p62)