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myosis 12-02-2019 05:42 PM

they have Wendy's in brazil?

LaBelle 12-02-2019 06:09 PM

Yes, in São Paulo. There's also Starbucks, Taco Bell and KFC there.
At a convenient one and a half hours flight away.

smashingjj 12-02-2019 06:36 PM

there's a Halal Fried Chicken in my part of town

FoolofaTook 12-02-2019 06:43 PM


redbreegull 12-02-2019 06:53 PM

surely you've heard of the Celebrated Scandinavian Sikhs, though?

FoolofaTook 12-02-2019 06:54 PM

i dont know what you are talking about. what does that have to do with a grumpy cat meme??

topleybird 12-02-2019 06:59 PM

There's a Brazilian Wendy's, Los de Wendy, a few blocks away from me

I don't know how to order anything there

Shallowed 12-02-2019 07:06 PM

more on that taco bowel

a friend that lives nearby told me that there is almost always an hour-long queue there, with as few as three people working there.

FoolofaTook 12-02-2019 07:08 PM


Mals Marola 12-02-2019 08:07 PM

i bet you think you just "rocked" the bell

fool!

buzzard 12-02-2019 11:17 PM

It is super lame when us foreigners visit the States and flood social media with snaps from Taco Bell as if it weren't the most mundane of activities that particular holiday destination can offer outside of paying off your privatised oxygen bills or whatever.

yo soy el mejor 12-03-2019 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mals Marola (Post 4523022)
but i've got a stomach of steel

or whatever it is that keeps me from relating to people talking about their "fiery assholes" or what have you

you no know how to read. i said the 7 layer burrito was 1 layer of hershey squirts diarrhea due to its texture.

my stomach and asshole were okay, though.

Mals Marola 12-03-2019 10:43 AM

i wasn't talking about you, damnit! i was talking about all the folk who have told me (for reasons unknown, now that i think about it) about the state of their "hineys" post-eating

FoolofaTook 12-03-2019 10:54 AM

ooh oh the hineys buuurrrnn they buuuurrrrrrnnnn!!!!

FlamingGlobes 12-04-2019 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elphenor (Post 4523033)
hm

Ram turned into fuzzy so quickly, we didn't even notice.

Elphenor 12-04-2019 05:34 PM

the fix is in boys

FlamingGlobes 12-04-2019 05:55 PM

Careful, Ram will ban you.

FlamingGlobes 12-04-2019 05:55 PM

The continuation of the "Ram is a mod" meme is one of my proudest achievements in life.

Mals Marola 12-04-2019 06:00 PM

what is a "meme"

you better curtail that way of thinking quick before "Flaming Globes" is no more

Mals Marola 12-04-2019 06:00 PM

the ram hammer... the rammer is unforgiving

FoolofaTook 12-04-2019 07:14 PM

lol he things the ram mod meme is still a thing



we moved on to Patj259 for admin like a decade ago, fool

FlamingGlobes 12-04-2019 07:39 PM

I'll pat your j any time, any place.

FoolofaTook 12-04-2019 08:06 PM


Shallowed 12-04-2019 09:24 PM

One of my friends that lives near that Taco Bowel told me that there are almost always hour-long queues there, and as few as three people working there at a time.

LaBelle 12-05-2019 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoolofaTook (Post 4523385)

Somehow less creepy than the Cats movie cats.

yo soy el mejor 12-05-2019 09:43 AM

yesterday we took a trip to Teotihuacan and saw the pyramid of the sun and the moon. we climbed both but it actually wasn't so bad except coming down was scary because it made me a little dizzy.


pyramid of the moon taken from the pyramid of the sun*


pyramid of the sun*

*we didn't take these photos

yo soy el mejor 12-05-2019 09:46 AM

¡Viva México!

then we got to drink pulque and mezcal and other locally made spirits

FoolofaTook 12-05-2019 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaBelle (Post 4523421)
Somehow less creepy than the Cats movie cats.

Theology. The Song of Songs is a return to Eden. It presents an inspired reflection and elucidation of the divine ideal for human sexual love within the context of courtship and marriage. This theology of sexuality may be summarized under ten subheadings.
1. Creation Order. Underlying the entire Song is the same high doctrine of creation which is found in Genesis 1–2. Sexuality is assumed to be a creation ordinance, given by God for humans to enjoy (see comments on Song 8:6). At the same time, sexuality and divinity are radically separated; sexuality belongs to the creation order, not the divine realm.
2. Heterosexual Marital Form. In the Song of Songs, consistent with the divine pattern in Genesis 2:18–23, we find a heterosexual love relationship described in the context of courtship and marriage.
3. Monogamy. In harmony with the monogamy set forth as the divine pattern for marriage in Genesis 2:23, the marriage relationship depicted in the Song is a monogamous one (see, e.g., 1:7; 2:2, 3, 16; 5:1, 10; 6:3; 7:10; 8:6–7). The historical record also implies a monogamous marital relationship between Solomon and the wife of his youth (1 Kin. 3:1; 7:8; 9:16). According to this historical record, Solomon was married early in his reign to Pharaoh’s daughter, and some twenty years later he brought her to the palace he had built for her in Jerusalem. No other wives or palaces for them are mentioned during this time period. This seems to imply that Pharaoh’s daughter (who became a faithful follower of the true God, Song 8:6; cf. PK 53) was Solomon’s sole wife during the time when he composed this Song in the early years of his reign. The biblical record indicates that Solomon remained faithful to God during this twenty-year period (1 Kin. 9:1–5; cf. 3:3–15). Ellen White writes that “for many years he [Solomon] walked uprightly, his life marked with strict obedience to God’s commands” (PK 27).
Some have pointed to the record that Solomon reigned for forty years and that his son Rehoboam took over the throne at the age of forty-one (1 Kin. 11:42–43; 14:21), implying that Rehoboam was born the year before Solomon became king. From such data it is inferred that Solomon had other wives before the Shulamite and was therefore polygamous at the time when the Song was written. But the LXX records in 1 Kings 12:24a (in an extended section not found in the MT) that Rehoboam was sixteen years of age when he began to reign (not forty-one), and that he reigned twelve years. The LXX may well preserve the correct chronological data, since this data makes more sense of the statement in 1 Kings 12:8 that Rehoboam “consulted the young men who had grown up with him.” The Hebrew term used for the “young men” means “boy,” “(male) child,” “youth.” If those who grew up with him were called “boys/youths,” then Rehoboam himself was a “boy/youth” when he became king, and this would not easily apply to a forty-one-year-old. But if Rehoboam was only sixteen when he ascended to Solomon’s throne, there is ample chronological space for the twenty-plus years of Solomon’s monogamous marriage to the Shulamite before he married Rehoboam’s mother, and she gave birth to Rehoboam. As an alternate interpretation, one may note that according to 1 Kings 14:21 Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, an Ammonitess. It is possible that Naamah had already given birth to Rehoboam by an Ammonite father before her political marriage to Solomon, and Solomon simply adopted Rehoboam as his own (eldest) son (a practice hinted at from about this very time in Ps. 2:7). David’s bloodline in this case was to be passed on through Rehoboam’s wife Maachah (the granddaughter of Absalom, David’s son), who gave birth to Rehoboam’s successor, Abijam (1 Kin. 15:1, 2; 2 Chr. 11:21).
Although later in life (after he composed the Song of Songs) Solomon fell into polygamy (1 Kin. 11:1–8), the later dark history of Solomon must not detract from the reality depicted in the narrative frame of the Sublime Song. The Song has a happy, monogamous literary ending.
4. Equality within the Love Relationship. In parallel with Genesis 1–2, the lovers in the Song are presented as full equals in every way. The keynote of egalitarianism in mutual love is struck in Song of Songs 2:16: “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” The Song of Songs begins and closes with the woman speaking; she carries the majority of the dialogue; she initiates most of the meetings and is just as active in the love-making as the husband; she is just as eloquent about the beauty of her lover as he is about her; she is gainfully employed as is he. In short, throughout the Song the woman is fully the equal of the man.
5. Wholeness. The concept of wholeness in sexuality is highlighted in the Song of Songs by one of its key themes—the presence and/or absence of the lovers with/from each other (3:1–5; 5:2–8). Wholeness in the Song includes the holistic view of the human person as a sexual being. Sexuality in the Song is not just the sex act; it involves the whole inseparable human being: physical, sensual, emotional, and spiritual. Physical attraction includes the whole body—not just the sexual organs (5:10–16; 7:1–9)—and the expressions of praise often refer to inner (character) qualities of the one praised and not just physical beauty.
6. Exclusivity. As in Genesis 2:24 man is to “leave”—be free from all outside interferences in the sexual relationship—so in the Song of Songs the lovers are unfettered by parental pre-arrangements, and in love for love’s sake alone. The exclusivity of the couple’s relationship is apparent from numerous references in the Song (e.g., 2:2, 16; 6:3, 9; 7:10).
7. Permanence. As in the Genesis model (Gen. 2:24), man and woman are to “cleave” to each other in a marriage covenant, so the Song of Songs climaxes in the wedding procession, ceremony, and wedding night (3:6–5:1; see literary structure below). As in Genesis 2:24, there is revealed in the Song the fidelity, loyalty, and devotion of the partners, the steadfastness and permanence of their love (see esp. 2:16; 6:3; 8:6–7).
8. Intimacy. The Song of Songs as a whole may be considered as nothing less than “an ode to intimacy.” As in Genesis 2:24, where the “one-flesh” union follows the “cleaving,” so in the Song of Songs sexual intercourse occurs only within the context of the marriage covenant. At the time of the wedding the Shulamite is a garden “locked” or “enclosed” (4:12), which refers to her virginity. The lyrics of Solomon in the Song also seem to indicate his virginity at the time of the wedding (2:2; 6:9; 8:5). The Song moves sequentially through the entire historical scope of the relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite. There is a consistent pattern of maturing intimacy, appropriate to each stage of their relationship.
9. Sexuality and Procreation. The Song contains no reference to the procreative function of sexuality. As in the Creation account of Genesis 2, the sexual experience within marriage is not linked with the utilitarian intent to propagate children. Love-making for the sake of love, not procreation, is the message of the Song. In the Song sexual union is given value on its own, without need to justify it as a means to some superior (procreative) end.
10. The Wholesome Beauty and Joy of Sexuality. In the Song of Songs, as in Genesis 1–2, sexuality (along with the rest of God’s creation) is portrayed as “very good [beautiful],” to be celebrated and enjoyed without fear or embarrassment (cf. Gen 2:25). A plenitude of intertwining themes and motifs in the Song highlight this wholesome beauty and goodness of paradisal sexual love. Paradisal love is presented as: (1) stunningly beautiful (e.g., 1:15, 16); (2) wonderfully sensuous (e.g., 4:16; 5:1); an exuberant celebration (e.g., 3:6–11); (3) a thrilling adventure (e.g., 1:4; 2:8, 10); (4) an exquisite delight (e.g., 2:3–4); (5) marked by strong sexual desire (e.g., 5:1–6); (6) unashamed and uninhibited (e.g., 7:2, 8–9, 11–13; 8:2); (7) yet also restrained and in good taste (e.g., 2:7; 3:5; 5:8; 8:4)(8) light-hearted play (e.g., 1:7–8; 7:9); (9) romantic love (e.g., 7:10–13; 8:5–7); (10) powerfully passionate (e.g., 6:12; 7:4); and (11) an awe-inspiring mystery: (e.g., 6:4, 10).
A whole book of the Bible is devoted to celebrating the wholesome beauty and enjoyment of human sexual love. The Song of Songs in its literal sense is not merely a “secular” love song, but already fraught with deep theological significance. God reveals His love for humanity in the enjoyment and pleasure which He designed lovers to find in each other in the marriage context.
The echo of God’s names resonates in the dominant recurring refrain of the Song (see comment on 2:7), and the actual voice of God resounds from the Song’s central literary summit (see comment on 5:1). But when one moves to the Song’s thematic climax and conclusion, the great paean to love (8:6), the actual name of Yahweh makes its single explicit appearance in the book, and His flaming presence encapsulates the entire theological message of the Song: “Its [Love’s] flames are flames of fire” —the very flame of Yahweh (see note below on 8:6 regarding this translation).
Since human love is described as a gift from God, a Flame of Yahweh, the love displayed between Solomon and the Shulamite not only depicts wholesome human sexuality, but points beyond to the love of Yahweh Himself. The various characteristics and qualities of holy human love that have emerged from the Song—selfless mutuality and reciprocity, joy-of-presence, pain-of-absence, exclusivity (yet inclusiveness), intimate oneness, disinterested and enduring covenant loyalty, wholesomeness, beauty, goodness, etc.—all reflect the divine love within the very nature of God’s being. Furthermore, the Song is not only a love song about human lovers, but ultimately points (typologically) to the love relationship between God and His people. Far different from the allegorical approach, which regards the literal, historical meaning as the husk to be discarded in favor of a fanciful interpretation alien to the text, the typological approach upholds the literal sense by acknowledging what the Song already indicates—that human love typifies the divine.

In the Song of Songs, we have come to the supreme OT statement on the theology of human sexual love and the divine-human love relationship, even (as Rabbi Akiba put it), to “the Holy of Holies”!

FoolofaTook 12-05-2019 09:59 AM




yo soy el mejor 12-05-2019 10:05 AM

Teotihuacan /teɪˌoʊtiːwəˈkɑːn/[1] (Spanish: Teotihuacán) (Spanish pronunciation: [teotiwa'kan] (About this soundlisten), About this soundmodern Nahuatl pronunciation (help·info)) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the first millennium CE, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more,[2][3] making it at least the sixth-largest city in the world during its epoch.[4] After the collapse of Teotihuacan, central Mexico was dominated by the Toltecs of Tula until about 1150 CE.

The city covered 8 square miles; 80 to 90 percent of the total population of the valley resided in Teotihuacan. Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead, and its vibrant murals that have been well-preserved. Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that are found throughout Mesoamerica. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BCE, with major monuments continuously under construction until about 250 CE.[2] The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries CE, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 CE.

Teotihuacan began as a religious center in the Mexican Highlands around the first century CE. It became the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas. Teotihuacan was home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate the large population.[2] The term Teotihuacan (or Teotihuacano) is also used for the whole civilization and cultural complex associated with the site.

Although it is a subject of debate whether Teotihuacan was the center of a state empire, its influence throughout Mesoamerica is well documented; evidence of Teotihuacano presence can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region. The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, modifying and adopting aspects of their culture. The ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is the subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua, Otomi or Totonac ethnic groups. Scholars have suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state.

The city and the archaeological site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Mexico City. The site covers a total surface area of 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.[5] It is the most visited archaeological site in Mexico, receiving 4,185,017 visitors in 2017.[6]
Contents

1 Name
2 History
2.1 Origins and foundation
2.2 Year 378: Conquest of Tikal
2.3 Year 426: Conquest of Copán and Quiriguá
2.4 Zenith
2.5 Collapse
3 Culture
3.1 Religion
3.2 Population
3.3 Writing and Literature
4 Archaeological site
4.1 Excavations and investigations
4.1.1 Recent discoveries
4.2 Site layout
5 Threat from development
6 Gallery
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

Name

The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 CE. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods", or "place where gods were born",[7] reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as "place of those who have the road of the gods."[8] This is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. The name is pronounced [te.oːtiːˈwakaːn] in Nahuatl, with the accent on the syllable wa. By normal Nahuatl orthographic conventions, a written accent would not appear in that position. Both this pronunciation and Spanish pronunciation: [te.otiwaˈkan] are used, and both spellings appear in this article.

The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in hieroglyphic texts from the Maya region as puh, or "Place of Reeds".[9] This suggests that, in the Maya civilization of the Classic period, Teotihuacan was understood as a Place of Reeds similar to other Postclassic Central Mexican settlements that took the name of Tollan, such as Tula-Hidalgo and Cholula.

This naming convention led to much confusion in the early 20th century, as scholars debated whether Teotihuacan or Tula-Hidalgo was the Tollan described by 16th-century chronicles. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement. In the Mesoamerican concept of urbanism, Tollan and other language equivalents serve as a metaphor, linking the bundles of reeds and rushes that formed part of the lacustrine environment of the Valley of Mexico and the large gathering of people in a city.[10]
History
Origins and foundation
Teotihuacan and other important Classic Era settlements

The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BCE, people of the central and southeastern area of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements.[11] Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch.[11] The city was already in ruins by the time of the Aztecs. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec. This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the Florentine Codex, which attributed the site to the Toltecs. However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" generally means "craftsman of the highest level" and may not always refer to the Toltec civilization centered at Tula, Hidalgo. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.

In the Late Formative era, a number of urban centers arose in central Mexico. The most prominent of these appears to have been Cuicuilco, on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the Xitle volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley. These settlers may have founded or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan.[12]

Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan. There is evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacan immigrated from those areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Maya peoples. The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, called chinampas, creating high agricultural productivity despite old methods of cultivation.[11] This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic, to transport food from farms around the city. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BCE. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 CE.[13]
Year 378: Conquest of Tikal

In January 378, while Spearthrower Owl supposedly ruled in Teotihuacan, the warlord Siyah K'ak' conquered Tikal, removing and replacing the Maya king, with support from El Peru and Naachtun, as recorded by Stela 31 at Tikal and other monuments in the Maya region.[14]

In 378 a group of Teotihuacanos organized a coup d'etat in Tikal, Guatemala. This was not the Teotihuacan state; it was a group of the Feathered-Serpent people, thrown out from the city. The Feathered-Serpent Pyramid was burnt, all the sculptures were torn from the temple, and another platform was built to efface the facade ...[15]

Year 426: Conquest of Copán and Quiriguá

In 426, the Copán ruling dynasty was created with K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' as the first king. The Dynasty went on to have sixteen rulers.[16] Copán is located in modern-day Honduras, as described by Copán Altar Q.[17] Soon thereafter, Yax K'uk' Mo' installed Tok Casper as king of Quiriguá, about 50 km north of Copán.
Zenith

The city reached its peak in 450 CE, when it was the center of a powerful culture whose influence extended through much of the Mesoamerican region. At its peak, the city covered over 30 km² (over ​11 1⁄2 square miles), and perhaps housed a population of 150,000 people, with one estimate reaching as high as 250,000.[18] Various districts in the city housed people from across the Teotihuacano region of influence, which spread south as far as Guatemala. Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures.
View of the Pyramid of the Moon from the Pyramid of the Sun

The nature of political and cultural interactions between Teotihuacan and the centers of the Maya region (as well as elsewhere in Mesoamerica) has been a long-standing and significant area for debate. Substantial exchange and interaction occurred over the centuries from the Terminal Preclassic to the Mid-Classic period. "Teotihuacan-inspired ideologies" and motifs persisted at Maya centers into the Late Classic, long after Teotihuacan itself had declined.[19] However, scholars debate the extent and degree of Teotihuacano influence. Some believe that it had direct and militaristic dominance; others that adoption of "foreign" traits was part of a selective, conscious, and bi-directional cultural diffusion. New discoveries have suggested that Teotihuacan was not much different in its interactions with other centers from the later empires, such as the Toltec and Aztec.[20][21] It is believed that Teotihuacan had a major influence on the Preclassic and Classic Maya, most likely by conquering several Maya centers and regions, including Tikal and the region of Peten, and influencing Maya culture.
Platform along the Avenue of the Dead showing the talud-tablero architectural style
Restored portion of Teotihucan architecture showing the typical Mesoamerican use of red paint complemented on gold and jade decoration upon marble and granite.

Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are found widely dispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researchers have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan's far-reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance.[22] A style particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero, in which an inwards-sloping external side of a structure (talud) is surmounted by a rectangular panel (tablero). Variants of the generic style are found in a number of Maya region sites, including Tikal, Kaminaljuyu, Copan, Becan, and Oxkintok, and particularly in the Petén Basin and the central Guatemalan highlands.[23] The talud-tablero style pre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic period; it appears to have originated in the Tlaxcala-Puebla region during the Preclassic.[24] Analyses have traced the development into local variants of the talud-tablero style at sites such as Tikal, where its use precedes the 5th-century appearance of iconographic motifs shared with Teotihuacan. The talud-tablero style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Preclassic period, and not specifically, or solely, via Teotihuacano influence. It is unclear how or from where the style spread into the Maya region. During the zenith main structures of the site, including the pyramids, were painted in dark-red (maroon to Burgundy) colors (only small spots remain now) and were a very impressionable view.[25]

The city was a center of industry, home to many potters, jewelers, and craftsmen. Teotihuacan is known for producing a great number of obsidian artifacts. No ancient Teotihuacano non-ideographic texts are known to exist (or known to have existed). Inscriptions from Maya cities show that Teotihuacan nobility traveled to, and perhaps conquered, local rulers as far away as Honduras. Maya inscriptions note an individual nicknamed by scholars as "Spearthrower Owl", apparently ruler of Teotihuacan, who reigned for over 60 years and installed his relatives as rulers of Tikal and Uaxactun in Guatemala.[citation needed]

Scholars have based interpretations about the culture at Teotihuacan on archaeology, the murals that adorn the site (and others, like the Wagner Murals, found in private collections), and hieroglyphic inscriptions made by the Maya describing their encounters with Teotihuacano conquerors. The creation of murals, perhaps tens of thousands of murals, reached its height between 450 and 650. The artistry of the painters was unrivaled in Mesoamerica and has been compared with that of painters in Renaissance Florence, Italy.[26]
Collapse
Teotihuacán-style mask, Classical period. Walters Art Museum.

Scholars had thought that invaders attacked the city in the 7th or 8th century, sacking and burning it. More recent evidence, however, seems to indicate that the burning was limited to the structures and dwellings associated primarily with the ruling class.[27] Some think this suggests that the burning was from an internal uprising. They say the invasion theory is flawed, because early archaeological work on the city was focused exclusively on the palaces and temples, places used by the upper classes. Because all of these sites showed burning, archaeologists concluded that the whole city was burned. Instead, it is now known that the destruction was centered on major civic structures along the Avenue of the Dead. The sculptures inside palatial structures, such as Xalla, were shattered.[28] No traces of foreign invasion are visible at the site.[27]

Evidence for population decline beginning around the 6th century lends some support to the internal unrest hypothesis. The decline of Teotihuacan has been correlated to lengthy droughts related to the climate changes of 535–536. This theory of ecological decline is supported by archaeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during the 6th century, which is why there is different evidence that helps indicate that famine is most likely one of the more possible reasons for the decline of Teotihuacan. The majority of their food came from agriculture: They grew things such as maize, beans, amaranth, green tomatoes (tomatillos?), and pumpkins, but their harvest was not nearly sufficient to feed a population as big as it is believed have lived in Teotihuacan.[29] This finding does not conflict with either of the above theories, since both increased warfare and internal unrest can also be effects of a general period of drought and famine.[30] Other nearby centers, such as Cholula, Xochicalco, and Cacaxtla, competed to fill the power void left by Teotihuacan's decline. They may have aligned themselves against Teotihuacan to reduce its influence and power. The art and architecture at these sites emulate Teotihuacan forms, but also demonstrate an eclectic mix of motifs and iconography from other parts of Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya region.[citation needed]

The sudden destruction of Teotihuacan was common for Mesoamerican city-states of the Classic and Epi-Classic period. Many Maya states suffered similar fates in the coming centuries, a series of events often referred to as the Classic Maya collapse. Nearby, in the Morelos valley, Xochicalco was sacked and burned in 900 and Tula met a similar fate around 1150.[31]

There is a theory[32] that the collapse of Teotihuacan was caused by its agriculture being devastated by the 535 CE eruption of the Ilopango volcano in El Salvador.
Culture
Incensario Lid, Teotihuacan style, 400–700 CE, Brooklyn Museum

Archaeological evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct quarters occupied by Otomi, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya, and Nahua peoples.[citation needed] The Totonacs have always maintained that they were the ones who built it.[citation needed] The Aztecs repeated that story, but it has not been corroborated by archaeological findings.[citation needed]

In 2001, Terrence Kaufman presented linguistic evidence suggesting that an important ethnic group in Teotihuacan was of Totonacan or Mixe–Zoquean linguistic affiliation.[33] He uses this to explain general influences from Totonacan and Mixe–Zoquean languages in many other Mesoamerican languages, whose people did not have any known history of contact with either of the above-mentioned groups. Other scholars maintain that the largest population group must have been of Otomi ethnicity, because the Otomi language is known to have been spoken in the area around Teotihuacan both before and after the Classic period and not during the middle period.[34]
Religion

In An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Miller and Taube list eight deities:[35]

The Storm God[36]
The Great Goddess
The Feathered Serpent.[37] An important deity in Teotihuacan; most closely associated with the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (Temple of the Feathered Serpent).
The Old God
The War Serpent. Taube has differentiated two different serpent deities whose depictions alternate on the Feathered Serpent Pyramid: the Feathered Serpent and what he calls the "War Serpent". Other researchers are more skeptical.[38]
The Netted Jaguar
The Pulque God
The Fat God. Known primarily from figurines and so assumed to be related to household rituals.[39]

Esther Pasztory adds one more:[40]

The Flayed God. Known primarily from figurines and so assumed to be related to household rituals.[39]

A mural showing what has been identified as the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan

The consensus among scholars is that the primary deity of Teotihuacan was the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan.[41] The dominant civic architecture is the pyramid. Politics were based on the state religion; religious leaders were the political leaders.[42] Religious leaders would commission artists to create religious artworks for ceremonies and rituals. The artwork likely commissioned would have been a mural or a censer depicting gods like the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan or the Feathered Serpent. Censers would be lit during religious rituals to invoke the gods including rituals with human sacrifice.[43]

Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice: human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of a dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper.[44] Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and military were also buried alive, imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.[45]

Numerous stone masks have been found at Teotihuacan, and have been generally believed to have been used during a funerary context,[46] although some scholars call this into question, noting that masks "do not seem to have come from burials".[47]
Population

Teotihuacan was a mix of residential and work areas. Upper-class homes were usually compounds that housed many such families, and one compound was found that was capable of housing between sixty and eighty families. Such superior residences were typically made of plaster, each wall in every section elaborately decorated with murals. These compounds or apartment complexes were typically found within the city center. The vast lakes of the Basin of Mexico provided the opportunity for people living around them to construct productive raised beds, or chinampas, from swampy muck, construction that also produced channels between the beds.[citation needed]

Different sections of the city housed particular ethnic groups and immigrants. Typically, multiple languages were spoken in these sections of the city.[citation needed]
Writing and Literature

Recently there was a big find in the La Ventilla district that contains over 30 signs and clusters on the floor of the patio [48]. Much of the findings in Teotihuacan suggest that the inhabitants had their own writing style. The figures were made "quickly and show control" giving the idea that they were practiced and were adequate for the needs of their society [49]. Other societies around Teotihuacan adopted some of the symbols that were used there. The inhabitants there rarely used any other societies symbols and art. [50]. These writing systems weren't anything like their neighbors but the same writings show that they must have been aware of the other writings. [51].


Archaeological site

Knowledge of the huge ruins of Teotihuacan was never completely lost. After the fall of the city, various squatters lived on the site. During Aztec times, the city was a place of pilgrimage and identified with the myth of Tollan, the place where the sun was created. Today, Teotihuacan is one of the most noted archaeological attractions in Mexico.[citation needed]
Excavations and investigations
Pyramid of the Sun and the Teotihuacán Diorama at the Teotihuacán Museum.

In the late 17th century Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645–1700) made some excavations around the Pyramid of the Sun.[52] Minor archaeological excavations were conducted in the 19th century. In 1905 Mexican archaeologist and government official, in the regime of Porfirio Díaz, Leopoldo Batres[53] led a major project of excavation and restoration. The Pyramid of the Sun was restored to celebrate the centennial of the Mexican War of Independence in 1910. The site of Teotihuacan was the first to be expropriated for the national patrimony under the Law of Monuments (1897), giving jurisdiction under legislation for the Mexican state to take control. Some 250 plots were farmed on the site. Peasants who had been farming portions were ordered to leave and the Mexican government eventually paid some compensation to those individuals.[54] A feeder train line was built to the site in 1908, which allowed the efficient hauling of material from the excavations and later to bring tourists to the site.[55] In 1910, the International Congress of Americanists met in Mexico, coinciding with the centennial celebrations, and the distinguished delegates, such as its president Eduard Seler and vice president Franz Boas were taken to the newly finished excavations.[56]

Further excavations at the Ciudadela were carried out in the 1920s, supervised by Manuel Gamio. Other sections of the site were excavated in the 1940s and 1950s. The first site-wide project of restoration and excavation was carried out by INAH from 1960 to 1965, supervised by Jorge Acosta. This undertaking had the goals of clearing the Avenue of the Dead, consolidating the structures facing it, and excavating the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl.[citation needed]

Sigvald Linné 1932 investigations, Statens museer för världskultur
Dr o fru Linné tvättar krukskärvor - SMVK - 0307.a.0053.tif
Från utgrävningarna vid Xolalpan - SMVK - 0307.a.0185.tif
Från utgrävningarna vid Thomas Palmas hus - SMVK - 0307.a.0038.tif
Från utgrävningarna vid Xolalpan - SMVK - 0307.a.0149.tif

During the installation of a "sound and light" show in 1971, workers discovered the entrance to a tunnel and cave system underneath the Pyramid of the Sun.[57] Although scholars long thought this to be a natural cave, more recent examinations have established the tunnel was entirely manmade.[58] The interior of the Pyramid of the Sun has never been fully excavated.

In 1980-82, another major program of excavation and restoration was carried out at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and the Avenue of the Dead complex. Most recently, a series of excavations at the Pyramid of the Moon have greatly expanded evidence of cultural practices.[citation needed]
Recent discoveries

In late 2003 a tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent was accidentally discovered by Sergio Gómez Chávez and Julie Gazzola, archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). After days of heavy rainstorm Gómez Chávez noticed that a nearly three-foot-wide sinkhole occurred near the foot of the temple pyramid.[59][60][61][62]

First trying to examine the hole with a flashlight from above Gómez could see only darkness, so tied with a line of heavy rope around his waist he was lowered by several colleagues, and descending into the murk he realized it was a perfectly cylindrical shaft. At the bottom he came to rest in apparently ancient construction – a man-made tunnel, blocked in both directions by immense stones. Gómez was aware that archaeologists had previously discovered a narrow tunnel underneath the Pyramid of the Sun, and supposed he was now observing a kind of similar mirror tunnel, leading to a subterranean chamber beneath Temple of the Feathered Serpent. He decided initially to elaborate clear hypothesis and to obtain approval. Meanwhile, he erected a tent over the sinkhole to preserve it from the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Teotihuacán. Researchers reported that the tunnel was believed to have been sealed in 200 CE.[60][61][63][64]

Preliminary planning of the exploration and fundraising took more than six years.[59]

Before the start of excavations, beginning in the early months of 2004, Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, from UNAM Institute of Geophysics, determined with the help of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and a team of some 20 archaeologists and workers the approximate length of the tunnel and the presence of internal chambers. They scanned the earth under the Ciudadela, returning every afternoon to upload the results to Gómez’s computers. By 2005, the digital map was complete. The archaeologists explored the tunnel with a remote-controlled robot called Tlaloc II-TC, equipped with an infrared camera and a laser scanner that generates 3D visualization to perform three dimensional register of the spaces beneath the temple. A small opening in the tunnel wall was made and the scanner captured the first images, 37 meters into the passage.[59][60][65][66]

In 2009, the government granted Gómez permission to dig. By the end of 2009 archaeologists of the INAH located the entrance to the tunnel that leads to galleries under the pyramid, where rests of rulers of the ancient city might have been deposited. In August 2010 Gómez Chávez, now director of Tlalocan Project: Underground Road, announced that INAH's investigation of the tunnel – closed nearly 1,800 years ago by Teotihuacan dwellers – will proceed. The INAH team, consisted of about 30 persons supported with national and international advisors at the highest scientific levels, intended to enter the tunnel in September–October 2010. This excavation, the deepest made at the Pre-Hispanic site, was part of the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of archaeological excavations at Teotihuacan and its opening to the public.[59][60]

It was mentioned that the underground passage runs under Feathered Serpent Temple, and the entrance is located a few meters away from the temple at the expected place, deliberately sealed with large boulders nearly 2,000 years ago. The hole that had appeared during the 2003 storms was not the actual entrance; a vertical shaft of almost 5 meters by side is the access to the tunnel. At 14 meters deep, the entrance leads to a nearly 100-meter long corridor that ends in a series of underground galleries in the rock. After archaeologists broke ground at the entrance of the tunnel, a staircase and ladders that would allow easy access to the subterranean site were installed. Works advanced slowly and with painstaking care; excavating was done manually, with spades. Nearly 1,000 tons of soil and debris were removed from the tunnel. There were large spiral seashells, cat bones, pottery, fragments of human skin. The rich array of objects unearthed included: wooden masks covered with inlaid rock jade and quartz, elaborate necklaces, rings, greenstone crocodile teeth and human figurines, crystals shaped into eyes, beetle wings arranged in a box, sculptures of jaguars, and hundreds of metallized spheres. The mysterious globes lay in both the north and south chambers. Ranging from 40 to 130 millimetres, the balls have a core of clay and are covered with a yellow jarosite formed by the oxidation of pyrite. According to George Cowgill of Arizona State University, the spheres are a fascinating find: "Pyrite was certainly used by the Teotihuacanos and other ancient Mesoamerican societies. Originally, the spheres would have shown brilliantly. They are indeed unique, but I have no idea what they mean."[66] All these artifacts were deposited deliberately and pointedly, as if in offering to appease the gods.[60][61]

One of the most remarkable findings in the tunnel chambers was a miniature mountainous landscape, 17 metres underground, with tiny pools of liquid mercury representing lakes.[60][61][67] The walls and ceiling of the tunnel were found to have been carefully impregnated with mineral powder composed of magnetite, pyrite (fool's gold), and hematite to provide a glittering brightness to the complex, and to create the effect of standing under the stars as a peculiar re-creation of the underworld.[66] At the end of the passage, Gómez Chávez’s team uncovered four greenstone statues, wearing garments and beads; their open eyes would have shone with precious minerals. Two of the figurines were still in their original positions, leaning back and appearing to contemplate up at the axis where the three planes of the universe meet – likely the founding shamans of Teotihuacan, guiding pilgrims to the sanctuary, and carrying bundles of sacred objects used to perform rituals, including pendants and pyrite mirrors, which were perceived as portals to other realms.[60][61]

After each new segment was cleared, the 3D scanner documented the progress. By 2015 nearly 75,000 fragments of artifacts have been discovered, studied, cataloged, analyzed and, when possible, restored.[60][61][65][66]

The significance of these new discoveries is publicly explored in a major exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, which opened in late September 2017.[61][62]

As of January 23, 2018 the name "Teotihuacan" has come under scrutiny by experts, who now feel that the site's name may have been changed by Spanish colonizers in the 16th century. Archaeologist Veronica Ortega of the National Institute of Anthropology and History states that the city appears to have actually been named "Teohuacan", meaning "City of the Sun" rather than "City of the Gods", as the current name suggests.[68]
Site layout

The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead" (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccoatli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (third largest in the World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula and the Great Pyramid of Giza). Pyramid of the Moon and The Ciudadela with Temple of the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl are placed at both ends of the Avenue while Palace-museum Quetzalpapálot, the fourth basic structure of site, is situated between two main pyramids. Along the Avenue are many smaller talud-tablero platforms as well. The Aztecs believed they were tombs, inspiring the name of the avenue. Scholars have now established that these were ceremonial platforms that were topped with temples.[citation needed]
A recreation of a map of the city featured in the June 1967 issue of Scientific American and the captioned source.

The Avenue of the dead is roughly 40 meters wide and 4 km long.[69] Further down the Avenue of the Dead, after a small river, is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name "Citadel" was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city. Many of the buildings contained workshops where artisans produced pottery and other goods.

The urban layout of Teotihuacan exhibits two slightly different orientations, which resulted from both astronomical and topographic criteria. The central part of the city, including the Avenue of the Dead, conforms to the orientation of the Sun Pyramid, while the southern part reproduces the orientation of the Ciudadela. The two constructions recorded sunrises and sunsets on particular dates, allowing the use of an observational calendar. The orientation of the Sun Pyramid was intended to record “the sunrises on February 11 and October 29 and sunsets on April 30 and August 13. The interval from February 11 and October 29, as well as from August 13 to April 30, is exactly 260 days”.[70] The recorded intervals are multiples of 13 and 20 days, which were elementary periods of the Mesoamerican calendar. Furthermore, the Sun Pyramid is aligned to Cerro Gordo to the north, which means that it was purposefully built on a spot where a structure with a rectangular ground plan could satisfy both topographic and astronomical requirements. The artificial cave under the pyramid additionally attests to the importance of this spot.[71][72]

Another example of artificial landscape modifications is the course of the San Juan River, which was modified to bend around the structures as it goes through the centre of town eventually to return to its natural course outside of Teotihuacan.[73]

Pecked-cross circles throughout the city and in the surrounding regions served as a way to design the urban grid, and as a way to read their 260-day calendar. The urban grid had great significance to city planners when constructing Teotihuacan, as the cross is pecked into the ground in the Pyramid of the Sun in specific places throughout Teotihuacan in precise degrees and angles over three km in distance. The layout of these crosses suggests it was there to work as a grid to the layout of Teotihuacan because they are laid out in a rectangular shape facing the Avenue of the Dead. The direction of the axes of the crosses don’t point to an astronomical North and South direction, but instead point to their own city’s North. Numerology also has significance in the cross pecking because of the placement and amount of the holes, which sometimes count to 260 days, the length of the ritual calendrical cycle.[74] Some of the pecked-cross circles also resemble an ancient Aztec game called, patolli.[75]

These pecked-cross circles can be found not just in Teotihuacan, but also throughout Mesoamerica. The ones found all share certain similarities. These ******* having the shape of two circles, one being inside of the other. They are all found pecked on the ground or onto rocks. They are all created with a small hammer-like device that produces cuplike markings that are 1 centimetre in diameter and 2 centimetres apart. They all have axes that are in line with the city structures of the region. Because they are aligned with the structures of the cities, they also align with the position of significant astronomical bodies.[76]

The Ciudadela was completed during the Miccaotli phase, and the Pyramid of the Sun underwent a complex series of additions and renovations. The Great Compound was constructed across the Avenue of the Dead, west of Ciudadela. This was probably the city’s marketplace. The existence of a large market in an urban center of this size is strong evidence of state organization. Teotihuacan was at that point simply too large and too complex to have been politically viable as a chiefdom.

The Ciudadela is a great enclosed compound capable of holding 100,000 people. About 700,000 cubic meters (yards) of material was used to construct its buildings. Its central feature is the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, which was flanked by upper-class apartments. The entire compound was designed to overwhelm visitors.[citation needed]
Threat from development

The archaeological park of Teotihuacan is under threat from development pressures. In 2004, the governor of Mexico state, Arturo Montiel, gave permission for Wal-Mart to build a large store in the third archaeological zone of the park. According to Sergio Gómez Chávez, an archaeologist and researcher for Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) fragments of ancient pottery were found where trucks dumped the soil from the site.[77]
The Ciudadela, on the opposite side from the Pyramid of the Moon


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