Teotihuacán: Completion of Map of Giant Ancient City in the Valley of Mexico

Abstract

The detailed archeological map of Teotihuacán, near Mexico City, demonstrates what the prehistoric city was like from its densely crowded center to its more sparsely settled peripheries. The city's population lived in crowded one-story apartment compounds, grouped into neighborhoods based at least partly on occupation. At its height the city had a minimum population of 75,000, a probable population of 125,000, and a possible population of more than 200,000. Those involved in craft production and associated activities may have numbered in the tens of thousands. The scope and intensity of urbanization at Teotihuacán is not paralleled in other contemporary New World centers. The growth potential of the obsidian and other industries, the rise of Teotihuacán as a market and trade center, and its attraction as a religious center may have combined in a self-generating process that led to the creation of Teotihuacán's unique urban society.

On Causes and Consequences of Ancient and Modern Population Changes1

“…For the moment, I have taken the estimates of all these authors at face value. In addition, I have used my own latest estimates of population trends at Teotihuacan, Mexico, based on Teotihuacan Mapping Project data (Millon 1970(Millon , 1973. These estimates slightly revise and supersede those I have recently published elsewhere (Cowgill 1974).…”

The Basin of Mexico: Critical Environmental Issues and Sustainability

“…Five centuries later, in ad 650, its population of 150,000 made it one of the largest cities in the world (Parsons 1976;Millon 1970). A century later, the population of Teotihuacan had collapsed to fewer than 10,000.…”

“…The forests and the aquatic vegetation that characterized this region of the basin were gradually displaced as a consequence of agriculture. The springs and water flows upon which the Teotihuacan empire depended allowed intensive cultivation of these lands (Millon 1970;Sanders 1976a); their loss was probably related to the environmental impoverishment that resulted from human overuse of the natural resources, and which seems to have played an important role in the fall of the Teotihuacan empire (Sanders 1976a;Ezcurra 1992Ezcurra , 1995.…”

Etnobotánica de la cultura teotihuacana

“…Alcanzó una máxima extensión territorial calculada en 22.5 km 2 y una población de 125,000 habitantes (Millon, 1970). Es probable que su infl uencia en el exterior llegara hasta Honduras y Guatemala, según evidencia de cerámica y escultura.…”

“…Después, en 1917, Manuel Gamio realizó el proyecto "La Población del Valle de Teotihuacan", como parte de este estudio se elaboró una lista fl orística del Valle de Teotihuacan (Conzatti et al, 1979). En la década de 1960 René Millon dirigió el Teotihuacan Mapping Project y elaboró un mapa detallado de la ciudad en el periodo Clá-sico (Millon, 1970). Entre estos grandes proyectos y hasta la actualidad, se ha continuado con los trabajos arqueológi-cos. En cambio, los estudios arqueobotánicos no iniciaron al mismo tiempo que las excavaciones en Teotihuacan; la mayor parte se han realizado en los últimos 40 años.…”