Archaeology of Teotihuacan, Mexico
All four
sides of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid had been covered by an elaborate
facade of stone carvings which including a series of large sculptural heads.
The facades that originally existed on the lateral and rear faces have been
almost completely destroyed. Fortunately, the principal (western) facade
of the pyramid was covered by the Adosada platform in ancient times, which
was therefore uncovered in an excellent condition of preservation as shown
in this photo. This facade constitutes the main resource for iconographic
studies of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. The other sides seems to have
depicted the same set of images as did the principal facade, since carved
stone blocks discovered in the fill-deposits that have accumulated at their
bases show the same motifs. The Adosada platform had talud-tablero walls
covered with plain stucco concrete. They were painted with motifs, which
were discovered by Gamio's project in 1917-22 but have since become almost
completely discolored.
Apart
from the data recovered about the pictorial program at the Feathered Serpent
Pyramid, other kinds of iconographic information was available from the
area adjacent to the pyramid. During the 1982 excavations on the south side
of the pyramid, additional iconographic information was recovered. A mural
was found in a test pit located in a room of "North Palace", where
José Pérez (1939) and the Mapping Project (Millon 1992) carried
out independent excavations. The mural was found on a talud wall of a structure
associated with the Feathered Serpent Pyramid and simply consists of a scroll-sign
painted on red background. The talud, facing south in a portico, seems to
have been decorated by a series of the same motif, although its western
part was removed by Pérez's tunnel system of excavation.
The stone carvings
incorporated into the facades of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid express the
main visual messages of the Ciudadela. The main motif in both tableros and
taludes [an architectural form combining rectangular (tablero) and trapezoid
(talud) panels] at the pyramid were undulating feathered serpents, depicted
in profile and having rattles on the ends of their tails. The figures repeated
on the tableros consist of front-facing heads, in high relief. A quite similar
type of feathered serpent head, sculpted in high relief, was also attached
to the balustrades of the staircase. The serpents depicted on the main (west)
facade of the pyramid all face inward, toward the central staircase. On
the lateral facades (south and north faces) of the pyramid, the bodies of
feathered serpents most likely faced toward the west, according to fragmented
archaeological data recovered in 1980s (Cabrera and Sugiyama 1982). The
direction faced by figures on the back (east) side of the pyramid is unknown.
The
representations of feathered serpent bodies on the tableros are seperated
by a different kind of front-facing heads. The identification of this second
image has been disputed since its discovery in 1918-22, mainly because the
form is thought to be unique among Teotihuacan mythological depictions.
It has been interpreted in the past as the head of various deities: Tlaloc
or the Storm God (the latter name currently used to designate the Teotihuacan
diety traditionally identified by the Mexica diety-name, Tlaloc); Youalcoatl,
a form of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent; Itzpapalotl, the obsidian
butterfly; a terrestrial crocodilian figure known as Cipactli, after an
crocodile-like creature known from Aztec codices; Xiuhcoatl or the Fire
Serpent; the War Serpent; and the Primordial Crocodile.
These
heads are distinguished by their high degree of three-dimensionality and
this has led various scholars to interpret them, along with the feathered
serpent heads, as having a "dualistic" meaning (R. Millon 1976:237,
238; M. Coe 1981:168; Drucker 1974: 16; Taube 1992). However, Sugiyama (Sugiyama
1989b, 1992) and Taube (Taube 1992) have independently identified these
figures as headdresses superimposed on the body of the feathered serpents.
This interpretation is supported by a compositional pattern that is found
in other Teotihuacan murals. For example, headdress representations superimposed
on the body of feathered serpents are depicted in murals found at Zacuala
Palace and Tepantitla (Drawings A and B). Other iconographers now generally
agree with the headdress interpretation, although the identification of
the entity represented in the form of headdress remains in dispute.
Facade movie showing inconagraphy of the FSP
