Archaeology of Teotihuacan, Mexico
On
the basis of the reasearches summarized in Research
History (1), a new project was formed in 1987. The international
joint project was coordinated by Rubén Cabrera (Instituto Nacional
de Antropología e Historia), George Cowgill (Arizona State University),
Saburo Sugiyama (Arizona State University), and Carlos Serrano (Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México). The excavation area of this
project, called the Project Temple of Quetzalcoatl 1988-89, was separated
into three fronts.
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Front A was an extensive excavation on the east side of the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid, planned and coordinated by Rubén Cabrera and Rodolfo
Cid in both the 1988 and 1989 seasons. This was the only area that at that
time had been left untouched by previous excavations in the Ciudadela. The
excavation activities were organized around a series of trenches. Trenches
1, 2 and 3 were excavated in 1988, and backfilled at the end of the field
season. Trenches 4 and 5 were excavated in 1989, expanding areas exposed
in previous year. (general map of the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid)
Under about 4 m of debris from the collapse
of the pyramid were three Teotihuacan concrete floors which had been damaged
considerably. Seven pits that had been dug into the tepetate were uncovered
under these floors, as well as several smaller pits. Six of the pits were
considered primary graves that formed parts of the sacrificial burial complex
(Graves 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11). The photo shows one of the individuals
contained within Grave 6. (Graves at the
East Side of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid)
The Front A excavation area was completely backfilled at the conclusion
of the exploration by the project in 1988-89. A new INAH project in 1993-94,
formed by Cabrera and new associates, finally removed all post-Teotihuacan
layers, including the backfill from the 1988-89 excavations on the east
side of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.
Front B, supervised by George Cowgill, Oralia Cabrera, and others, refers
to a series of pit excavations carried out on the north and west side of
the Feathered Serpent Pyramid and in and near the Adosada platform in the
1988 season. Grave 1 was found 
on the north side of the pyramid in Pit 1 (Photo),
mirroring Grave 203. (Graves at the North
Side of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid)
Pit 2 was excavated on the top of the Adosada in the hope of dating this
structure. The excavation extended down more than 5 m, mostly in loose,
rocky fill, until it reached clearly undisturbed deposits. Significant quantities
of materials of various kinds were recovered, although the most striking
discovery was many fragments of intricately modeled, fired-clay walls.
Pit
3 reopened the 1939 excavation and tunnel at the foot of the staircase of
the Adosada. This work was planned to investigate Sugiyama's proposal (1989a)
that the offerings found by Pérez under the Adosada corresponded
to the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, rather than to the Adosada. The excavation
was not able to definitively confirm this, but it provided more information
supporting his interpretation. Additional offerings, very similar to those
reported by Rubín de la Borbolla, were found near Pérez's
excavation.
Pit 4 was dug in what appear to have been in situ deposits sealed
by a small section of Teotihuacan concrete floor atop the lowest stage of
the stepped Adosada platform. This was done in order to obtain additional
materials to date the structure. The ceramics recovered indicate a significant
shift between the Feathered Serpent Pyramid and the Adosada.
We also
reopened the 1939 excavation at the foot of the staircase of the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid (Pit 5), in order to examine several questions raised earlier
. This work confirmed that a long pit, highly likely for a grave, had existed
here, and had been looted before the Adosada platform was constructed. (Grave and Caches at the West Side of the Feathered
Serpent Pyramid)
Pit 6 was opened in the Great Plaza of the Ciudadela, at the northwest corner
of the Adosada, in order to find out whether or not another grave was located
here. The result was negative.
Finally, a series of test pits called Trench 1 were dug in 1988 between
Grave 157 and the northeast corner of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid in order
to search for more graves near the facades of the pyramid. The search for
burials around the Feathered Serpent Pyramid through test pits originally
focused on the south side of the structure. The pattern found on that side
was later confirmed on the north side, as the excavations of Trench 1 did
not detect any graves there. Front B also includes surface survey of the
Feathered Serpent Pyramid and areas in the immediate vicinity. The area
was divided into small sections so that surface collections could be systematically
recorded using detailed topographic and architectural maps made in previous
years.
Front C refers to a tunnel excavation coordinated by Sugiyama in 1988 and
1989, under the supervision of Cabrera and Cowgill. The tunnel excavation
was designed to investigate the possibility of finding additional interments
under the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, to test for the existence of earlier
structures, to acquire information regarding construction materials and
techniques, and to obtain data which could help to date the structure more
precisely.
The
initial excavation consisted of horizontal tunneling into the base of the
platform, starting at the center point of the south facade at the level
of the tepetate upon which the pyramid foundations were prepared. From that
point, the tunneling operation proceeded northward along the north-south
central line of the structure. This operation revealed that the pyramid
fill was homogeneous throughout, consisting of rocks of various sizes and
mud prepared with straw.
Two
walled burial pits were encountered during the excavation. The first (Grave 2) was located 10 m inside. Eight
individuals were discovered with offerings in it. The second (Grave 4) was found at 13.5 m north from the
tunnel entrance. Eighteen individuals were discovered with substantially
richer offerings.
Beyond
these two burial pits, the tunnel continued northward toward the center.
At 24 m inside, our archaeological tunnel intersected an ancient tunnel,
the existence of which was not suggested either by the topography of the
pyramid mound or any ethnohistorical or archaeological documents. The tunnel
entrance was completely sealed, and apparently had been so for centuries.
The discovery of the looters' tunnel forced us to make substantial changes
in the original excavation strategy. At the same time, the existence of
the tunnel provided unexpected opportunities to study the pyramid construction
and burial complex more intensively. It also posed new research questions:
when, why, and by whom was the tunnel made? We surveyed the entire tunnel
and excavated a series of test pits along its entire length in order to
obtain stratigraphic data and recover any materials that the excavators
might have left behind. We discovered that the tunnel was made by looters
who actually disturbed two multiple burials.
The
looters' tunnel had its origin at the southeast corner of the pyramid and
probably had been left open for a long time. The tunnel runs diagonally
toward the center but misses the exact center by 2 m. West of the central
north-south axis, the looters' tunnel passes over a large grave pit, Fosa
3 (containing Grave 12) , and then
proceeds further westward where a still larger grave pit, Fosa 4 (Grave 13) was encountered. Both of these
graves had been looted.
Although the looters' tunnel
failed to pass through the exact center of the pyramid base, we took advantage
of its proximity to the center to explore that area. We initiated a new
tunnel excavation starting at the east wall of the looters' tunnel about
3 m north of Grave 12. At the exact center of the pyramid base, a 20-person
multiple burial (Grave 14) was unearthed
with the richest offerings known to date from Teotihuacan.
After the fieldwork of our project concluded, Mexican archaeologists re-investigated
the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. In 1993-94, Alonzo Rubio Chacón and
others excavated the east side of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, removing
all post-Teotihuacan layers from this area, exposing the uppermost Teotihuacan
floor. Rubio and physical anthropology students from the Escuela Nacional
de Antropología e Historia also excavated two more graves that had
been previously identified by our project as a part of the sacrificial burial
complex of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. One of these was north of Grave
204, underneath the North Palace (1D:N1E1); the other was south of Grave
190, underneath the South Palace (1E:N1E1). These graves were designated
Graves 16 and 17, respectively.
As briefly described above, several projects were engaged in the exploration
of the burial complex, both before and after the Project Temple of Quetzalcoatl
1988-89. The availability of data and the recording systems employed are
quite variable, and it was not possible to incorporate all of their results
into these pages. We believe, however, that the information presented here,
generated largely by our project, is comprehensive enough to answer a number
of signficant questions about the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.
East Side Excavation movie includes genral view of stratigraphy
and Grave 11