Tenayuca ( ) is a

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

n archaeological site in the Valley of Mexico. In the Postclassic period of

Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BC ...

, Tenayuca was a settlement on the former shoreline of the western arm of Lake Texcoco. It was located approximately to the northwest of

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

(the heart of present-day

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

). Tenayuca is considered to be the earliest capital city of the Chichimec, nomadic tribes who migrated and settled in the Valley of Mexico, where they formed their own empire.Tenayuca at INAH

Etymology

Tenayuca means ''walled place'' in

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

Location

The temple of Tenayuca is located in San Bartolo Tenayuca in Tlalnepantla de Baz, in Mexico State. It falls within the urban sprawl of

Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City is the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico (). It encompasses Mexico City itself and 60 adjacent municipalities of Mexico, municipalities of the State of Mexico and Hi ...

History

By some historiographic traditions Tenayuca had been founded ca. 1224 by Xolotl, a semi-legendary ruler of a " Chichimec" tribe that had settled in the Valley of Mexico in the period some time after the 12th-century collapse of the former political hegemony in the Valley — the so-called

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

empire, emanating from Tula. Xolotl was succeeded by Nopaltzin who consolidated the Chichimec empire . His son, Tlotzin, became lord of Tenayuca. When Nopaltzin died, his successor Quinatzin transferred the seat of Chichimec power to Texcoco, relegating Tenayuca to a site of secondary importance. However archaeological remains recovered from Tenayuca indicate that the site had already been occupied in the Classic Period, long before this foundational event described in several of the Mesoamerican historical documents. Its population increased in the early Postclassic and continued to increase after the fall of Tula, when Tenayuca became an important regional power. In the late 13th century A.D., some time after the arrival of the Chichimecs at Tenayuca, Tochintecuhtli, the ruling lord of Tenayuca, allied himself with Huetzin, lord of the Acolhuas of Coatlichán, and their alliance dominated the central Valley of Mexico, extending as far northeast as Tulancingo. By the mid 14th century the power of Tenayuca had already waned, it was conquered and replaced as a regional power by nearby

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from ''wikt:azcapotzalli, āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + ''wikt:-co, -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcap ...

. Around 1434, Tenochtitlan conquered Tenayuca, bringing it into the Aztec Empire. At the time of the Spanish Conquest Tenayuca was still occupied, and fighting took place there in 1520. The

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

Bernal Díaz del Castillo referred to Tenayuca as the "town of the serpents".Smith 1996, 2003, p.41. At some point the site was abandoned. It was rediscovered during excavations made by Mexican archaeologists in 1925.

Genesis of Aztec sacred architecture

Aztec temple architecture primarily developed at Tenayuca, which has the earliest example yet found of the typical Aztec double pyramid, which consists of joined pyramidal bases supporting two temples. After Tenayuca came under Aztec dominance, the Aztecs adopted this innovative style for the worship of their own deities. The temple of Tenayuca is better preserved than the similar temple of Tlatelolco and its wall of serpents remains mostly intact on three sides of the base of the pyramid.Kelly 2001, pp. 92–93.Davies 1982, 1990, p232.

Site layout and description

The site consists of a massive truncated temple platform with a double stairway rising on the western side to where the twin temples of Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli once stood. The temple of Tlaloc occupied the northern part of the main temple while the Huitzilopochtli temple stood to the south. Some of the temple steps are carved with year-glyphs such as knives, circles and shields. To the south of the stairway at ground level is a projecting platform bearing sculptures of crossed bones and projecting skulls. Like many

n temples, various phases of construction were built one on top of the other. In the case of Tenayuca, the size of the building increased through six phases of construction but the basic form remained unchanged. The original double pyramid was enlarged five times, the first time probably in 1299 and then successively at 52-year intervals. The last phase of construction probably dates to 1507 and measures 62 meters wide by 50 meters deep. Aztec influence is apparent from the third stage in 1351, the following stages were purely Aztec in style, as demonstrated by the sloping tiers of the pyramid rather than the vertical walls apparent in the earlier stages. The grand temple base is surrounded by a ''coatepantli'' (Nahuatl for ''wall of serpents''), a low platform supporting 138 stone sculptures of snakes. Their bodies were once covered with plaster and painted in a variety of colours, with their scales painted black. On the north and south sides of the temple, at ground level, are two sculptures of coiled serpents . The crests on their heads bear markings representing the stars and identify them as ''Xiuhcoatl'' (the fire serpent). All the serpent sculptures around the temple were associated with fire and sun worship. There are several altars and shrines nearby that were also excavated, some of these also have serpent sculptures. 200 meters from the main temple of Tenayuca are the remains of what appear to have been an elite residential complex, with surviving plaster floors in some rooms. This area has been labelled Tenayuca II by archaeologists and appears to have gone through various phases of construction. The temple of Tenayuca is in the care of the

Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, ''National Institute of Anthropology and History'') is a Federal government of the United Mexican States, Mexican federal government bureau established in 1939 to guarantee the researc ...

(''National Institute of Anthropology and History'') and is open to the public.

Photo gallery

File:TenayucaPyramidNorth.JPG , View of pyramids north side File:TenayucaBackTlalne.JPG , East side of pyramid File:CoatepantliTenayuca.JPG , Section of serpent wall or coatepantli on the northwest side of pyramid File:MuseoTenayucaTlalne.JPG , Inside of pyramid museum File:Tenayucaglyph.JPG , Museum exhibit of settlements glyph File:CoiledSnakeNorthAltar.JPG , Coiled snake sculpture at north altar File:NorthAltarTenayuca.JPG , North altar to the side of the pyramid. The snake sculpture is between the two platforms File:TzompantlTenayuca.JPG , This altar, decorated with skulls and crossed bones was found in the pyramids base with human bone fragments remaining File:CoatepantliTenayucaSW.JPG , Southwest portion of the coatepantli File:SouthsideSerpentTenayuca.JPG , Coiled serpent on south side of pyramid

Notes

References

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External links

Tenayuca at INAH
{{Authority control Aztec sites Archaeological sites in the State of Mexico Tlalnepantla de Baz Pyramids in Mexico Buildings and structures in the State of Mexico Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Former populated places in Mexico Archaeological museums in Mexico Museums in the State of Mexico Valley of Mexico Barrios Mágicos