Pyramid of the Moon

Stand still for a moment and listen. Gravel crunches under walking shoes. A vendor somewhere blows a clay whistle shaped like a jaguar, and it gives a low, rough growl. The air is thin and dry, because this valley sits high above the sea. In front of you, a mountain of stacked stone rises in stepped layers against a larger mountain behind it. This is the Pyramid of the Moon, at the northern end of Teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan lies about fifty kilometres northeast of Mexico City, in the State of Mexico. At its height, roughly in the first centuries of the common era, it was one of the largest cities in the world. Tens of thousands of people lived here, perhaps many more. They built apartment compounds, temples, workshops and wide plazas. Then, around the sixth or seventh century, the great city declined. Its centre burned, and its people slowly scattered.

Here is the first surprise. The names you hear today are not the original names. The Aztecs, also called the Mexica, arrived in this region centuries after Teotihuacan was abandoned. They found the ruins already old and overgrown. They called the place Teotihuacan, often translated as the place where the gods were made. They also named the two great pyramids after the Sun and the Moon. What the builders themselves called this monument... we simply do not know.

Look at the shape of the pyramid, and then lift your eyes to the mountain behind it. That mountain is Cerro Gordo, which means the fat hill. Many visitors notice the same thing. The pyramid seems to copy the outline of the mountain, as if it were a smaller stone echo of it. Many scholars think this was deliberate. Mountains were sacred in ancient Mexico, often linked with water, rain and fertility. The pyramid brings that sacred mountain down into the city.

Now turn around and look south. The long, straight avenue that runs away from you is the Avenue of the Dead. The Aztecs gave it this name too, because they believed the low mounds along its sides were tombs. In fact, most of them were temple platforms. The avenue stretches for more than two kilometres. The Pyramid of the Moon closes its northern end, like a full stop at the end of a long sentence.

The open space at your feet is the Plaza of the Moon. Count the smaller platforms that frame it on both sides. They form a carefully planned stage around the main pyramid. In the centre of the plaza stands a low square altar. Imagine this space filled with people during a ceremony, with priests on the stairway above and crowds packed below. The plaza was built for gathering, watching and listening.

Notice the way the pyramid's walls are built. Each level has a sloping wall, topped by a flat vertical panel. Archaeologists call this the talud-tablero style. Talud means slope, and tablero means panel. This pattern became a kind of signature of Teotihuacan. It later appeared in distant cities, far to the south in the Maya world, which shows how far this city's influence reached. Once, the stone surfaces were covered in plaster and painted, probably in strong reds.

Here is the second surprise, and it changes how you see the whole structure. The pyramid is not one building. It is several buildings, one inside the other. Excavations led by Mexican and Japanese archaeologists around the year 2000 tunnelled into the pyramid. They found that it was rebuilt and enlarged several times over generations. Each new version covered the older one completely. What you see now is only the final skin of a long story.

Inside those layers, the archaeologists made a dark discovery. They found burials placed during the building phases. There were human remains, many of them probably sacrificial victims, some with their hands tied behind their backs. There were also animals — eagles, jaguars, pumas, wolves and rattlesnakes — some of them buried alive. There were offerings of obsidian, greenstone and shell. These burials suggest that each enlargement of the pyramid was a powerful political and religious act.

Near this plaza, archaeologists also found a large stone sculpture of a female figure, often linked with water. That statue now stands in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. If you visit the museum later, look for it. Seeing it there, you can picture it here, under this same sky. Water mattered deeply in this dry valley, and many of Teotihuacan's images return to rain, springs and fertile earth.

Just off the southwest corner of the plaza, you can visit the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl. The name joins two words for a sacred bird and a butterfly. Inside, a courtyard is framed by carved stone pillars with bird designs. Some pillars still hold small pieces of obsidian set into the eyes of the carvings. Below and around this palace are older buildings with painted murals. It is a quiet, shaded place, and a good contrast to the open plaza.

If you climb the pyramid's stairway, as far as current rules allow, take it slowly. The steps are steep and uneven, and the altitude makes your heart work harder. Pause and turn around on the way. From above, the whole plan of the city opens in front of you. The Avenue of the Dead runs south, and the larger Pyramid of the Sun sits to its left. Many visitors say this is the clearest view of Teotihuacan's design.

From up here, you can understand something about the people who built this place. They did not leave us their names or their histories in a writing system we can fully read. But they left us this order — straight lines, careful angles, mountains of stone placed in conversation with real mountains. The city is a statement about how they saw the world. The sky above, the earth below, and the people in between.

Before you walk away, look once more at the plaza. Notice the colour of the stone, grey and reddish brown, softened by dust. Notice the sound of other visitors, the vendors, the wind across the open ground. For centuries, this space stood silent and overgrown. Now it is full of voices again. As you head back down the Avenue of the Dead, glance over your shoulder. The pyramid and the mountain will still be there, standing together.