City of Gods

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For archaeologists and tourists, the monumental ruins of Mesoamerica are testimony to the complex civilizations that once lived there. But of all the great pre-Columbian metropolises in that region, the most magnificent one belonged to a people that remains nameless. The Aztecs, who lived there in the 15th century, were convinced it was built by supernatural beings and named the city Teotihuacán or ‘Place of the Gods.’ The origins and fate of the ancient inhabitants of Teotihuacán are a mystery to this day.

With an estimated population of 150,000, Teotihuacán was the largest city in Mesoamerica in its day (about A.D. 500) and one of the six largest in the world. It was larger even than Rome. There are only a few inscriptions in the ruins, and those are in a hieroglyphic language that archaeologists have not yet been able to decipher.

But last Autumn, an international research team decided to investigate the inside of the Pyramid of the Moon. It took them three months to reach the central chamber where they found a skeleton and 150 artifacts. One of the anthropologists declared: “It’s a fantastic find, it may be the end of an enigma.”