October 1, 1990
One of the most remarkable Mesoamerican sites, the sacred city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico embodies the cosmology of the unknown people who built it. It boasts the vast Sun Pyramid, erected on a grotto with an underground stream, and many other equally impressive monuments. The city's majestic Avenue of the Dead was festooned with polychrome murals still visible today. Archeologist Moctezuma ( The Aztecs ) sifts the evidence to show that Teotihuacan was the hub of a full-fledged state, ruled by an elite of nobles, priests and warriors, whose inhabitants possessed advanced knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, art and architecture. Some 100 breathtaking color photographs (and 200 black-and-white) reveal archeological and artistic detail with unsurpassed clarity. The author provocatively speculates that the city's violent, mysterious end before 750 A.D. was the result of an armed rebellion by overtaxed vassals.