Temple of the Sun

Teotihuacan, land of the one of the most ancient and mysterious civilizations, was only excavated in the late 19th century, and many questions, such as the origin of this city, is still being debated today. This is a view of the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Moon from the Temple of the Sun that lies on top of the Pyramid of the Sun. Only a fraction of the city has been excavated, and already, there are tons of pyramids, temples, and religious spaces discovered, suggesting that Teotihuacan probably was a religious center for the Mesoamerican region then. Interestingly, the pyramids of the Sun and Moon, once covered by soil and vegeration, were thought to be innocent-looking hills by the Spanish in the Colonial Period. This is fortunate for us, since the Spanish destroyed every temple they found and replaced each of them with a chapel, and many of the pyramids that survived this period of Spanish destruction only because they looked a lot like hills. This makes us wonder whether any of the hills in the background are actually pyramids. The picture was taken on January 3rd 2007.