Puzzle No. 38: When?

In the Valley of Mexico, the planned metropolis of Teotihuacan grew explosively in the first two centuries CE into one of the largest cities in the world, eventually housing perhaps 100,000 to 125,000 people. Its monumental core was laid out along the broad Avenue of the Dead, anchored by the colossal Pyramid of the Sun, built largely during the Tzacualli phase around 100 CE, rising about 66 metres and containing roughly 765,000 cubic metres of fill, together with the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela with its Temple of the Feathered Serpent. Teotihuacan's grid plan, apartment compounds, obsidian industry and far-reaching trade and ideological influence reached across Mesoamerica, including the distant Maya lowlands. The city's builders left no deciphered written name for themselves; later Aztecs, awed by the ruins, called it 'the place where the gods were created.' Teotihuacan exemplifies the urban and political sophistication of Classic-era Mesoamerica.

Read the full story · See the world in 1 CE