Fascinating find at Teotihuacan: a charcoal waterline ~6 ft high suggests the Feathered Serpent tunnel once flooded nearly to its ceiling, fed by a subterranean aqueduct from the San Juan River. Its design closely mirrors the older Pyramid of the Sun tunnel below, suggesting deliberate architectural imitation centuries apart.
Subterranean aqueduct flooded Teotihuacan tunnel; design mirrors Pyramid of the Sun tunnel
MexicoArchitecture
Key facts
- A charcoal water line approximately 6 ft high runs the entire length (~100 m) of the tunnel, indicating it was once flooded nearly to the ceiling
- A subterranean aqueduct connects the San Juan River directly to the tunnel entrance; originally excavated in the 1970s and then reburied except for a few holes
- The tunnel under the Temple of the Feathered Serpent shares the same design as the tunnel under the Pyramid of the Sun: both ~100 m long, oriented east-west, terminating under temple centers, ending in clusters of shallow chambers, with two side chambers near their entrances
- The Pyramid of the Sun tunnel is an amplified natural lava tube; the Feathered Serpent tunnel is entirely man-made
- The Sun tunnel was occupied before the pyramid was constructed, suggesting the tunnel dictated the pyramid's placement
- Unlike the Feathered Serpent tunnel, the Sun tunnel was never burned and sealed; the Aztecs later deposited their own offerings inside it approximately 1,000 years later
- Looters broke into the Sun tunnel long before archaeologists, so most of its artifact assemblage had already been stolen
- The evidence indicates the Sun tunnel is older and that the Feathered Serpent tunnel was deliberately modeled on its design
Site mentioned
Sources
Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire | famsf-digital-storiesdigitalstories.famsf.org
In 2003, Mexican archaeologists discovered a large tunnel, the length of a football field, running west to east underneath the Ciudadela and ...
Teotihuacan: Ciudadelametmuseum.org
Additionally, the tunnel beneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid shows watermarks, indication that the plaza of the Ciudadela may have been ...
Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacanen.wikipedia.org
In late 2003 a tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent … a nearly three-foot-wide sinkhole occurred near the foot of the temple pyramid.
Lakes of mercury and human sacrificestheguardian.com
In 2003, a tunnel was discovered beneath the Feathered Serpent pyramid in the ruins of Teotihuacan, Mexico. Undisturbed for 1,800 years,
Teotihuacán’s Lost Kings | Archaeologists Explore the Tunnel ...pbs.org
Chavez and his colleagues discover a tunnel at the Teotihuacán site that continues in a straight path, directly to the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent
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