Hot air balloons over the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan, Mexico
At its height, between 1 and 500 CE Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Americas. Following the extreme weather events of 535 - 536 CE the people of Teotihuacan rebelled against their rulers and priests. This is evidenced by the burnt remains of only the houses of the elites. The so-called Late Antique Little Ice Age was caused by volcanic activity of still-unknown origin. Further volcanic eruptions in 539 - 540 and in decade that followed added to humankind’s misery. Worldwide texts refer to crops failing and a feeble sun that gave no warmth. Tree-ring records evidence stunted growth. Grasses in the Eurasian steppes turned coarse and couldn’t sustain the horses of the nomadic peoples living there. These nomadic tribes like the Mongols, Huns and Avars attacked the civilisations on their periphery such as China, India, the Middle East and Europe. This in turn drove Germanic and Slavic peoples into the Roman Empire. In Germanic historiography this is referred to as the Great Migration Period; in the Roman world it ibecame known as the Barbarian Invasions that brought about the so-called Dark Ages. In Mexico Teotihuacan had been abandoned for 700 years before the Aztecs arrived at the site. They recognised it as a sacred place but, apart from archeological structures, no cultural memory of its inhabitants remained. We do not even know the original name of the city. The Aztecs named it Teotihuacan, meaning “the place where gods were created”. It was unknown, until relatively recently, whether the Pyramid of the Sun held hidden compartments similar to those of the burial chambers of ancient Egyptian pyramids. A scientific probe in 2012 -13 found none.
Size: 7502px × 4797px
Location: Teotihuancan, Mexico
Photo credit: © Frank Nowikowski / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: air, amazing, angle, archeology, avenue, balloon, balloons, colombian, contemporary, dead, flight, high, hot, iconic, indian, landscape, mexican, mexico, moon, pre, pre-columbian, precolumbian, prehispanic, pyramid, pyramids, scenes, scenic, shot, sun, teotihuacan
