Pyramid of the Moon

This guide centers on the burial pit archaeologist Saburo Sugiyama's team uncovered at the heart of the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan, near Mexico City, and on what the bound bodies, animal remains and jade ornaments inside it reveal about how this pyramid was built in phases over centuries. It traces the ritual sacrifices marking nearly every new construction phase, including an earlier tomb from around the year 150, and considers what these acts meant to a civilization that left no name or written language behind. Stand in the plaza below and look toward the mountain the pyramid was built to echo.