1891. | WARNER—NOTES ON MEXICAN ARCHOLOGY. 147 
ence when the Toltecs first made their appearance in Mexico, about 
the year 680. 
Forty miles east of the city of Mexico there is found a very re- 
markable group of temples at a place called San Juan Teotihuacan. 
From the size and extent of the pyramids and the other ruins, as well 
as from the great number of pieces of pottery and broken implements 
scattered over miles of territory, it is evident that this was once a large 
city and a center of worship: an Aztec Jerusalem or Mecca. The prin- 
cipal pyramid of Teotihuacan is mentioned in the old records as the 
To-na-ti-uh, Itz-a-cu-atl, or the Temple of the Sun. 
This structure is made in the form of a truncated pyramid, and 
though the sharp angles have been somewhat rounded by time, the 
pyramidal form is retained. The temple is overgrown with weeds and 
cactus, but the stairway and the terraces are clearly cut, though some- 
what obscured by the verdure. 
The pyramid stands upon a raised platform or foundation which 
may or may not be included in the measurement. The building covers 
an area of 12 acres and rises to a height of 202 feet above the elevated 
area about it, and 216 feet above the level of the plains. The measure- 
ments are usually given, without including the raised platform, as 700 
feet on each side of the base; my own measurement made it fall short 
a few feet of that figure. A Mexican writer, Sefior Cubas, includes 
the base and makes it 768 feet on the sides running north and south, 
and 720 feet on the sides running east and west. The flat space at the 
top covers about half an acre and upon it there is a large altar of mason 
work still standing. The approach to the summit is by a zigzag stair 
case, and there are two narrow terraces passing completely around the 
pyramid, each measuring a third of the distance fromthe base. The 
building is made of small stones and broken rock firmly cemented to- 
gether with lime. On one side a deep cut has been made, showing the: 
solid and uniform nature of the work. 
From the summit of this pyramid we may survey the entire field 
and get a good idea of the size and position of the lesser pyramids. 
To the north, and slightly to the west, is the pyramid known as the 
Temple of the Moon, while to the south and east are twelve smaller 
pyramids called the Zemples of the Stars. These are arranged so as to 
enclose a court or hollow square. Each side has four pyramids and is 
about a mile in length, thus enclosing a square mile. The smaller 
pyramids are each about one hundred feet square at the base and 
forty-two feet in height.- The temple of the moon is well worth a care- 
ful study. It is distant 2,700 from the temple of the sun, and, as I 
