VALLEY OF MEXICO — VAILLANT 527 



we found another ceremonial dump of this same fifth Aztec style under 

 circumstances which proved it to have been made at the end of the 

 occupation there. 



To strengthen our hypothesis we found two dumps of the fourth 

 Aztec ceramic period, one at Chiconauhtla and another in Texcoco 

 itself, an occurrence which would suggest the celebration of the New 

 Fire Ceremony 52 years previous, or in the year 1455 (1507-52=1455). 

 In one of the earlier buildings at Chiconauhtla, we came across another 

 such dump composed of pottery of the third Aztec period, which, if our 

 hypothesis was correct, would represent the cyclical destruction of 

 1403. 



The second Aztec pottery stage was obtained from a low stratum of 

 a normal refuse mound at Chiconauhtla, so that while we have no 

 definite evidence that this earlier stage should span another 52-year 

 period, we have some right to assume it was made between 1299 and 

 1351. Furthermore, the first Aztec period, as we have said, is found in 

 quantity at only one site in the valley, Culhuacan, and may well be 

 contemporaneous with the Mazapan culture described above as repre- 

 senting the fourth epoch in the development of civilization in the valley. 



According to our reckoning, then, the Period 6 style, from 1507 to 

 the Conquest, represents the last days of the Aztec Empire. Pottery of 

 Period 5, which was made between 1455 and 1507, is widely distributed 

 as befits the domination of the Aztec League. The method of decora- 

 tion in vogue in Period 4, 1403-1455, is strongly represented at the 

 palace of Nezualcoyotl, the great Texcocan ruler, and at Texcoco 

 itself. At this time Texcoco rather than Tenochtitlan led in sump- 

 tuousness and splendor. The trade wares suggest tribute from the 

 conquests of that era and the clay idols reproduce the wide variety of 

 gods in the Mexican pantheon. 



Pottery from Period 3, 1351 (?)-1403, is scantily represented at 

 Tenochtitlan, which in this period was a weak tributary to Culhuacani 

 and the Tepaneca of Azcapotzalco, but this style, like that of Period 

 2, 1299 (?)-1351 (?), is found in the other valley centers. During the 

 fourteenth century as we have seen, the Tepanecs, Texcocans, and 

 Culhuas held the leadership of the Valley of Mexico, and the pottery 

 attributable to this period is most commonly found in the towns 

 under their dominion. 



Confirmatory evidence of the reflection of time in ceremonial prac- 

 tice is yielded by the pyramid of Tenayuca, where seven buildings 

 are found superimposed. The last reconstruction presumably marks 

 the ceremonies of 1507, the next two in the same style, those of 1455 

 and 1403. The architecture of the fourth (1351) is transitional to 

 two more primitive pyramids possibly representing the ceremonies 

 of 1299 and 1247 which corresponds very well to the early thirteenth 

 century date given to the founding of the Chicimec kingdom in Azca- 



