44 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Stratification of Remains. Atzcapotzalco was 

 once an important center of the Tepanecan tribe situ- 

 ated on the shores of Lake Tezcoco. It was an early- 

 rival of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecan 

 capital, and was conquered and partly 

 destroyed in 1439. The principal mod- 

 ern industry of Atzcapotzalco is mak- 

 ing bricks, and several mounds and 

 ■ , . % . . much of the surface of the plain have 



^Lfe'jt been removed for this purpose. In the 



mounds are found many pottery ob- 

 jects of the late Toltecan period, while 

 on the surface of the ground are 

 encountered fragments of the typical 

 Aztecan pottery in use when the Span- 

 iards arrived. 



The stratification of the plain varies 

 in different places so far as the thick- 

 ness of the different strata is concerned, 

 but the order is always the same. At one 

 locality it is as shown in Fig. 11. First comes a layer of 

 fine soil of volcanic ash origin, probably deposited by 

 the wind. This is five or six feet in thickness, yellowish 

 at the top, and much darker towards the bottom, with 

 streaks and discolorations. The Aztecan pottery is 

 found close to the surface, while Toltecan pottery occurs 

 in the middle and lower sections. Underneath the soil 

 layers lies a thick stratum of water-bearing gravel mixed 

 with sand. This gravel stratum is possibly the old bed 

 of a stream that formerly entered Lake Tezcoco near 

 this point. In some places it is fifteen or eighteen 

 feet in thickness. Scattered throughout the gravel are 

 heavy, waterworn fragments of pots as well as more or 

 less complete figurines of the archaic type. 



At other sites, such as Colhuacan, the Toltecan layer 



Fig. 10. Atzca- 

 'potzalco Destroy- 

 ed. The temple 

 burns at the 

 Place of the Ant. 



