More than just pyramids
3.1
3.2
3.3
Period

Classic (100 BCE–650 CE)

Type

Urban overview / General city context

Residential complexes

More than 2,000 apartment compounds identified

Building materials

Basalt and tezontle from Cerro Gordo (Tenam)

Ethnic neighborhoods

Oaxacan, Gulf Coast, and probable Maya enclaves identified

More than two thousand apartment compounds made up the urban fabric of Teotihuacan, housing the majority of its population. What sets this city apart from other Mesoamerican urban centers is that its residential architecture was both planned and monumental: each block had its own temple, workshops, and storage areas. Osteological analysis has confirmed that many neighborhoods were multiethnic. Enclaves of residents from Oaxaca, the Gulf Coast, and the Maya region have been identified, each with their own ceramic and funerary traditions. Teotihuacan was, in that sense, a cosmopolitan city before the concept existed.