This gigantic citadel was home to over 200,000 people thousands of years ago. It is an ancient city unlike any other in the region. It was an ancient metropolis whose builders are unknown to history.
Interest in Teotihuacan has increased over the recent years. Most of the excavation works at Teotihuacan were performed by Mexican archaeologist Sergio Gómez with most important results coming from the work in the last six years. During this time, thousands of mysterious artifacts were uncovered, among them incredible sculptures, golden artifacts, jewelry and gigantic seashells.
Due to the difficult conditions that rule in the tunnels beneath the gigantic pyramids, excavation works have moved forward at slow speeds. Archaeologists use special equipment to avoid mercury poisoning due to the large amounts of the element discovered recently.
American archaeologist George Cowgill, who has spent over four decades excavating Teotihuacan believes that the discovery of Mercury will lead to the eventually discovery of the long-lost Tomb of the first ruler of the ancient citadel.
According to archaeologist Linda Manzanilla, at its peak, the ancient city of Teotihuacan was governed not by a single king, but by a council consisting of four men, Gomez hopes to find the remains of one of them.
Researchers have also discovered traces of Radon, a highly contaminant gas that has greatly complicated the excavations process.
Halfway through the tunnel, two chambers were discovered on the sides. These chambers are relatively small and mostly “empty”, but archaeologists have found over 300 metal spheres ranging from 2 to 25 centimeters in diameter. Researchers have no idea what these spheres represented in the past.
30 meters form the end of the tunnel, the trail descends steeply where three chambers are located. Their center is located exactly below the apex of the Pyramid. The entire ancient city of Teotihuacan extends over 23 square kilometers, researchers have excavated only 5 percent of the ancient citadel. During its peak, the ancient city was home to over 200,000 people from different ethnicities and cultures.
Ancient Teotihuacan had ties to the ancient city of Tikal in Guatemala, Copan in Honduras and many other ancient cities in the region. This points to the power of this ancient city thousands of years ago and provides a lot of information on how these ancient cities communicated, traded and lived.
There are still numerous enigmas surrounding Teotihuacan as researchers have little knowledge of the government system of the city, the language that was spoken and their written languages which is still undeciphered. Researchers have no idea why the ancient city crumbled leading to the eventual abrupt abandonment of the site.
The three incredible pyramids of Teotihuacan; The Pyramid of the Sun, the Moon and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl were constructed at the main plaza of the city, these were the main landmarks of a city meticulously planned, obsessed with astronomical alignments.
Researchers expect to have more information by July, while discoveries are expected to be announced by the end of 2015.
Traces of Mercury have also been found in ancient monuments in Egypt and China. The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China is located on Mount Li, 30 kilometers east of the city of Xian. This mausoleum has 2.13 square kilometers and was built according to the urban plan of the city of Xianyang, former capital of the Qin Dynasty.
Divided into two parts, internal and external, it had the shape of a truncated pyramid with a base of 350 meters and a height of 76 meters. This ancient mausoleum remained forgotten and buried for about 2,000 years. The burial chamber has not been excavated yet, but according to researchers, it is located at the center of the underground palace of the mausoleum.
According to ancient texts, the tomb is located between a replica of China, a sea of mercury and the dome of the camera which has many artifacts, including jewelry and paintings that simulate the stars.
Traces of Mercury have been found in many monuments of Africa, America and Asia. Researchers hope to understand the exact purpose of this element and why it was incorporated in the most important temples built by ancient civilizations.
By Ivan Petricevic, Ancient-Code
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