An Interpretation of the Cave underneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico
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Publication Date
1-1-1975
Publication Title
American Antiquity
Volume Number
40
Issue Number
2
Abstract
The cave recently discovered underneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, is analyzed both according to historical written sources and reports of cults to cave deities, prominent in Mexico for millennia. Different cave rites are discussed in an effort to determine the function of the grotto. The Teotihuacan cave is compared with the mythical Chicomoztoc, Seven Caves, place of creation in ancient Mexican mythology. The author suggests that the cavern may have determined the site for the building of the Pyramid of the Sun and that later Aztec accounts of rulers being buried underneath the pyramid may have been based upon fact.
Document Type
Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.2307/279609
Recommended Citation
Heyden, Doris, "An Interpretation of the Cave underneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico" (1975). KIP Articles. 6941.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/6941
