The Origin and Function of Mesoamerican Pyramids

[Juan Alvarez Cuauhtemoc]

Mario Marquez comments on Castañeda's hypothesis of the function and origin of pyramids in Mesoamerica (as outlined below) does not take into account one important feature of the pyramids of Mesoamerica: the temple (or the dual temples) at the apex of the pyramids. What was the function of these temples at the top of the pyramids?  Why do some pyramids have temples (Tenochtitlan, e.g. the pyramid of el Templo Mayor) and some don't (Teotihuacan, e.g., the pyramid of the Sun)?  

Obviously, there is more going on here than what Marquez and Castañeda propose below.  

Teotihuacan, Tula, Chichén Itza, Monte alban, solo son
resquicios de monumentos creados para el incremento de estos "poderes".
Los brujos de antaño se sentaban a concentrar su atención en puntos
particulares de las pirámides logrando desconectarse del "mundo real" de
manera que alteraban su visión y su concepción del mundo.


Podríamos quizá relacionar a miles de monumentos en todo el planeta con
este objetivo; hacer que el iniciado centrara su atención plena para
despertar sus facultades mentales, físicas y espirituales.

Is the temple(s) on top of the pyramid a late development?  Was the vision and conception of the world transformed from an awakening of people's psychic and spiritual consciousness to a mode of worship, ritual and ceremonial center based on their own (or a new) understanding of Ultimate Reality?  These are the questions that are not accounted for in the Castañeda/Marquez hypothesis.

I would be interested to know what other Listeros think about this.  

Juan Alvarez Cuauhtemoc
Independent Scholar
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/nahuat-l/attachments/20041011/048eef9e/attachment.htm>