Qualla: Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/3/x/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan: Introduction https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan/ Photo credit jschmeling, CC BY 2.0. In 2015, archaeologist Sergio Gomez reached the end of a tunnel that had been sealed for 1,800 years beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan. What he found there included jade statues, jaguar remains, carved shells, rubber balls, pyrite mirrors, and shimmering pools of liquid mercury - the largest quantity of mercury ever discovered at a Mesoamerican site. The tunnel had been deliberately closed around 250 CE, its contents entombed in darkness beneath a pyramid whose carved facades depicted hundreds of feathered serpent heads and whose foundations held the remains of over 200 people sacrificed during its construction. Teotihuacan's rulers built the temple to embody creation itself, then may have destroyed its authority in what archaeologists interpret as a political revolt.

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Image: jschmeling | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/3/x/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-wp/9g3x-temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan: 260 Serpent Heads https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan/ Photo credit Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY 2.0. The Temple of the Feathered Serpent is a six-level step pyramid at the southern end of Teotihuacan's Avenue of the Dead, enclosed within the vast Ciudadela complex. Its facades were once covered with sculpted representations of the feathered serpent deity - the being later known ...

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Image: Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/3/x/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-wp/9g3x-temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-260-serpent-heads.mp3 0:06 2 full Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan: The Mountain from the Sea https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan/ Photo credit Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Ciudadela complex surrounding the temple is not merely a courtyard. Archaeologists have found evidence that its immense plaza was periodically flooded in rituals that transformed it into a simulacrum of the primordial sea from Mesoamerican creation narratives. The pyramid ris...

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Image: Diego Delso | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/3/x/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-wp/9g3x-temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-the-mountain-from-the-sea.mp3 0:06 3 full Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan: Warriors Buried at the Foundations https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan/ Photo credit Wojciech Kocot, CC BY-SA 4.0. More than 200 sacrificial burials have been found at the pyramid, interred during its construction as part of its dedication. The dead were predominantly male, though women were among them. Many of the men were buried with weapons and with necklaces made from human teeth, leading...

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Image: Wojciech Kocot | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/3/x/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-wp/9g3x-temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-warriors-buried-at-the-foundations.mp3 0:06 4 full Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan: The Revolt Against the Monument https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan/ Photo credit jschmeling, CC BY 2.0. At some point after its completion, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent was deliberately burned in a hot fire. Excavations led by archaeologist George Cowgill in 1988-1989 found that large fragments of clay walls and debris from this destruction were incorporated into the constru...

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Image: jschmeling | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/3/x/temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-wp/9g3x-temple-of-the-feathered-serpent-teotihuacan-the-revolt-against-the-monument.mp3 0:06 5 full