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The culture that prospered at Teotihuacan in the Classic duration has a distinct location in Mesoamerican history. Today, it is held as a symbol of the Mexican nationwide past and is among the most gone to historical sites in the Americas. Curious visitors are informed that the ethnic and linguistic association of the Teotihuacanos stays unidentified. Whereas the decipherment of other Mesoamerican writing systems has actually supplied a wealth of details about dynasties and historic occasions, scholars have actually not had the ability to gain access to details about Teotihuacan society from their own written sources. The subject of composing at Teotihuacan triggers numerous controversial concerns. Do check in Teotihuacan images make up composing? If it is composing, how did it work? Was it indicated to be checked out individually of language? If it did represent a particular language, then what language was it? University of Copenhagen scientists Magnus Pharao Hansen and Christopher Helmke propose that Teotihuacan composing shared standard concepts with other Mesoamerican scribal customs, consisting of making use of logograms according to the rebus concept, along with a concept they describe ‘double spelling.’ Arguing that it did encode a particular and recognizable language, specifically, a Uto-Aztecan language right away ancestral to Nahuatl, Cora, and Huichol, they provide brand-new readings of numerous Teotihuacan glyphs.
A view over the smaller sized pyramids on the eastern side of Plaza de la Luna from Piramide de la Luna towards Piramide del Sol at Teotihuacan. Image credit: Daniel Case/ CC BY-SA 3.0.
Teotihuacan is a spiritual pre-Columbian city that was established around 100 BCE and thrived up until 600 CE.
Found in the northeast of the Basin of Mexico, the ancient city covered 20 square km, supported a population of approximately 125,000 locals, and was in touch with other Mesoamerican civilizations.
It is uncertain who the contractors of Teotihuacan were, and what relation they needed to individuals which followed. It is likewise uncertain why the city was deserted. There are a number of theories that include foreign intrusion, a civil war, an environmental disaster, or some mix of all 3.
“There are several cultures in Mexico. A few of them can be connected to particular historical cultures. Others are more unpredictable. Teotihuacan is among those locations,” Dr. Pharao Hansen stated.
“We do not understand what language they spoke or what later on cultures they were connected to.”
“An experienced eye can quickly differentiate Teotihuacan culture from other modern cultures,” Dr. Helmke included.
“For example, the ruins in Teotihuacan reveal that parts of the city were occupied by the Maya– a civilization that is better understood today than Teotihuacan.”
The ancient individuals of Teotihuacan left a series of indications, generally as murals and embellished pottery.
For many years, scientists have actually disputed whether these indications even make up a real written language.
The authors reveal that the composing on the walls of Teotihuacan remains in truth record a language that is a linguistic forefather of the Cora and Huichol languages and the Aztec language Nahuatl.
The Aztecs are another popular culture from Mexico. Previously, it was thought that the Aztecs moved to main Mexico after the fall of Teotihuacan.
The scientists point to a linguistic connection in between Teotihuacan and the Aztec, which might show that Nahuatl-speaking populations got here to the location much earlier and that they are in fact direct descendants of the occupants of Teotihuacan.
In order to determine the linguistic resemblances in between the language of Teotihuacan and other Mesoamerican languages, the researchers needed to rebuild a much earlier variation of Nahuatl.
“Otherwise, it would be a bit like attempting to understand the runes on the popular Danish runestones, such as the Jelling Stone, utilizing contemporary Danish. That would be anachronistic. You need to attempt to check out the text utilizing a language that is better in time and modern,” Dr. Helmke stated.
Examples of logograms that comprise the Teotihuacan composed language. Image credit: Christophe Helmke, University of Copenhagen.
The Teotihuacan composed language is hard to analyze for a number of factors.
One factor is that the logograms that comprise the script in some cases have a direct significance, so that a picture of a coyote, for instance, need to merely be comprehended to suggest ‘coyote. ‘
Somewhere else in the text, the indications should read as a type of rebus, where the noises of the items illustrated need to be assembled to form a word, which might be more conceptual and for that reason hard to compose as a single metaphorical logogram.
This makes it vital to have an excellent understanding of both the Teotihuacan composing system and the Uto-Aztecan language, which these scientists think is tape-recorded in the texts.
It is essential to understand how the words sounded at that time in order to resolve the composed puzzles of Teotihuacan.
That is why the authors are dealing with a number of fronts. They are concurrently rebuilding the Uto-Aztecan language, an uphill struggle in itself, and utilizing this ancient language to analyze the Teotihuacan texts.
“In Teotihuacan, you can still discover pottery with text on it, and we understand that more murals will show up,” Dr. Pharao Hansen stated.
“It is plainly a constraint to our research study that we do not have more texts.”
“It would be fantastic if we might discover the exact same indications utilized in the exact same method in a lot more contexts.”
“That would even more support our hypothesis, however for now we need to deal with the texts we have.”
Dr. Pharao Hansen and Dr. Helmke are delighted about their advancement.
“No one before us has actually utilized a language that fits the time duration to analyze this written language,” Dr. Pharao Hansen stated.
“Nor has actually anybody had the ability to show that particular logograms had a phonetic worth that might be utilized in contexts besides the logogram’s primary significance.”
“In this method, we have actually produced an approach that can work as a standard for others to develop on in order to broaden their understanding of the texts.”
The group’s paper was released in the journal Existing Anthropology
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Magnus Pharao Hansen & & Christophe Helmke. 2025. The Language of Teotihuacan Writing. Existing Anthropology 66 (5 ); doi: 10.1086/ 737863
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