1 gen 200 anni a. C. - Teotihuacan

Descrizione:

 Massive urbanization in central Mexico
 Active in-migration towards the city > at the cost of other settlement patterns > urban sponge > not a gradual, organic but active process
 Largest city in Mesoamerica (>150,000?)
 Centrally planned restructuring of urban form > living compounds
 No clearly identifiable elites or developed writing system
 Central trading hub for the region and wider Mesoamerica > trade and political links extending into Maya region > accelerator of long-distance trade + people settle from far away
 Large compounds + apartment compounds > partly communal > the open spaces would be shared + high walls and narrow alleys
 Large pyramidal structures > causeway leading away from the temple > Temple of the Moon + Temple of the Sun
 Leadership structure > challenging to understand > no clear indication of palaces > established elite is to be expected, but not present > maybe not visualized, maybe more corporate e.g. council of elders
 No clear writing system > but iconography present
 Craft specialization > time not spend for subsistence > seen all over the world