Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Over two thousand years ago, Teotihuacan was a bustling metropolis in central Mexico, home to as many as 125,000 people. Renowned for its massive pyramids, it served as a cultural hub in Mesoamerica. Today, the city lies in ruins, attracting both archaeologists and tourists alike due to its intriguing mystery: the identity of its inhabitants.
In a recent study by researchers Magnus Pharao Hansen and Christopher Helmke from the University of Copenhagen, new insights have emerged that may unravel this enigma. By examining the symbols on Teotihuacan’s vibrant murals and numerous artifacts, they propose that these symbols form an authentic writing system. They suggest this script represents an early version of the Uto-Aztecan language family—a precursor to languages such as Cora, Huichol, and Nahuatl (the Aztec language), which evolved over a millennium later.
The Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Credit: Christophe Helmke, University of Copenhagen
Teotihuacan was established around 100 BC and remained a significant cultural center until approximately 600 AD, when it declined. Hansen and Helmke liken Teotihuacan’s influence to that of Rome during the Roman Empire; both cities held substantial cultural importance within their respective regions.
To put it into perspective: discovering ruins from the Roman Empire without any knowledge about its inhabitants would be akin to our current understanding of Teotihuacan—a city shrouded in historical mystery yet pivotal in ancient Mesoamerican culture.
“There are many different cultures in Mexico. Some of them can be linked to specific archaeological cultures. But others are more uncertain. Teotihuacan is one of those places. We don’t know what language they spoke or what later cultures they were linked to,” says Hansen.
Helmke highlights that a trained eye can easily differentiate Teotihuacan culture from other contemporary cultures. Notably, the ruins of Teotihuacan reveal evidence of Maya habitation, a civilization more widely recognized today than Teotihuacan itself. The ancient inhabitants left behind numerous signs, primarily through murals and decorated pottery. For years, scholars have debated whether these signs represent an actual written language.
Hansen and Helmke have demonstrated that the inscriptions on Teotihuacan’s walls indeed record a language that is an ancestor of the Cora and Huichol languages as well as Nahuatl, the Aztec language. The Aztecs are another renowned Mexican culture that was traditionally believed to have migrated to central Mexico after the decline of Teotihuacan. However, Hansen and Helmke suggest a linguistic link between Teotihuacan and the Aztecs, implying that Nahuatl-speaking groups may have arrived much earlier than previously thought and could be direct descendants of Teotihuacan’s residents.
To identify linguistic similarities between the language of Teotihuacan and other Mesoamerican languages, Hansen and Helmke undertook the task of reconstructing an earlier form of Nahuatl.
“Otherwise, it would be a bit like trying to decipher the runes on the famous Danish runestones, such as the Jelling Stone, using modern Danish. That would be anachronistic. You have to try to read the text using a language that is closer in time and contemporary,” says Helmke.
Deciphering the Teotihuacan written language presents several challenges. One key difficulty is that the script’s logograms can sometimes have a straightforward meaning, such as an image of a coyote representing “coyote.”
However, in other instances, the signs function like a rebus, where the sounds of depicted objects must be combined to form words that are more abstract and challenging to express with a single figurative logogram.
This complexity necessitates a thorough understanding of both the Teotihuacan writing system and the Uto-Aztecan language, which researchers believe is reflected in these texts. To unravel these written puzzles, it is essential to know how words were pronounced at that time. Consequently, researchers are tackling this issue on multiple fronts: they are reconstructing the Uto-Aztecan language—a challenging endeavor—and employing this ancient linguistic knowledge to interpret Teotihuacan texts.
Examples of logograms that make up the Teotihuacan written language. Credit: Christophe Helmke, University of Copenhagen
“In Teotihuacan, you can still find pottery with text on it, and we know that more murals will turn up. It is clearly a limitation to our research that we do not have more texts. It would be great if we could find the same signs used in the same way in many more contexts. That would further support our hypothesis, but for now we have to work with the texts we have,” says Hansen.
Hansen and Helmke are excited about their breakthrough. “No one before us has used a language that fits the time period to decipher this written language. Nor has anyone been able to prove that certain logograms had a phonetic value that could be used in contexts other than the logogram’s main meaning. In this way, we have created a method that can serve as a baseline for others to build on in order to expand their understanding of the texts,” says Hansen.
The research conducted by the two UCPH researchers has garnered interest from international experts in the field. They are planning to organize workshops to collaborate and engage in further discussions about their method with fellow colleagues.
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According to Helmke, if their findings are accurate, it is significant not only because they have potentially deciphered a writing system but also because it could impact our broader understanding of Mesoamerican cultures. Additionally, it may offer insights into solving the mystery surrounding the inhabitants of Teotihuacan.
The study was published in the journal Current Anthropology
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer