Richard A. Diehl

I guess a book on Tula, the Toltec capital of ancient Mexico, is not everybody's idea of favourite bedtime reading. But I found it fascinating. Probably, for two reasons. First I had lived in Mexico at about the same time as this book was being written/researched and had visited the site and have photographs of self and family with almost the identical angles of some of the photos in the book. And second, because my time in Mexico had left me with a desire to try to get a better understanding of its complex history and the overlapping groups that had contributed to the civilizations that the Spanish found when they invaded Mexico.
The book is well written with lots of great photos and a very scientific approach to the archeology and history of the place (which I liked). There was also reference and photos of related civilisations such as Monte Alban, and the Maya and Tenochtitlan...plus of course, the Aztecs. The Aztecs apparently fairly systematically looted Tula (or harvested, depending on your perspective). In fact the first excavations at Tula were done by the Aztecs in pre-Columbian times. They dug through the accumulated debris on top of abandoned buildings.
The Toltecs were never a lost civilization: their Aztec descendants passed on a great deal of information about them to the Spaniards after the conquest. They are the earliest Mesoamericans for whom we have abundant historical information because references to older societies are almost exclusively mythical in nature. Even the written sources dealing with the Toltecs contain as much fable as fact; for example, we are told that Toltec farmers grew multicolored cotton and maize cobs larger than any today!
The earliest known occupation around Tula belongs to sedentary farmers who colonized the region a few centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. But Mesoamerican societies experienced drastic changes after AD 700. The new political, economic, and social systems which emerged remained viable for the remainder of the pre-Columbian era even though the political fortunes of individual societies waxed and waned at a rapid pace.
The new age began with Teotihuacan's decline; Monte Alban and the Maya centres in the southern Mesoamerican lowlands followed within a century or two. The relationship between events in the Basin of Mexico and those elsewhere is confused, but Teotihuacan was Mesoamerica's largest and most powerful empire prior to the Aztecs, and its collapse must have had a substantial impact on its neighbours. However, the fact that the other civilizations did not follow suit immediately suggests that they survived this initial shock and later succumbed to difficulties of a more local nature.
The Toltecs certainly expanded their sphere of influence into the Yucatan peninsular. They were the second group of conquerors and appeared on the scene at Chichen Itza in AD 987. Their leader was named Kukulkan, the Yucatec word for Quetzalcoat or Feathered Serpent, and everything about them suggests direct ties with the Tula Toltecs. Archaeological investigations at Chichen Itzá and other Yucatecan sites confirm and amplify this sketchy historical outline. Two basic periods have been defined at Chichen Itzá; a pre-Toltec phase with Puuc style architecture similar to that of Uxmal and other western Yucatan sites, and a Toltec-Maya phase when Tula architecture and art forms were faithfully copied. The first phase lasted from about AD 900 to 1000, the second from 1000 to 1200 0г 1250. I even have some terracotta stamps and anthropomorphic pots that I bought from some local traders ...who claimed that they were truly ancient. Though I very much doubt their antiquity I still love them for their craftsmanship and design.
Toltec architecture and art are not as impressive or aesthetically pleasing as those of other ancient Mesoamericans. Tula's relatively short lifespan did not allow sufficient time for major reconstruction programs which enabled imposing architectural complexes to be built at other centres. Furthermore, systematic Aztec treasure hunting removed most of the artwork, leaving an impoverished impression of what was there. Even so it is obvious the Toltecs were not not the skilled masters the Aztecs believed them to be.
New cults, or new variations of old ones, grew in popularity. Quetzalcoatl's prominence increased tremendously, particularly in his guises as the Feathered Serpent and Ehecatl, the Wind God. Tezcatlipoca and a number of other gods whose cults can be traced to the north grew in importance as did human sacrifice and death symbolism.I found it interesting that Diehl refers to the emergence of cults and only just realised that the major religions of today really emerged as cults ...which just happened to survive.
Whereas the historical accounts contain many references to conflict at Tula, they do not clearly state who fought whom and when. The strife is frequently cast in allegorical terms as a contest between the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, and according to every account Quetzalcoatl lost and was forced to flee with his supporters. Most scholars agree that the Quetzalcoatl referred to was not the god but a priest or ruler of the same name.
The encounters are traditionally dated to the time of Tula's collapse but some sources put them much earlier. Archaeological findings at Tula verify the fact that the city met a violent end; they do not tell us much about what actually took place or why.
Toltec power and culture came to a catastrophic end in the latter part of the twelfth century when famine, rebellion, and chaos replaced the growth and prosperity of the previous two centuries. By AD 1200 Tula was a ruined shell of its former self and the Toltecs had dispersed all over central Mexico.
The Toltec collapse is described in several historical sources. The stories vary and frequently contradict each other because the accounts are based on different historical traditions and all probably contain later modifications and embellishments. Furthermore the Mesoamerican penchant for cloaking mundane history in myth was never given a freer rein than in the telling of the Toltec disaster; in fact, some of the accounts are comparable to the Odyssey in their narrative power as well as their credibility.
Yes, the book is a bit dated now and I'm sure a lot more has been discovered about Tula, but I loved this book for its historical connections with the Tula that I knew. Happy to give it five stars.… (mehr)