The Enduring Enigma of Teotihuacán
How does an entire civilization just up and vanish?
This is arguably the story that kicked off this entire career for me. It was the first video of mine that went viral, I mean really viral - I think I went from 5,000 followers to 60,000 followers overnight.
I went on a trip to Mexico City in May 2022. It was my first time visiting the pyramids of Teotihuacán and also my first time meeting Jane Kadala, a local expert, guide and President of the Heritage Protection Foundation to preserve the Teotihuacán pyramids.
There are so many unanswered questions and mysteries I cover on my channel. What happened to Amelia Earhart? What happened to MH370? But, for me, I want to know who were the people of Teotihuacán?
This once vast, advanced and ancient civilization just outside Mexico City, performed one of the greatest disappearing acts in history. It was as if an entire civilization of 250,000 people just up and vanished, leaving all their belongings as is.
"We don't know their language, their rulers, or even what they called themselves." - Jane Kadala
The name “Teotihuacán” is the name the Mexicas or Aztecs gave the area when they accidentally stumbled upon the city in the 1300s.
When they found this magnificent city with its colossal pyramids, gridded roads and detailed carvings completely abandoned, they were shocked.
To this day, even after a century of excavations, there is still so much we don’t know about the original people who lived here and built the monumental pyramids of the Sun, Moon and Plumed Serpent.
And it only gets more curious.
The people of Teotihuacán were clearly advanced with highly skilled mathematicians and engineers because the Sun and Moon pyramid are in perfect alignment to Orion’s belt and in perfect alignment with the pyramids at Giza if you were to superimpose them.
On top of that, from an aerial view, the layout of Teotihuacán strangely resembles a computer circuit board, with the two pyramids as processor chips, but maybe that’s purely a coincidence…
For these reasons and more, the Mexicas believed they had stumbled upon a celestial city that was built for and by the Gods. Therefore they named this area “Teotihuacán” which means where “Man becomes God”.
But then a major breakthrough came in 2003 when archeologist Sergio Gomez came into work and saw a 3 foot sinkhole appear right in front of the Plumed Serpent pyramid. What’s really intriguing here is that the Plumed Serpent pyramid is at the very geographic center of all of Teotihuacán. So to have a tunnel that goes directly beneath it implies that this particular tunnel was incredibly important to them.
When Gomez and his team excavated the sinkhole, it led to a massive underground tunnel measuring 330 ft long. There were rumors from the locals that whatever was down there was not meant to be unearthed and whoever went down there would be poisoned.
Gomez decided to take the risk and went down anyways. He may not have gotten poisoned, but he did realize the locals were partially right in that whatever was down there was meant to stay hidden.
Why?
Because there were 23 walls blocking entry to the rest of the chamber. What could be at the heart of this underground chamber that would warrant erecting 23 walls? Is it for protection or prevention?
What this also meant is that whatever is inside this tunnel has been completely untouched for 2000 years. The last people to enter and seal this tunnel were the Teotihuacán’s.
But, what were Sergio Gomez and his team hoping to find inside this tunnel?
Well, one of the biggest enduring mysteries that archeologists have been trying to unravel is who ruled Teotihuacán?
Some historians believe the area wasn’t ruled by one person, but rather several wealthy families. So, considering the geographical significance of the tunnel, Gomez was hoping to find a tomb that would solve the mystery once and for all.
But there was no tomb discovered in the tunnel.
Or so I thought.
I was so struck by the history of this site and by Jane that I vowed to come back and create a proper Today I Learned Science video. So a year later in during Labor Day 2023, I traveled back to Teotihuacán with all my camera gear and began filming.
It was on this second trip that Jane told me something she didn’t tell me last time…
I’ve captured all of it on camera and more for you to watch here: