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Reading Practice Set 1

Dircttions. Soad the passage Gśvc your:eir 20 mlnutes to complete this practice sol

The Rito of Teotihuacin

1.    The city of Teotihuacin. whłch lay about SO kilometers northeast of modern-day Menico City. began its gromth by 200-100 B.C At its heighl. bctween about A D. 150 and 700. It probabty bad a popuiation of moce than 125.000 peopie and cowred at least 20 square kilometers it bad ovw 2.000 apartment compiexes. a great market, a large number of industrlal wwfcshops, <tn admtołst/atWe center, a number of massWe rellgious edificcs, and a regular grld pattcrn of sueels and bulldmgs. Clearfy. much planning and central tontrol were involved m the expansttn and order mg of th*s great metropolls. Mocecwer. the city had ecooomlc and perhaps rellgious contacts wlth most parts of Mcsoamerica (modern Central Amenca and Mexico>.

2.    How drd thrs tremendous development take place, and wby dtd It happen In the Teotihuacin Va*ey? Among the maln factors are Teotihuacin'* geographlc locahon on a natura! trade route to the sotith .»nd easł of the VaRey of Mewo. the obsldianl resources in the Teotihuacin VaHey itself. and the vaBe/s potentwl tor extensrve irrigatlon. The exact role of other factors rs much morę difTicult to plnpolnt —for mstance. Teotihuacin s rellgious ygnlflcance as a shrine. the htstoncal situation m and jrotmd the VaHey of Mexico tow.ird the end of tho flrst millennium B.C.. the Ingenuiiy and foresightedness of Teotihuacin'% eble. and. fmaiły, the Impact of natural dlsasters, suth as the vokanic eruotions of the late frrst millennium B.C

3.    This last factor is at least orcumstanually impkated m Teotrhuacins nse. Pnor to 200 B.C.. a number of relatweły smali cencers coexrsted m and near the Valley of Mex*co. Around this time. the largest of these centers. Cuicuilco, was sertoudy affected by a volcan« eruption. w.th much of its agncultural land ccverod by lava Wtth Cuicuilco ekminatcd as a potenoal rwał. any one of a number of rcfattedy modest towns might have emerged as a teading economic and polltłcal power In Central M«x»co. The .irch.ieotogic.il evodenceclr*arly ineficates, though, that Teotihuacin was the center that d d ansę as the predomnant force m the area by the flrst century A.D.

4.    it seems likety that Teoohuacan s natural resources along wtth the aty elite s abiliry to recogniK their potentlai - gave the city a competltwe edge over Its neighbors - The valłey. Iike many other places m Mexican and Guatemalan highlands. was rich rn obsidian The hard volcantc stone was a resource that had been m great demand for many years. at least smce the nse of the Olmecs (a peopie who ftourished berween 1200 and 400 B.C.). and It apparentły had a secure market. Moreover. recent research on obstdian tools found at Olmec su es has shown that some of the obsuhan obtamed by the Olmecs orlgmated near Teotihuacin. Teotihuacin obsidian must have been recognued as a wstuabłe commodity for many centuries before the great city arose

5.    Long chstance trade m obsidian próba Wy gave the ebte residents of Teotihuacin access to a wide var lety of exotic goods. as well as a relatnrefy prosperous Me. Such success may have attraaed immigrants to Teotihuacin. In addraon. Teotihuacan s eJrtc may have consctously anempted to attract new inhabltants. it is also probable that as early as 200 B.C. Teotihuacin may hav* achiwed some rellgious srgnifKance and its shrine (or shrlncs) may have served as an addWonal popuiation magnet. Flnalły. the growmg popuiation was probabty fed by increasrng the number and size of Irrigated fields.

& The picture of Teotihuacan that emerges is a dassic picture of posrtwe fecdback among obsidian minmg and woriong. trade. popuiation growth. irngabon. and rellgious tourtsm. The thrtyfng obsidian opcration . for example. would necessitate morę mners. additional manufaaurers of obsidian tools. and addioonal traders to carry the goods to new markets. Al this led to increased wealth. which in turn would anract morę immigrants to Teotihuacin. The growmg power of the elite. who controlled the economy. would give them the means to physically cocrce peopie to movo to Teotihuacin and scrve as addrbons to the labor force. Morę irngaoon wcrks would have to be built to feed the growmg popuiation. and this resulted In morę power and wealth for the Hite.

¹ obsidian; a type of vokara< glasslike rock used for manufacturmg tools and

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