“God Hill” at Teotitlan, Oaxaca
Posted on 12/28/2007 3:02:23 AM PST by restornu
Editor’s note: This article consists of eExcerpts from Bruce W. Warren’s research in New Evidences of Christ in Ancient America, (Book of Mormon Research Foundation, 1999, pp, 139,140). The confirming pictures and field trip report of this tradition location are by V. Garth Norman.
If the claims of the Hebrew prophets of Mesoamerica are true — that their resurrected Christ actually did visit his “sheep” in their land — we can expect to find numerous evidences of this supernal event almost everywhere we turn. As it turns out, such is most definitely the case. Though the evidence is at times diluted or distorted, much important information exists even today about the “Fair God” who visited Mesoamerica and who was known most generally as the deity Quetzalcoatl.
We can begin with a tradition from Oaxaca, Mexico. Juan de Cordoba, a Spanish friar in Oaxaca, recorded the following account just a few years after the coming of Cortes. As part of a discussion of one of the day signs in the ritual calendar of ancient Mesoamerica, he describes the eighteenth one, a flint blade that is sometimes called the solar beam.
This passage has recently been translated into English in Tony Shearer’s Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun in which he introduces it with this commentary: “Here is one of the strongest glyphs among the twenty. It is, if investigated, one of the best clues for superior beings reaching us from another planet.”
Ruins at Teotitlan, Oaxaca
“God Hill” at Teotitlan, Oaxaca
Cordoba’s account then follows:
Among the oldest glyphs, this one comes to earth from another planet. The Tenochs [a term that refers to the Aztecs] thought it came from the sun. Earlier uses of it suggest that it came from the northern sky, perhaps from the northeastern sky, and could be seen in broad daylight: so the story goes.
A story was told to the Spaniards shortly after the conquest of Oaxaca. On the day we call Tecpatl, [the Aztec name for the day sign flint knife] a great light came from the northeastern sky. It glowed for four days in the sky, then lowered itself to the rock; the rock can still be seen at Tenochtitlan [sic Teotitlan] de Valle in Oaxaca.
From the light there came a great, very powerful being, who stood on the very top of the rock and glowed like the sun in the sky. There he stood for all to see, shining day and night. When he spoke, his voice was like thunder, booming across the valley.
Our old men and women, the astronomers and astrologists, could understand him and he could understand them. He (the solar beam) told us how to pray and fixed for us days of feasting. He then balanced the “Book of Days” (sacred calendar) and left vowing that he would always watch down upon us his beloved people.” (Shearer 1975, 71-72) As may be remembered, Cordoba’s account of a heavenly visitor mostly parallels the Book of Mormon account:
They cast their eyes up again toward heaven: and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven: and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them.
And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying;
Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world” (3 Nephi 11:8-10).
Reference: Shearer, Tony. Beneath the Moon and under the Sun. Albuquerque; Sun Publishing Company. 1975,
Field Trip to Teotitlan, Oaxaca
By Garth Norman
In January 1977, I undertook a field trip to Teotitlan, Oaxaca, to see if the features in the historic tradition that Bruce Warren reported from Shearer might be identifiable. The two things I hoped to find were a ruin in a valley with a view to a prominent rock point to the north or northeast, where the God stood as described in the tradition. My skepticism in wondering if my trip might be a waste of time was shattered.
As I entered the town square, there was a colonial Catholic church built on top of a Zapotec mound structure. Some of the stone engravings from the ruin are even imbedded in the cement wall of the church. There to the northeast on the edge of town stood an imposing pyramid rock peak that I estimate to be about four hundred feet high. The photo above was taken from the town square, so its imposing character is evident. One could stand on top of that peak today and make his voice heard in the town.
That curious tradition is reflective of Christ’s visit to the Nephites at Bountiful, which is located on the narrow neck of land, as Bruce Warren ha pointed out. Could Christ have also visited other places in Mesoamerica? We can only speculate, but there is no reason to suppose he did not.
There is a sacred hill named Teotitla near Cholula that has a similar Indian tradition. What we do know is that Christ, after visiting the Nephites at Bountiful, did go to other distant places that were too far distant to travel to Bountiful instead of being limited to people at the Bountiful temple district?
I encountered another curious tradition that could reflect the results of Christ’s ministry at Teotihuacán, at least by his disciples, when the Church of Christ had been established throughout the land. While conducting an astronomical and topographical orientation study of the temple center in 1979, a local Indian vendor watched me standing on top of the Quetzalcoatl pyramid with my tripod Brunton compass taking readings.
When I came down he approached me out of curiosity, wondering what I was studying. He then asked if I knew what the twelve platforms were for that were on top of the surrounding walls.
He then related an ancient tradition of his people that twelve priests stood on top of those platforms and taught the people in separate groups when there were lots of people gathered. I reflected on the people at the temple in Zarahemla being divided in that manner to be taught when there were too many to assemble in one body. I also noted three other head platforms located east behind the Quetzalcoatl tower pyramid, the center one being the largest. So there would have been twelve priest teachers and three other presiding priests of Quetzalcoatl, according to that tradition.
The Ancient America Foundation (AAF) is pleased to present AAF Notes: a series of research articles by scholars of Book of Mormon culture and history and reviewed by AAF editors. Visit our website (http://www.ancientamerica.org). 1999-2002 Ancient America Foundation. This message may be forwarded with identifying information. For more information or to subscribe or unsubscribe to AAF Notes or utilize the AAF order form, visit http://www.ancientamerica.org and click “Contact us.” Refer, by email, comments or questions to aaf@ancientamerica.org.
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