Teotihuacan was a centralized, hierarchical city of around 100,000-200,000 people (conservative to high estimates) around 300 AD, with evidence of ritual killing and human sacrifice at its foundations, but underwent a profound political transformation around 250-300 AD when monumental construction ceased and resources were redirected to housing all citizens in luxury apartment compounds.
factualpending
Speaker
David WengrowEvidence Quote
“at its height around 300 A.D would have had well conservative estimates say a hundred thousand people I've seen estimates that go up to double that...then something changes around 300 A.D 250 300 A.D there is no more Monumental construction on that scale and all of the labor and resources that presumably went into building great temples and pyramids go into something else and that's something else is housing and they cover the entire settlement on a grid formation with beautiful housing apartments...everybody in the city was living in a palace”
Source
Everything We Think We Know About Early Human History is Wrong | David Wengrow on Downstream— Novara MediaCreated: 8/12/2026, 6:30:32 PM
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