Note: This is a hybrid event! We invite you to join us in-person at the Santa Cruz Elks Lodge, 150 Jewell Street Santa Cruz, 95060, or via Zoom (see below for Zoom registration form)!
Join SCAS for a presentation by Ruben Mendoza on: “Götterdämmerung in Teotihuacan: Iconoclasm, Civil Conflict, and the Violent Fall of Ancient Mexico’s Greatest Metropolis.”
DATE: Thursday, June 4, 2026
TIME: 7:30 – 8:30 PM (Pacific)
ZOOM REGISTRATION FORM: Meeting Registration – Zoom RSVP for Zoom by 6:30 PM on Thursday, June 4, 2026
What brought down Teotihuacan, the largest and most powerful city in ancient Mesoamerica? For decades, archaeologists attributed its collapse to invasion, famine, or environmental catastrophe. 
New discoveries, however, tell a far more dramatic story—one of civil conflict, ritual violence, political betrayal, and the deliberate destruction of sacred monuments. Drawing on recent excavations and cutting-edge archaeological research, Professor Rubén G. Mendoza explores how Teotihuacan’s temples, palaces, and ceremonial precincts were intentionally burned and desecrated in a calculated campaign to dismantle the city’s ruling order. This lecture examines the archaeological evidence for iconoclasm, elite factionalism, and what Mendoza describes as a true “Götterdämmerung,” or twilight of the gods, in the heart of ancient Mexico. Audiences will journey through the monumental Avenue of the Dead, the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, and the enigmatic Xalla palace complex to uncover the human drama behind one of the ancient world’s greatest collapses. This presentation also reveals how the fall of Teotihuacan reshaped the political and religious landscape of Mesoamerica for centuries to come.
Dr. Rubén G. Mendoza, PhD, RPA, is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and Social Sciences at California State University, Monterey Bay, where he served as a founding faculty member and the former chair of the School of Social, Behavioral & Global Studies. A specialist in Mesoamerican archaeology, ritual violence, and California mission archaeology, Mendoza has directed major excavations throughout Mexico and California, including investigations at four California missions and the Spanish Royal Presidio Chapel of Monterey, where his team discovered the original Serra Chapel of 1770–1772. He is the author or editor of numerous books and more than 250 scholarly publications addressing ancient Mesoamerican civilizations, warfare, religion, and cultural landscapes. His most recent scholarly volume is Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica (2024). Long associated with the Monterey Bay region, Mendoza currently serves as President of the Monterey County Historical Society, and continues his archaeological and historical research through Archives & Archaeology, in Salinas, California. His lecture for the Santa Cruz Archaeological Society draws on decades of research into the rise and collapse of Teotihuacan and the enduring legacy of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.
