Cuicuilco
Cuicuilco was an important regional center in central Mexico during the pre-classical period. The ruins are located in the south of the Mexico Valley in the urban area of Mexico City , immediately south of the campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , and partly on the site of the Olympic Village of the 1968 Olympic Games .
The settlement was the dominant power in the Valley of Mexico from the middle pre-classical era and was one of the main competitors of the then relatively insignificant Teotihuacán . The settlement probably gained its great importance due to the fertile soil, which, due to the existence of several small streams, could be well irrigated and thus enabled rich harvests. It also became an important ceremonial and religious center. In the third century AD, Cuicuilco was then covered with lava several meters thick when the volcano Xitle erupted and was abandoned by its inhabitants. It is believed that many of them settled in Teotihuacán.
Archaeologists led by Byron Cummings carried out excavations here between 1922 and 1924. They found a large circular temple platform with several steps, the base of which is not quite 150 meters in diameter. The platform was probably used for religious purposes, as indicated by the structures on the surface, some of which are recessed. From the west a ramp leads to the second highest platform.
Later excavations in the 1960s revealed several similar, smaller platforms. In addition, a small clay statue of a “fire god” was found, whose veneration can still be proven back to the Aztecs , when he was called Huehueteotl .
literature
- Eduardo Matos Moctezuma : Teotihuacán. The city of gods . Rizzoli, New York 1990. ISBN 0-8478-1198-0 .
- Hanns J. Prem : History of ancient America . Oldenbourg, Munich 1989 (2nd revised edition 2007). ISBN 3-486-53032-1 .
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 19 ° 18 ′ N , 99 ° 11 ′ W