Rock Reliefs

At Cerro de la Cantera and Cerro Delgado, two pre-Hispanic archaeological sites 2km/1.3mi beyond Chalcatzingo, rock reliefs hewn in the rock are among the most important of their kind. Judging from the motifs the people responsible for the carvings must either have been Olmec or at least within the Olmec sphere of influence.

Recent investigation dates the heyday of the sites as between 1100 and 550 bc with the finest of the reliefs probably dating from between 700 and 500 bc.

The most interesting is Petroglyph 1 (''El Rey"), an almost 3 m (10 ft)-high relief of a richly-arrayed figure seated in a cave (or possibly in monster jaguar jaws). Maize plants sprout at the edge of the "jaws" while above are clouds making rain. Petroglyph 2 shows a bearded captive menaced by two Olmec warriors, Petroglyph 4 has jaguars attacking reclining figures, and in Petroglyph 5 a strange snake coils round another reclining human figure (possibly an early allusion to the Quetzalcóatl cult). Complex III, at the foot of the hillside, comprises a number of platforms and altars.