Xochicalco

Altitude: 1525 m (5003 ft)

How to get there

By bus from Cuernavaca in the direction of Miacatlán, alighting at the turning off for Xochicalco and then 4km/2.5mi on foot; by car from Cuernavaca for 28km/17mi southwards on the MEX 95 to the village of Alpuyeca, then take a right turning to "Grutas" and proceed for 8km/5mi until the turning to Xochicalco (4km/2.5mi).

The fortress-like ruins of Xochicalco stretch for 130 m (426 ft) across a wide mountain plateau, on which platforms have been created by deposits of soil and erosion. As almost nothing is known about the people who built this site, and the finds which have so far been made point to the influence of several advanced civilisations, the history of Xochicalco remains one of the great mysteries of archaeology of Meso-America. History

Xochicalco (Náhuatl: "in the house of the flowers") was probably settled around 500 bc. It is unlikely that the site attained any importance until the 7th and 8th c. when it developed into an important trading centre in the wake of the decline of Teotihuacán. Here, at the point of intersection of both northern and southern civilisations, there are influences of Teotihuacán as well as the culture groups of the Mayas, Zapotecs, Mixtecs and Toltecs. Later Xochicalco became an important centre of learning, in which apparently Ce Acatl Topiltzín is supposed to have received his education about the middle of the 10th c., before going on to become the legendary creator of the Toltecs' advanced civilisation in Tula and their god king, with the epithet Quetzalcóatl. Xochicalco is not thought to have been developed as a fortress until the 9th c. But as early as ad 900 the town started to forfeit its importance and only a short time later the end came, with the town either being conquered by other tribes or being abandoned for economic reasons. The population was absorbed by Toltecs, Tlahuicas and Aztecs in the course of time.

The first Spanish description of Xochicalco dates from the 16th c. and was written by Pater Bernardino de Sahagún. The first excavations were carried out by Pater José Antonio Alzate in 1777. At the beginning of the 19th c. Alexander von Humboldt spent some time here. In 1877 exploration and restoration work was carried out by A. Peñafiel and in 1910 by Leopoldo Batres. Since the 1960s the Instituto Nacional de Arqueología e Historia has been working in Xochicalco under the direction of the Mexican archaeologists Eduardo Noguera and César A. Sáenz.

Stylistic Trends

In Xochicalco there is evidence of the influence of various Mexican civilisations:

Maya: ball court, reliefs of seated persons, beams and marks as numbers, steam bath.

Teotihuacán: modified talud-tablero style, glyphs, figurines, ceramics.

Zapotecs: beams and marks as numbers.

Toltecs: names of warriors and priests, ceramics.

Mixtecs: ceramics.

The Ruins

The total area of the former religious and military metropolis covers more than 12sq.km/5sq.mi, while the actual religious centre extends over about 1200 m (3939 ft) from north to south and over about 700 m (2298 ft) from east to west. From the highest point there is a splendid view of mountains, plains and lakes.