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Xochicalco
Pyramid
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 Xochicalco
in the State of
Morelos,
Mexico, is located 38 kms (24 mi.) southwest of
Cuernavaca.
Xochicalco is one of the most
exciting and
richest archaeological sites in
all Mexico. It was an area developed during the period 800 to 900
A.D., between the destruction of
Teotihuacan
(Aztec) and the beginning of Tollan (Toltec). Xochicalco was not only
the oldest known fortress in Middle America, but also a religious
center.
Already in the beginning of the IX century, Xochicalco must have been an important trading center, as it lay on the trade routes linking the northern and southern cultures.
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The lines of the building belong to cardinal
points. After the building was completed, relieves seven or ten centimeters
(three or four inches) deep were carved into these stones in the form of a
frieze. These represent the Feathered Snake, which coils around the sides of
the pyramid with their heads at the corners. A cross-legged priest sits
between the snake coils wearing an elaborated head dress which seems
particularly close to Mayan
style.
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Xochicalco
means "Place of Flowers", although at present time, the hilltops are arid.
The stronghold is 132 mts (430 ft) above a wide plain on a sugar-loaf where
ball courts, palaces and living quarters were erected, but the whole area
was terraced and stair stepped with stone supports facing around each one
leading higher upward to the broad platform where the most fascinating of
archaeological findings rest.
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