Cuicuilco

A Late Pre-Classic ceremonial site, at the southern end of ancient Lake Texcoco near Mexico City, that has the first stone monument (pyramid) on the Mexican plateau. Cuicuilco was one of the largest and most important centers of the period - possibly an early rival of Teotihuacan. Early large-scale construction in the form of adobe and stone-faced platforms took place around 600-200 BC. The pyramid is a truncated cone, with a clay-and-rubble core; the rest is made of sun-dried brick with a stone facing. Rising up in four tiers, the Cuicuilco pyramid is faced with broken lava blocks and the summit was reached by ramps on two sides. The site was covered by volcano lava around 300-400 AD, forcing total abandonment. Lava from the volcano covers all of Cuicuilco, including the lower part of the round pyramid. The Cuicuilco-Ticomán culture succeeded the Middle Formative villages of the valley but retained many of their traits, such as the manufacture of solid handmade figurines.

Located at the southern end of ancient Lake Texcoco, Cuicuilco was the largest and most important centre of the Basin of Mexico in the Late Pre-Classic Period. Early large-scale construction in the form of adobe and stone-faced platforms occur in c400 bc. Cuicuilco appears to have been a thriving centre and an early rival of Teotihuacan. An eruption of the Xitle volcano incl50 BC destroyed not only Cuicuilco but much of the surrounding agricultural land. It was never reoccupied and its destruction probably gave a considerable impetus to the growth of its rival at the nothem end of the lake.