Name: | Chuahilama Hill Ceremonial Center |
Location | Xochimilco, Mexico City Mexico |
Coordinates | 19°14′30″N99°04′15″W / 19.24167°N 99.07083°W |
Culture | Xochimilcas |
Period | Late mesoamerican Preclassical - 1200–1500 CE. |
Foundation | |
Decline | |
Language | |
INAH Official Page | Non existent |
Cuahilama is a Hill and an archaeological site located south east of Santa Cruz Acalpixca, in the Cuahilama neighborhood, near the Xochimilco Archaeological Museum, in Mexico City. It was a ceremonial center, in the hill are prehispanic images engraved in basaltic rock.
The “Cuahilama Cerro” or Cuailama, is located at “prolongación 2 de abril” Street, between streets Cacalanco and 3 de mayo, very near the Santa Cruz Acalpixca town. In the Xochimilco borough, south east of México City [1]
The Xochimilco area was inhabited by Preclassical groups Cuicuilco, Copilco and Tlatilco (1500-200 BCE), and subsequently, in the period Classical period, by the Teotihuacano (CA. 200 BCE-700 CE).
Apparently, Acalpixca was founded by the xochimilcas around 1254 CE, the first nahuatlacas tribes arrived from Aztlán in the north to the Anáhuac Valley in 1265 CE, the first Xochimilca Lord, Acatonalli, founded the village on the Hill Cuauhilama. [2] Between 1450 and 1521, Santa Cruz Acalpixca was a small village, although capital of the area, it was during this period that the petroglyphs were made. [3]
Those settlers were farmers, founded the settlement with Acatonalli, its first ruler, who while facing food shortages proposed before the Council of elders, placing wooden rods filled with organic dirt, thereby over the water, creating the Chinampa in the Lake, agricultural method that has been transmitted from generation to generation since prehispanic times until the present day, they produced corn, chili, beans, pumpkin and flowers as well as other crops. [4]
From Cuahilama, the Xochimilcas would have extended over the southern shore of the Xochimilco lake, the islets of Tláhuac and Míxquic, and towards the Sierra de Ajusco-Chichinauhtzin.
Period | Subdivision | Date | Summary | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Preclassical | Early Preclassical | 2500–1200 a. C. | Diffuse population | |
Mid-Preclassical | 1200 – 400 a. C. | Cuicuilco, Copilco & Tlatilco Tribes | ||
Late Preclassical | 400 a. C. - 200 d. C. | Teotihuacans | ||
Classical | 200 – 600 d. C. | Teotihuacans | ||
Late Classical | 600 – 900 d. C. | Teotihuacans, Toltecs & Chichimecs | ||
Postclassical | Early Preclassical | 900 – 1250 d. C. | Xochimilcas from Aztlán and Cuahilama settlement | |
Late Preclassical | 1250–1521 d. C. | Chinampas construction, subdued by Mexicas, Spanish conquest | ||
Note: Periods used differ slightly from those used in the mesoamerican región, in general. |
At Cuahilama (Nahuatl= “old woman head”) is an observatory, a shrine and a prehispanic causeway that runs east- west and provided access to the top of the hill, where the ceremonial area was probably located, and to agricultural terraces; the basements of residential quarters are registered over an area of 400 m2 and a Xochimilca “jolla or military training camp. [3]
The site depicts cultural Aztec characteristics and possibly was a ceremonial center linked with agricultural fertility festivities and worship of the Sun reflected on calendar and astronomical events. [5]
This prehispanic settlement celebrated every 52 years, the “Fuego Nuevo” (New Fire) ceremony, to ensure the arrival of the new sun. [6]
The site is famous for the petroglyphs located on the hillside and the slopes of the Hill, are prehispanic Petroglyphs dating back to between 1200 and 1500 CE, these expressed the Xochimilcas views, and have been attributed ceremonial functions and deity veneration.
The Petroglyphs are stars, constellations and figures representations reportedly associated with the cult of fertility. [7]
A sad situation affects the archaeological zone of Cuahilama, predators, vandalism and undeniably apathy of authorities and society itself. [8]
Little has been done against the deterioration of the archaeological remains, which is on the verge of losing every cultural value as a result of urban growth and lack of protection [9] by municipal authorities and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), in spite of public complaints of looting of archaeological pieces, nothing has been done in the area. [10] The Petroglyphs are unprotected, damaged by graffiti and abandonment.
The zone is private property, but the owners lack title to land, only private contracts, so purchase of the land is not possible. [8]
Cuahilma is not a relevant site: INAH
When INAH was questioned on the lack of maintenance, they responded that in Mexico there are more than 10 thousand archaeological sites, and some "are of great relevance". The petroglyphs found in this area of Xochimilco are Aztec and were venerated deities; are stars representations, constellations and figures apparently associated with fertility cult. [11]
Chinampa is a technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico. They are built up on wetlands of a lake or freshwater swamp for agricultural purposes, and their proportions ensure optimal moisture retention. The United Nations designated it a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2018.
Xochimilco is a borough of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the precolonial period.
Tláhuac is a borough in the Mexico City, located in the southeastern edge of the entity. Though Tláhuac still contains rural communities within its borders, mostly in the southern and eastern portions, the borough has undergone a massive shift from urbanization, especially in its northwest. Tláhuac has experienced the fastest rate of population growth in Mexico City since the 1960s.
Milpa Alta is a borough in Mexico City. It lies in the southeast corner of the nation's capital, bordering the State of Mexico and Morelos. It is the least populated, second largest and most rural of all the boroughs. It is also one of the most traditional areas of the city, with over 700 religious and secular festivals during the year and an economy based on agriculture and food processing, especially the production of nopal cactus, barbacoa and mole sauce.
Cuicuilco is an important archaeological site located on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico, in what is today the borough of Tlalpan in Mexico City.
The Altavista petroglyph complex is located near the village and beach-town of Chacala, south of the Compostela Municipality, in Nayarit Mexico.
Plazuelas is a prehispanic archaeological site located just north of San Juan el Alto, some 2.7 kilometers (1.57 mi.) north of federal highway 90 (Pénjamo-Guadalajara), and about 11 kilometers (6.8 mi.) west of the city of Pénjamo in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. The site is open to the public; it is dominated by a large, rectangular plaza with several pyramidal structures and platforms, along with a massive ball court. To the north of the structures is a field of boulders with thousands of glyphs carved into them.
The pre-Columbian history of the territory now making up the country of Mexico is known through the work of archaeologists and epigraphers, and through the accounts of Spanish conquistadores, settlers and clergymen as well as the indigenous chroniclers of the immediate post-conquest period.
El Cóporo is a prehispanic archaeological site at the northern frontiers of the Mesoamerican cultural area, located at an elevation of 150 meters on the western slopes of the Santa Bárbara range, near the San José del Torreón community, and lies some 15 kilometres (9 mi) due south of its municipal seat and largest township, on the northwestern corner of Guanajuato state, Mexico.
Altavista, or Chalchihuites, is an archaeological site near the municipality of Chalchihuites in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, in the northwest of Mexico. It is believed that the site was a cultural oasis that was occupied more or less continuously from AD 100 to AD 1400.
El Conde is an archeological site located at Ozumba Street, El Conde, three block north the Mayo 1 Ave., in the municipality of Naucalpan, Mexico State.
Ihuatzio is an archeological site in Michoacán state, Mexico. It is at the southern slopes of Cerro Tariaqueri, just north of the Ihuatzio town, in the Tzintzuntzan municipality.
Ixcateopan is an archaeological site located in the town and municipality of Ixcateopan de Cuauhtémoc, 36 kilometers from Taxco, in the isolated and rugged mountains of the northern part of Guerrero state, Mexico.
Xochimilco was the most important city of the Xochimilca people, one of the Nahua tribes that migrated to the Mesoamerica region. At the same time it was the name of the altepetl of this group and historically referred to both interchangebly. The city was founded around 900 AD. It grew to become an important city in the Valley of Mexico, until in 1430, the Mexica of Tenochtitlan succeeded in conquering the city.
Pueblo Culhuacán is an officially designated neighborhood of the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City, which used to be a major pre-Hispanic city. Ancient Culhuacán was founded around 600 CE and the site has been continuously occupied since. The city was conquered by the Aztecs in the 15th century, but the Aztecs considered the city to have status with early rulers marrying into Culhua nobility to legitimize themselves. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Franciscans and later the Augustinians made Culhuacán a major evangelization center, with the latter building the monastery complex which remains to this day. Today, Culhucan is fully integrated into Mexico City physically and politically. This area was designated as a "Barrio Mágico" by the city in 2011.
San Gregorio Atlapulco is a neighbourhood located in the borough of Xochimilco in Mexico City, Mexico.
Cerro Mesa Ahumada, also known as Cerro Colorado, is a hill located in the northern region of the State of Mexico. It is located between the municipalities of Tequixquiac and Apaxco.