Cuicuilco is an important early Mesoamerican site which developed in Central Mexico during the Formative period, between 700 B.C. and A.D. 400, when it was totally destroyed by a volcanic eruption.
Cuicuilco was located near productive land for agriculture in the south part of the Basin of Mexico, near the lake Xochicalco, where archeologists identified evidence of irrigation canals.
Cuicuilco Apogee
By 200 BC, Cuicuilco was one of the most important and larger centers in Central Mexico, and it has been estimated that its area covered approximately 400 ha, with a population of 20,000 people. At around 60 BC a first eruption of the volcano Xitli covered most of the center and its cultivated fields, severely affecting the life of the community. Cuicuilco, however, continued to live as a smaller center until 400 AD, when a new volcanic eruption definitely buried the site.
The Great Pyramid of Cuicuilco
The most important building of Cuicuilco is a circular pyramid, covered in stone, 27 m (ca 90 ft.) high and 80 m (260 ft.) in diameter. A series of superimposed altars were found atop the pyramid. These were painted in red with traces of hematite.
A series of smaller structures were also found close to the lake Xochimilco. These, according to some scholars, could have been erected according to some astronomical alignments.
The first investigations at Cuicuilco were carried out by Byron Cumming, between 1923 and 1924, which led to the discovery of the civic core of the site and the main pyramid. In 1968, during the construction work for a swimming pool for the Olympics, other smaller, rectangular pyramids were discovered.
Cuicuilco and Teotihuacan
Cuicuilco was probably one of the most important centers in the Basin of Mexico during the Late Formative, and during its heyday, at around 200 BC, it competed in size and complexity with Teotihuacan, which later became one of the most important cities of all Mesoamerica.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Ancient Mesoamerica and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Carrasco Davíd (ed.), 2001, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, Oxford University Press.
Manzanilla Linda and Leonardo Lopez Lujan (eds.), 2001 [1995], Historia Antigua de Mexico, Miguel Angel Porrúa, Mexico City.
Cordova, Carlos, Ana Lillian Martin del Pozzo and Javier López Camacho 1994 Paleo landforms and volcanic impact on the environment of prehistoric Cuicuilco, southern Mexico City. Journal of Archaeological Science 21:585-596.
Siebe, C. 2000. Age and archaeological implications of Xitle volcano, southwestern Basin of Mexico-City. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 104:45-64.