Cuicuilco, city-state of
State | Defunct
750 BCE to 150 CE
Cuicuilco is an important archaeological Mesoamerican Middle and Late Formative (c. 700 BCE – 150 CE) period site located on the southern shore of the Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico.
Today, it is a significant archaeological site that was occupied during the Early Formative until its destruction in the Late Formative.
Based on its date of occupation, Cuicuilco may be the oldest city in the Valley of Mexico and was roughly contemporary with, and possibly interacting with the Olmec of the Gulf Coast of lowland Veracruz and Tabasco (also known as the Olmec heartland).Based on known facts, it was the first important civic-religious center of the Mexican Highlands, its population probably included all social strata and cultural traits that would characterize the Altépetl (city-state) of classical Mesoamerica.
Cuicuilco was destroyed and abandoned since the eruption of the volcano Xitle, causing migrations and changes to the population, it culminated with the Teotihuacán consolidation as classical period ruler of the Central Highlands.
At the site are 8 of the many housing and religious buildings that once existed, and the remains of a hydraulic system that supplied water the city.
One of the pyramids was built in a strategic position, representing early pre-Hispanic attempts to link religious concepts with cosmic events through building construction
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The early history of Teotihuacan is mysterious, and the origin of its founders is debated.
For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec.
This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the Florentine Codex, which attributed the site to the Toltecs.
However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" generally means "craftsman of the highest level" and may not always refer to the Toltec civilization centered at Tula, Hidalgo.
Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.
In the Late Formative time, a number of urban centers arise in central Mexico.
The most prominent of these appears to have been Cuicuilco, on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco.
Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the Xitle volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley.
These settlers may have founded and/or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan.
Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan.
There is evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacan immigrated from those areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec and Maya peoples.
The builders of Teotihuacan take advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico.
From the swampy ground, they construct raised beds, called chinampas.
This allows for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic to transport food from farms around the city.
The Xitle volcano at the southwestern edge of the Valley of Mexico erupts in 50 BCE, covering with lava the site of Cuicuilco, one of the most refined cities of Mesoamerica.
The subsequent diaspora of the Cuicuilcans, and the attendant diffusion of their culture across most of central Mexico, will influence important cultural changes in the nearby power center of Teotihuacan.