Cuicuilco

Cuicuilco is an important archaeological site located on the southern shore of the Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico, in what is today the borough of Tlalpan in Mexico City. The settlement goes back to 1400 BC.

Cuicuilco flourished during the Mesoamerican Middle and Late Formative (c. 700 BCE – 150 CE) periods.

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).

Importance of the site

Based on known facts, it was the first important civic-religious center of the Mexican Highlands, its population probably including all social strata and cultural traits that would characterize the Altépetl (city-state) of classical Mesoamerica.

Cuicuilco was destroyed and abandoned following the eruption of the volcano Xitle, causing migrations and changes to the population and culminating in the Teotihuacan consolidation as classical period ruler of the Central Highlands.