Just five miles from downtown Queretaro you can find the main ancient ceremonial center of the region known as "La Pirámide de El Cerrito" (The Pyramid of El Cerrito), which is attributed to the Tolteca culture. We visited there today!
The Toltecs were an ancient civilization of Mexico. The name means "master builders" and wow, did they build something amazing here! The early history of the Toltecs isn't known but some things I read said they smelted metals and their stonework was highly developed. They worshipped many gods (that means they were polytheistic), including Quetzalcoatl, a plumed serpent god. Their ceremonies did seem to include human sacrifice (which is kind of scary to me) but also sun worship and a sacred ball game called tlatchli. They are said to have discovered pulque (that's a milk-colored alcohol made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant) and were very, very knowledgable about astronomy. This city we are visting was built around 800 A.D. The city peaked between 900 and 1200 A.D. Their culture fell sometime in the 13th century A.D. and that opened the way for the rise of the Aztec peoples.
Here we go to get a closer look!
The platform of the pyramid measures around 360 ft per side, and is around 90 ft tall. Even though the Toltecs later worshipped Quetzalcoatl, the name of the deity that was honored here is unknown because around 1880 the place was sold/taken by Spanish people who wanted to build an estate house on top (you can see it on the top in this next picture).
Can you believe it, they built a house on top of this wonderful pyramid!?!?!
Lots of ceramic objects have been found, but the house structure would need to be destroyed to dig under it and find more clues. I kind of wish they would destroy it so we could learn more about the Toltecs. There is a lot left to discover here, but more money is needed to keep digging and studying everything. This archaelogical site was opened very recently in 1997. You can't climb the pyramid because it's still being restored. That's okay; I liked wandering around with Priscilla!
The tourist guide said that under the surrounding modern city there should be more structures that are now impossible to recover. How sad! It's funny how all over the world, we just build on top of our past. If I wasn't going to be an environmentalist, I think I'd like to be an archaeologist so I could uncover our past.
I really enjoyed my visit to Pirámide de El Cerrito. I kind of think I might have been the first American Girl doll to ever visit there, what do you think?
There are some more photos of my visit IN THIS ALBUM!
