A Dark Horse of the Early Postclassic: The Site of El Cerrito (Querétaro, Mexico) and Its Relationship to Chichen Itza and Tula

Summary

Ever since the first attempts to explain the close correspondences (in iconography, architecture, and writing) between Chichen Itza and Tula in the Early Postclassic it has been assumed that it was mainly between these two cities, sometimes even called "twin Tollans", that the extended and intense contact between Northern Yucatan and central Mexico took place. A tendency among Mesoamericanists not to look further to the north and west, to present states such as Guanajuato and Querétaro, have thus led to the surprising oversight of the major site of El Cerrito in Querétaro. A thriving and important player of the period, El Cerrito displays iconography, sculpture and writing that is essentially indistinguishable from what is known from Tula and Chichen Itza, and the site’s largest structure, the "Basamento Piramidal" (25 m in height), is a perfect example of a radial pyramid, similar to the Temple of K’uk’ulkan at Chichen Itza. In this paper, we briefly review current knowledge about El Cerrito and present our preliminary thoughts on its possible role in the Early Postclassic networks of trade, political alliances and intense cultural exchange. From this it follows that the architectural template for these three sites are to be found elsewhere.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19881