Best Tula, Mexico Digital Travel
Pictures And Photos

George And Audrey DeLange

Tula The old city of Tula had a great historical relevance in Mesoamerica, and it constitutes an important link in the chain of civilizations of the Central Altiplano. Founded after Teotihuacán was destroyed, it is known nowadays by its main pyramid, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, or temple of the morning star, on whose top the Telamons of Tula stand. 4.6 meter high statues, representing Toltec gods, they are believed to be the columns of a wooden roof the temple had.You can go up this pyramid to observe the telamons closely, and appreciate the whole archeological complex. It is worth mentioning that only some of the statues have resisted the blows of time, so several of them have been rebuilt. The most interesting of the other buildings is perhaps Coatepantli, or the wall of the snakes, whose name comes from the reliefs on the north face of the pyramid, which shows snakes eating human beings. Near, in front of the Palacio Quemado (Burnt Palace), we find the Chacmool, an inclined statue of a priest on whose chest there is a bowl where they deposited the offerings to the gods. Tula was the capital city of the Toltec Indian Empire. The ruins can still be found forty miles northwest of present day Mexico City which is located on the northern edge of Mesoamerica. It is situated in the Mexican state of Hidalgo and is placed near the modern town of Tula de Allende. The area is in the Valley of Aahuac or what is now called the Valley of Mexico. It is one of the most arid regions where little can be grown, with the exception of maguey, an intrinsic supplier of needles, sap and other products used by the Toltecs. In addition, the city is located on a natural promontory with steep slopes surrounding the city on three sides. The city rose to power after the collapse of Teotihuacan to take control of the basin of Mexico at approximately 968 AD. Even though the city attempted to fill the political shoes of Teotihuacan, the evidence shows that the city was much smaller. The city is laid out on a grid pattern with a ceremonial core and surrounded by pyramids. The city was organized into households which are approximately 1,970 feet (600 meters) square. Inside of these formal households were square or rectangular flat-roofed houses which were grouped into as many as five dwellings which all shared a shrine. The city ruins are characterized by giant stone warriors placed at the temples by the Toltecs. It's maximum size and power was achieved between 950 and 1150 AD and its largest population was between 40,000 and 60,000 people. Its largest geographic size was between 13 and 16 square kilometers. There is much archeological evidence that shows that Tula had lost much of its power and was at least partially abandoned by the year 1200 AD. Many experts think this phenomenon occurred due to a drought and famine which ravaged the city. With the collapse of the city, the temples and pyramids of Tula were razed by other Indian tribes. In Tula, Toltec society grew increasingly militaristic. The knightly orders of jaguar and eagle warriors and the practice of massive human sacrifices are likely to have begun there. The heavily fortified city took on a somber air as war and death became the dominant themes in stone work. Curiously, Tula's idiosyncratic warrior statues, the great Atlantes, are apparently representations not of Tezcatlipoca, but of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the Plumed Serpent in his guise as Morning Star. The influence of the Toltecs was widespread. Artifacts bearing traits of the culture have appeared throughout much of Mexico and even in far off sites in the U.S. southwest and southeast. The Toltecs mysteriously disappeared in the 11th Ccentury. Tula was violently laid to waste in the 12th century, probably at the hand of a people called the Chichimecas, believed to have arrived about a century after the Toltecs' disappearance. Their civilization was far inferior to that of the Toltecs and the 18th century Mexican historian Mariano Veyta describes them as "burrowing in caves or, at best, in cabins of straw."