These fotos are of the main UNAM campus and the circular piramides (Cuicuilco) just west of the campus in the south of Mexico City.  I lived in campus housing across the street next to the old Olympic Stadium.

Back to Mexico City Index
 

The archeological zone of Cuicuilo was one the first towns of the Valley of Mexico. This pyramid is located south of University City and reached its splendor period from the 600 b.C. to the 200 b.C.

One the most highlighting aspects of this structure is its conic form because it is the only construction of Mesoamerica with that form. It could be the conic form is because it was the first monumental building of the Valley of Mexico and for that the builders wanted to recreate the shape of the big mountains that surround the site to consolidate their power over the people  by pretending that the governors were the proprietors of the mountains.

Paradoxically this prosperous town was destroyed by the surrounding mountains because around the 200 B.C. the Xitle volcano erupted, graving partially with lava this zone, and this zone was hidden until the year 1922 when it was discovered. Since then Cuicuiclo is one the major attractions of the city and in the spring equinox there are realized festivals like in Teotihuacan. You can easily get to this zone by Insurgentes Sur Avenue or by the Periferico highway