Quiahuiztlan

Quiahuiztlan is a small archaeological site, around 85 kilometers north of the modern Mexican port city of Veracruz on a flat ground metates paragraph is about a third of the height of a free-standing about, herausgewitterten volcano chimney, the Cerro de los. It belongs to the post- classical period (from 900 AD ) and lasted until its conquest by the Spanish conquistadors in the course of it was left.

Nearby, the conqueror of Mexico, Hernán Cortés, founded in 1519, the first Spanish city, the Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, which, however, was abandoned after five years and moved further south. In Quiahuiztlan Cortés took place at the Totonac and their ruler, which he called the "Fat Cacique ", the crucial support for his campaign of conquest against the Aztecs.

Characteristics of the specific only for ritual purposes village are strange tombs, as they occur only here and at a few places in the immediate area. Beyond the actual tombs temples were built in miniature, which are rarely more than half a meter. They are equal to the great temples, in rows on low platforms with a central staircase and enclose a rectangular open space. The 78 small temples are not arranged in several groups from each other. Your mostly good state of preservation (though the degree of restoration can not be clearly determined) gives an accurate impression of how the great temples have looked, of which usually only remains are preserved. So it is with the normal-sized temples of Quiahuiztlan, between which lie the small grave sites. Of them, the foundations are only obtained. Parts of the district with the tombs and temples are surrounded by a low wall, which is less of a hindrance than a symbolic demarcation.

The ball court, which emphasizes the ritual character of the place, is on a slightly lower level terrain. He has the typical form with a wide Spielgasse, narrow and low heels on both sides, sloping walls and reflex hofartigen extensions at both ends of the playing alley. The building material throughout Quiahuiztlan are stone slabs that are pending so natural and require no special dressing.