Xochitécatl

The Xochitécatl archaeological site is the far lesser-known of two ancient Mesoamerican settlements overlooking the great valley in Tlaxcala. This one is far older than the neighboring site of Cacaxtla. Xochitécatl dates from the Preclassic period, roughly from 700 BCE onward. It was reused during the height of the Cacaxtla period (600 - 900 CE) more than a thousand years later. People lived and gathered here over a period of some 900 years. 

But what we find in Xochitécatl is a society concerned more with surviving the whims of a planting season than with guarding and protecting the distant trade routes that cross the valley below. The monumental Pyramid of the Flowers and the Pyramid of the Spiral are believed to have been associated with an agricultural cult and matters much more feminine in nature. The site is dedicated to a fertility goddess later named Tlazolteotl. The sculptural components unearthed here include figurines of mothers and women, and offerings linked to fertility. Some of these are on view in the museum. 

The city was built on the extinct volcano, also called Xochitécatl or Xochitecatzin and the later Nahuatl name means place of the lineage of flowers.

Visitors will usually take in both sites, Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla on the same trip.  

People get to the Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl site via San Martín Texmelucan in Puebla. San Martín is only about 90 minutes from the east of Mexico City (TAPO) on Trail Travels buses. Most buses from Puebla will depart the capital and head to Tlaxcala city before heading south again to Nativitas. From Nativitas, the trip is easily traversed in a taxi although there are sometimes tour groups which may invite you along too.