EL IZTEPETE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ZONE

The important El Iztepete archaeological zone is easily accessible from the Plaza del Sol–Chapalita district. By taxi or car, simply drive southwest along Avenida Mariano Otero, about two miles (three kilometers) past the periférico (peripheral boulevard), to the Iztepete parking lot on the right. Alternatively, ride the 59A bus, southbound, from the stop on Avenida Mariano Otero, on the east (“back”) side of Plaza del Sol shopping center, to the Iztepete stop just past the periférico.

Walk through the entrance gate (open daily 9 a.m.–5 p.m., no facilities) and begin looking along the path for some of the glistening, jet-black volcanic glass shards, the source of the label “El Iztepete” (“Hill of Obsidian”).  

Most archaeologists who excavated this site, beginning with José Corona Núñez, in 1954, now believe that El Iztepete was probably both a ceremonial-pilgrimage center and commercial meeting ground for both working and bartering for obsidian. People probably gathered from all over western Mexico to both pay homage to the gods and obtain obsidian, prized for decorative and practical purposes—cutting tools, knives, hunting implements, and weapons.

Climb the reconstructed ceremonial stairway to the summit of the main (and only excavated) mound, a height of about 20 feet (six meters) above the surrounding fields. Look toward the horizon, opposite the periférico, for the hulking, truncated silhouette of the active Cerro Colli volcano several miles to the southwest.

In the foreground, the approximately 15-acre brushy field occupies the core of a much larger archaeological zone that extends over a 10-square-mile (25-square-kilometer) irregular area to the south, southeast, and northwest. Also in the foreground, look for the three other brush-covered mounds, including a suspected ball court about 150 yards south, all yet to be excavated.

Back at the main mound, excavations have revealed that the present construction, dating from around a.d. 900, represents the third and final construction that overlays, like the peels of an onion, two earlier lower platforms, dating from around a.d. 1 and a.d. 400. Some archaeologists believe that the earliest two constructions, especially their stairways and rectangular substructures, show strong Teotihuacán influences.