Teopanzolco
Teopanzolco is an Aztec archaeological site in the Mexican state of Morelos. Due to urban growth, it now lies within the modern city of Cuernavaca. Most of the visible remains date from the Middle to Late Postclassic Period (1300-1521). Etymology. "Teopanzolco" comes from the Nahuatl language, it has been interpreted as "the place of the old temple". Location. Teopanzolco was built upon a hill formed from a lava flow. Although this area is now occupied by the Vista Hermosa district of Cuernavaca, in pre-Columbian times it was an area of coniferous woodland. History of the site. The  Morelos Valley was settled from about 2000 BC. During the Classic Period, Teopanzolco came under the influence of the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico. By the Postclassic, various Nahua groups had moved into the "Altiplano"; the Tlahuicas founded nearby Cuauhnahuac (Cuernavaca) and Teopanzolco itself. They were conquered in 1427 AD by the Aztec emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, after which they were integrated into the Aztec Empire and were obliged to pay tribute and participate in Aztec military campaigns. The prehispanic history of Teopanzolco was brought to a close by the Spanish Conquest in 1521, at which time  the Tlahuicas were still living in the area and paying tribute to the Aztecs. Teopanzolco was probably the original centre of the city of Cuauhnahuac during the Early Aztec period (AD 1150–1350) before the ceremonial centre was moved to a more defensible location, now the centre of the modern city of Cuernavaca. After the relocation of the ceremonial centre no new construction was undertaken at Teopanzolco. The site of Teopanzolco was rediscovered in the 1910s, during the Mexican Revolution, when the revolutionary forces of Emiliano Zapata installed an artillery emplacement upon the Great Platform (Building 1) in order to shell  federalist positions in the centre of Cuernavaca. The resulting cannon fire shook loose the soil, revealing the stonework below. The modern history of Teopanzolco begins with the first excavations at the site in 1921, no further investigations took place until it was excavated in 1956-7 by Mexican archaeologists Román Piña Chan and Eduardo Noguera, who investigated the temple of Ehecatl and established a ceramic sequence for the site. Further archaeological investigations took place in 1968-9 (by Angulo Villaseñor) and in 1980 (by Wanda Tomassi). INAH has undertaken maintenance and minor excavations annually since 1985. The earthquake of September  19, 2017, damaged the main temple. As archaeologists began repairing the damage, they were surprised to find a smaller, previously unknown temple inside, which presumably was dedicated to Tlaloc, the god of rain. Archaeologists discovered stucco-covered walls, a bench, and a pilaster, which may date to the Posclásico Medio period (A.D. 1150-1200). While more studies need to be undertaken to prove this theory, this would mean that the temple of Teopanzolco predates the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. The site. Only the ceremonial centre of Teopanzolco has been preserved. The residential areas of the prehispanic city lie beneath  the modern development of Vista Hermosa, for this reason the actual size of the city is unknown. The surviving remains were built using local basalt. Although nothing survives of the original finishing, the buildings were presumably covered with painted plaster, as at other archaeological sites. Although the site had been developed by both the Tlahuicas and the Aztecs, the dominant architectural style and the majority of the excavated ceramics are Aztec in origin. The site is in the care of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia ("National Institute of Anthropology and History") and is open to the public. Teopanzolco