Archaeologists Discovered a Lost Ancient Temple of Legend In Mexico

For generations, legends have circulated in the Mexican city of Atlixco about a long-lost temple, or teocalli, that was built by the Indigenous peoples in the area long before the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s. Locals, known as Atlixquenses, believe this teocalli once stood on the summit of San Miguel Hill, a towering volcanic mound that is adorned with a Catholic chapel today. 

Now, archaeologists have discovered vestiges of this rumored teocalli, validating the suspicions of many Atlixquenses, according to a new statement from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), a Mexican government agency devoted to the nation’s history. 

Vestiges of the temple were found this summer by a team tasked with reinforcing structures of the Catholic chapel, which is dedicated to the archangel San Miguel. INAH researchers Miguel Medina Jaen and Carlos Cedillo Ortega, along with archaeologist Elvia Cristina Sánchez de la Barquera, found artifacts and buried structures that existed more than 1,000 years ago, when this region was inhabited by the Mesoamerican Nahua culture that flourished for centuries.

The researchers were initially tipped off to the presence of the temple when they came across pre-Columbian artifacts—such as clay vessels, stone tools, and decorative ornaments—under the chapel. Further digging revealed stone walls and floors that once belonged to the ancient teocalli, which were buried just a few feet below the modern chapel. 

Taken together, the excavation, which ran from July and August of this year, has allowed “archaeologists to affirm that a teocalli did exist on the summit of the hill, San Miguel, and that it had at least two construction stages,” according to the INAH statement.

The discovery confirms centuries of speculation among locals, but it also raises a host of new questions. It appears that the temple was built and rebuilt over the course of the Late Preclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican period, a timespan that roughly covers 100 BCE to 1000 CE, but it is not clear what Mesoamerican deities the building honored. The researchers speculated that the temple may have been a place of worship for deities such as Quetzalcóatl (creator and civilizer of humanity), Tláloc (giver of rain) or Macuilxóchitl (a patron of play, dance, and festivities).

The experts concluded that “other segments of the teocalli and greater clues to clarify its titular deity may still lie under the viceregal chapel of San Miguel Arcángel,” the statement said. “Even with this aura of mystery, the archaeological confirmation of that ancient popular belief of more than 400 years will help strengthen the identity of the Atlixquenses.”