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Toltec Site of Tula

Type Object Region Mesoamerica Time c. 850–1200

Tula, in present-day Hidalgo, Mexico, is the site of the Postclassic Toltec capital, famed for the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Atlante warrior columns…

Timeline

  1. c. 900–1100Tula · MexicoThe Toltecs established their capital in the central Mexican highlands, building Pyramid B of the Feathered Serpent and the colonnaded plaza; Atlante warrior columns and serpent-wall reliefs embodied martial values and Feathered Serpent worship, and Tula became the political and cultural hub of Postclassic Mesoamerica.
  2. c. 1171–1180Tula site · MexicoAround 1175, Tula's function as a capital had diminished, but its grand ruins and Toltec artistic traditions still circulated among the city-states of the Valley of Mexico, regarded as a model of craft and orthodoxy, providing the prototype for 'Tollan' in later Aztec mythology.
  3. c. 1150–1200Tula · MexicoArchaeological evidence shows Tula suffered fire and systematic destruction, its population moved away, and the capital was abandoned; the site's buildings and stone carvings survive, becoming key material for studying Postclassic Mesoamerican urbanization and militaristic art.

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