Xitle

The Xitle volcano (from Nahuatl: xictli 'ombligo') is located in the foothills of Ajusco, in Mexico City, Mexico. It is a cinder cone type volcano (or slag cone), that is, with a conical shape and a round base, an approximate height of 3100 meters above sea level and a slope of between 30 ° and 40°.

Zone

The explosion of the Xitle volcano, located in the volcanic area of Pedregal and Ciudad Universitaria, caused ash that was thrown towards the southwest of the Mexico Basin. The Xitle volcano originated on the slope located north of the Ajusco volcano.

A large part of the samples analyzed were not caused by the Xitle eruption but were the tools or artifacts of human activity, which is considered to precede the eruption of the Xitle volcano. Several samples were originated by the ignition of the vegetation during the emplacement of the hot slag, these are proof that these artifacts are older than the eruption of the Xitle volcano.

This new era is found in the classic Mesoamerican period, while the artifacts found belong to the final stage of the preclassic. It is a volcano that falls into the classification of slag cone and the type of volcanism is called monogenetic, which means that it only erupted once, which was approximately 1600 years ago. Among the main consequences of this eruption is the formation of Pedregal de San Ángel, in the south of Mexico City, as well as the area in which the University City resides. Cuicuilco (from Nahuatl: Place where songs and dances are made), which was one of the most refined city-states in Mesoamerica, was one of the places that the Xitle lava completely covered and destroyed.

The dispersion of the cuicuilcos, and therefore the spread of the cuicuilca culture, they had a complex of religious monuments that no other settlement of the time had, throughout central Mexico is related, for example, with very important cultural revolutions in Teotihuacán, a city that would become the most important cultural and commercial center of central Mesoamerica, in its Classic Period. Cuicuilco began to become depopulated after an eruption of the Xitle volcano that occurred in 471 BC. C. - 721 BC C., but it was not completely abandoned until about a hundred years later, when new eruptions completely covered it with lava.

According to Antonio García Cubas, who followed a tradition collected by Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, the Xitle eruption took place on Nahui-Quiahuitl day of the Tecpatl year, which corresponds to April 24, year 76 of the Christian era.

The Xitle has a diameter of 250 m and is shaped like a funnel; Its crater, 50 m deep, is occupied by large boulders that have fallen from its walls. The entire volcano is covered with vegetation, which is why it is mistaken for a hill; it is located on the slopes of Ajusco with another entourage called Teutl. Currently in this circular settlement “Cuicuilco pyramid”, in the Cuicuilco ecological park, is the National School of Anthropology and History, which carry out some research on the site.

Location

The Xitle was a natural, magical and emblematic icon of the pre-Hispanic era; place of cultural developments of historical significance such as the city of Cuicuilco, it is now an ecological recreation site, important and highly representative of the Tlalpan delegation. This volcanic icon whose name in Nahuatl means “navel”, is a surprising site, with beautiful landscapes, where on clear days, from the top, you can see Mexico City in all its splendor.

The Xitle is sometimes confused with a hill, due to the great vegetation that covers the place; but in reality, this vast concentration of rock is a powerful volcano. This volcano is located at a height of 3,937 meters above sea level. It has other mouths: Cerro Cuatzontle or Conejo, Cerro Malinale, Cerro Olican, Cerro Mezontepec, Cerro de los cerritos, Cerro de las Minas, Cerro Malacatepec, Cerro el vigilante, Cerro Oyameyo, Cerro Mechacatepec, Cerro Pelado, Cerro el Guarda and Chichinautzin Hill. Currently, El Xitle is a recreational site for lovers of mountaineering and ecotourism. There are different tourist companies that offer guided tours in their packages, where the volcanic caves are considered the main attraction: visitors will be able to get to know the innards of the land and enter rocky confines, full of abstract shapes and figures that fly the imagination of the walker.

Place to visit

The mysticism that surrounds the El Xitle volcano is another of the elements that make the site a place to visit. The fauna and flora of the region, as well as ancestral traditions and customs, depend on its ecological and cultural conservation. Precisely, on May 3, the festival of the Holy Cross is celebrated at the El Xitle volcano; Some elderly people say that they attended the masses that were previously held at the top of the volcano to give thanks for the water from the springs and ask that they never dry up; The residents say “that if they did not perform their mass at the spring, it would become worm-ridden.” Another reason is to bless the crosses to place in the five lots where they keep the corn.

The El Xitle volcano is located south of Mexico City, at kilometer 12.5 of San Andrés Totoltepec, it belongs to the Tlalpan Delegation, and due to real estate and government interests, it is in danger. It is up to the residents of the Delegation that the authorities do not put a natural icon of Tlalpan at risk.

The geological configuration

The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) is an area of orientation found between 19 and 20 latitude, which extends up to 1000 km from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Its root is linked to the subduction of the Cocos plate that is located below the North American plate. In the Xitle volcano, its basaltic scoria and cinder cone are located within the Sierra del Chichinautzin, which is a volcanic area in the central zone of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

The SCVF is a volcanic plateau that has a direction that extends from the western slope of Popocatépetl in the east, to the eastern part of the Toluca valley, in the west. This volcanic field represents the volcanic front of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, this area is located in the continental drainage, which is the dividing line that separates the basin of Mexico City, the valleys of Cuernavaca and Cuautla.

Since then, the formation of the volcanic plateau is sealed towards the southern basin. The volcanic plateau has many of the concentrations of volcanoes in the entire Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which contains around 200 or more cinder cones, and lava shields interspersed with alluvial sediments that cover an area of approximately 2500 km² (Bloomeld, 1975; Martín del Pozzo, 1982; Lugo Hubp, 1984).

Historical background and archaeological excavations

The Aztecs and other cultures in the Valley of Mexico had inhabited the area that is covered in lava today. Cummings believed that he had discovered the oldest temple in America, just as Cossío (1936) discovered that much archaeological material could be found above the lava as well as inside its tunnels. Several investigations were carried out where it was revealed that the Cuicuilco pyramid was used as a cemetery. Thus it was also discovered that the size of the pyramid was achieved only after an original, since it was small in size, but the height and diameter were increased by at least 5 successive additions.

In 1956, Palerm and Wolf discovered evidence of the ancient use of fixed streams for irrigation. They also discovered two irrigation canals on Cerro Zacatépetl, which were covered by lava from the Xitle volcano.

Martínez del Río (1934) and Noguera (1940) came to the conclusion that the area where the lava was found was used for hunting during the Postclassic period, as well as pilgrimages to the lava, rituals and burials..

In 1960, Piña Chan (1967) discovered near Coyoacán, a place on the lava that contained pieces of Coyotlatelco style ceramics, which belonged to the Epiclassic period, that is, Toltec, which corresponds with the passage of time to the disappearance of Teotihuacán (800 AD).

Charcoal samples obtained directly from the Xitle ashes (i.e. charcoal produced by forest fires caused by the eruption itself) have yielded younger ages of 1670 +/- 35 years BP (equivalent to the year 280 +/- 35 of our era).

If the lava event occurred approximately two thousand years ago, according to geologists Tempest Anderson of England, Karl Wittich of Germany, and NM Darton of the United States Geological Survey, then the geological and cultural stratification of the sites found between Cuicuilco and the lava, indicate the long period between the creation of the temple and the eruption of the Xitle volcano and the birth of the scree.

The limited collections of ceramics available at the time suggested that Cuicuilco's roots existed in 1000 BC.

Unfortunately, all of the Cuicuilco excavations were carried out in construction zones, and therefore many layers were often subject to variable interpretation.

Cuicuilco was the main center of a new ceramic tradition, which was very important in the Valley of Mexico during this period and was formed in part of the Teotihuacan tradition.

Muller (1990) examined the ceramic fragments found during the excavations in Cuicuilco, where a conclusion was reached that these pieces belonged to the Middle Preclassic period 1000-800 BC. C. and was abandoned between the year 150 BC. C.- 100 d. C.