Teopantecuanitlán

Teopantecuanitlán is an archaeological site in the dry upper Balsas basin in north-eastern Guerrero, north of the village of Tlalcozotitlán in the municipality of Copalillo, about 8 km from where the Amacuzac and Mezcala rivers meet. INAH calls it the only settlement in Guerrero with Olmec-style monumental architecture. It was found in 1983 by archaeologist Guadalupe Martínez Donjuán after reports of looting, and the name, Nahuatl for 'place of the temple of the jaguar gods', was chosen at a meeting of people from the neighbouring villages. The site sits at the foot of a steep hill and spreads over some 160 to 200 hectares.

Radiocarbon dates place its main occupation between about 1400 and 600 BC, in three phases, with a later settlement around AD 750 when its ball court was built. Its centre is El Recinto, a sunken patio about 2 m below the ground, faced with travertine blocks. Four large, almost identical travertine sculptures of feline beings, each weighing 3 to 5 tonnes, stand on its east and west walls; their placement has been linked to the equinoxes and an agricultural calendar, and a sign on the back of one may be among the oldest calendar dates known in Mesoamerica. Archaeologists also found what is described as the oldest known dam in Mesoamerica, from around 1200 BC, stone-lined canals, early corbel vaults, and Olmec-style ceramics, imported shell and obsidian that point to trade between the Gulf Coast and the highlands.

The Nahua villages of the Alto Balsas, Acingo, Tinajas and Tenantitlán, regard Teopantecuanitlán as their most sacred place. At their request, INAH renewed the perimeter fence and installed a new introductory room in December 2024; its labels are written first in Nahuatl, translated by local teachers. Scattered around the plaza north of the sunken patio are more sculptures, including a frog and a small Olmec-style head.