Zona Arqueológica de Chimalacatlán

Chimalacatlan sits on the levelled summit of Cerro del Venado, above a bend of the Amacuzac River in the Sierra de Huautla, in the municipality of Tlaquiltenango. The Nahuatl name is usually read as "place of reed shields". INAH dates the occupation from about 1200 BC to the early 16th century, with periods of abandonment and re-settlement by different peoples. The city was built from the mid-slope upward: houses and workshops lower down, and the civic and ceremonial buildings, with temples, plazas and a ballcourt, near the top.

What sets it apart is the stonework. The platforms are made of very large limestone blocks, up to about 3 m long according to the ARX project, and the lower platform of Group B, the best preserved, measures roughly 40 by 30 m and rises to 8 m at one corner. Local guides describe three groups: A, low on the hill, with a long ballcourt between high walls; B, the megalithic platforms among cacti; and C, the highest point, with terraces of smaller stones and a wide view. On a clear day you can see Lake Tequesquitengo, Xochicalco and villages in Guerrero.

The site has been known since the late 19th century, when Francisco Plancarte y Navarrete, bishop of Cuernavaca, published on it. INAH studies it under the project Sur de Morelos: Chimalacatlán, led by archaeologist Mario Córdova Tello. In 2011, consolidation work on the summit platform uncovered an offering: a vessel bearing the face of Tlaloc, a necklace of six shells and another of eight green stone beads, suggesting the rain god was worshipped there.

Be aware that it is not an officially open archaeological zone: INAH said so in its 2021 report, adding that the site receives periodic attention. People from the village of Chimalacatlan, about 2 km away, act as guides and lend horses for the climb, and the village has a small community museum with Ice Age animal bones from a nearby cave.