Zona Arqueológica de Toluquilla

Toluquilla stretches along the top of a narrow ridge surrounded by ravines, with a single way in from the north. It is the largest and best preserved of the pre-Hispanic towns of the southern Sierra Gorda, with about 210 structures spread over 17 hectares, and it has four ball courts, more than any other known site in Querétaro.

People lived here from roughly 400 AD until shortly before the Spanish conquest. Like neighboring Ranas, the town lived from mining cinnabar, the red mercury pigment used in elite burials, and traded with El Tajín, Teotihuacan, Tula and Michoacán, yet it was never conquered by any of them. Mining engineers in the 19th century took its walls for fortifications; archaeologists later showed they were house platforms, ball courts and temples.

The tallest temple, Building 15, rises about 8 meters at the end of the first ball court and hides six earlier buildings inside, including a round one. Its jutting cornices copy the style of El Tajín. Note: INAH closed Toluquilla in October 2025 after storm damage to the roads, and as of mid-2026 it was still closed for rehabilitation.