{{Short description|Mountain and archaeological site in Ixtapaluca and Texcoco, Mexico}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Cerro Tláloc | image = Monte_Tláloc.jpg | image_caption = Cerro Tláloc from the summit of [[Telapón]] | image_size = | elevation_m = 4158 | elevation_ref = <ref name=pb>{{cite web|url=https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=8031|title=Cerro Tláloc, Mexico|publisher=peakbagger.com|access-date=December 13, 2023}}</ref> | prominence_m = 968 | isolation_km = 22.65 | listing = [[List_of_mountain_peaks_of_Mexico#Highest_major_summits|9th highest major summit of Mexico]]<br/>[[List of the highest major summits of North America|88th highest major summit of North America]] | location = [[Ixtapaluca]] and [[Texcoco, State of Mexico|Texcoco]] municipalities, [[State of Mexico]], [[Mexico]] | range = | coordinates = {{coord|19|24.44|N|98|42.45|W|type:mountain|display=inline,title}} | topo = | type = [[Stratovolcano]] | age = [[Plio-Pleistocene]] | volcanic_belt = [[Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt]] | last_eruption = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = hike }}
'''Cerro Tláloc''' (sometimes wrongly listed as ''Cerro el Mirador''; [[Nahuatl]]: '''''Tlalocatépetl''''') is a [[mountain]] and [[archaeological site]] in central [[Mexico]]. It is located in the [[State of Mexico]], in the municipalities of [[Ixtapaluca]] and [[Texcoco, State of Mexico|Texcoco]], close to the state border with [[Puebla]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cuentame.inegi.org.mx/monografias/informacion/mex/territorio/relieve.aspx?tema=me&e=15|title= Relieve. Estado de México|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website= Cuéntame de México|publisher= [[INEGI]]|access-date= 2016-10-28}}</ref> Formerly an active [[volcano]], it has an [[elevation]] of {{convert|4158|m|ft|0}}, thus being the ninth highest mountain of Mexico.
The mountain was considered by the [[Nahua people|Nahuan peoples]], foremost among them the [[Aztec]]s, to be specially sacred to the raingod [[Tláloc]]. In fact, the mountain was believed to be one of his primary earthly dwelling places, called [[Tlālōcān]]. Attribution of this and other mountains to the sacred presence of rain deities predates the Aztec era by centuries, even millennia. At the summit there are still remains of a shrine where high ceremonies would have been carried out. The rites of Tláloc were otherwise performed at his temples, most famously that occupying one half of the [[Templo Mayor]] at the heart of the temple precinct of nearby Mexico-[[Tenochtitlan]]. The inherent analogy of temple pyramids to sacred mountains allows for the very likely possibility that the central temple of the Aztec capital, as such, was at least partly a symbolic representation of the actual Cerro Tláloc, and that the summit shrine of the temple was itself an analogue to that atop the mountain. The shrine atop is one of the highest-elevation shrines in the world.
Together with Mount Telapón ({{convert|4060|m|ft|0}}) and some other, lower peaks, Cerro Tláloc forms the "Sierra de Río Frío", the northernmost tip of the [[Sierra Nevada (Mexico)|Sierra Nevada]]. The mountain is easily accessible from [[Mexican Federal Highway 150|Federal Highway 150]] at the town of [[Río Frío de Juárez]]. The long, but easy and non-technical hike provides an elevation gain of over 1200 m.<ref name= Neyra>{{cite book |last= Neyra Jáuregui|first= Jorge A.|date= 2012|title= Guía de las altas montañas de México y una de Guatemala|location= Mexico City|publisher= [[CONABIO]]|pages= 142–163|isbn=978-607-7607-60-1}}</ref> More strenuous routes depart from San Pablo Ixayoc<ref>{{cite summitpost |id=151413 |name=Tláloc (Tlálocatepetl) |accessdate=2016-10-28}}</ref> and from other towns outside Texcoco.
==Geology== Cerro Tláloc is an eroded [[stratovolcano]] and the oldest and northernmost volcano in a volcanic chain extending south to [[Popocatépetl]]. Volcanism at Tláloc initiated during the [[Pliocene]], with volcanic activity continuing until the [[Late Pleistocene]]. A major [[Plinian eruption]] about 31,500 years ago produced [[pyroclastic flow]]s and a major [[pyroclastic fall]] deposit composed of [[pumice]].<ref>{{cite gvp|vn=341825|title=Tláloc|accessdate=2020-06-20}}</ref>
==Mountain's precinct== [[File:Monte Tláloc - Calzada.jpg|thumb|Archeological site atop Cerro Tláloc]] Cerro Tláloc features an enclosed precinct on its summit which could be reached through by taking a pathway up the mountain and entering the western side of the enclosure. The structure of the precinct consisted largely of pumice and tufa, which were locally found and were easily molded due to their soft physicality. The precinct houses 5 rock formations, one at the center and 4 at the corners of the ''tetzacualo'', or courtyard. The center rock is thought to be analogous to the [[Codex Borgia]] which depicts [[Tláloc]] standing in the center of his four rain forms (which are represented by the four directions).<ref>{{cite book |last= Townsend |first= R. F. |date= 1991 |title= To Change Place: Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes|publisher= University Press of Colorado |pages= 26–30}}</ref> These 5 rock formations are representative of the [[Tlaloque]], which are spirits that used vessels of water to distribute rain across the land. In addition, one side of the courtyard featured a construct that housed a statue of [[Tláloc]] among other idols that represented nearby sacred regions. This precinct served a major role in allowing a setting at which supplication could be made to the [[Tlaloque]] for sustenance of crops and the people of Mesoamerica.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Iwaniszewski|first=Stanisław|date=June 1994|title=Archaeology and Archaeoastronomy of Cerro Tláloc, Mexico: A Reconsideration|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/971561.pdf|journal=Latin American Antiquity|volume=5|issue=2|pages=158–176|doi=10.2307/971561|jstor=971561 |access-date=February 2, 2023}}</ref>
==Ritual practices== The Aztecs were known for their rituals that were undertaken in order to secure rain for the land. Extravagant ceremonies and plentiful offerings, were offered to [[Tláloc]] in order to please him several times each year with an emphasis at the beginning of the rain season. One annual feast called [[Huey Tozoztli]] occurred atop Cerro Tláloc and coincided with the date of highest annual temperature, which usually occurred in April, right before the start of the rainy season. The rulers and elites of [[Tenochtitlan]] and nearby states, such as [[Xochimilco]], [[Tlaxcala (Nahua state)|Tlaxcala]], and [[Tlacopan]], were also cited to have joined the feast. Another ceremony that took place atop Cerro Tláloc was Atlachualo which was celebrated from mid-February to early March.The main objective of these offerings were to please Tláloc and the [[Tlaloque]] in order to ensure rainfall for the rainy season to come, hence why both of the above ceremonies occurred a few months before the rainy season of summer.<ref>{{cite book |last= Carrasco |first= David |date= 1981 |title= ''Religions of Mesoamerica''|publisher= Harper-Collins Publishers}}</ref>{{Pages needed|date=November 2024}}
==Archaeological findings== Due to the irregularities of the damage done to the walls of the enclosure, researchers have claimed that the damage was likely as a result of human contact, rather than natural phenomena. The site was originally covered with pieces of green stone, shards of pottery, and obsidian blades. The archaeologists claim that the site maybe have been used up until the end of the Christian era. The modern shrine that appears is currently at the summit was likely built around the 1970s as an aerial view of the ritual site in 1956 does not show the current statue.
==See also== * [[Aztec mythology]] * [[List of mountain peaks of Mexico]] * [[Tláloc]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{cite peakbagger |pid=8031 |name=Cerro Tláloc |accessdate=2016-10-28}} * {{cite bivouac |32981 |Cerro Tláloc |2016-10-28}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tláloc}} [[Category:Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America]] [[Category:Mountains of Mexico]] [[Category:Stratovolcanoes of Mexico]] [[Category:Pliocene stratovolcanoes]] [[Category:Pleistocene stratovolcanoes]] [[Category:Geography of Mesoamerica]] [[Category:Sacred mountains of Mexico]] [[Category:Four-thousanders of North America]] [[Category:Volcanoes of the State of Mexico]]