Zempoala

This small archaeological site is the original Totonoc city of Cempoala. When you enter the main gate, you are in the city's main ceremonial center, one of 10 precincts into which the city was organized. The city was engineered for flood control, with some structures set on mounds and some walls positioned to act as dikes when river levels rose. The city also had underground aqueducts, serving to distribute fresh water through the city. To the left is the Great Pyramid, which will probably disappoint visitors who have been to Teotihuacan or some of the great Maya cities of the Yucatan. It is lower and smaller, but visitors are allowed to climb the pyramid here. On the opposite side of the quadrangle is the Great Temple, which was the city's primary ceremonial center. The site is fairly large and there are dozens of temples that can be explored, including the Temple of Charity, which was originally decorated with a wall of stucco skulls and was dedicated to the god of death. Many mounds were the sites of humble homes, mostly adobe structures with thatched roofs. A small site museum displays some trinkets from the site, but most of the significant pieces are in museums, especially the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City.