This site is located above the La Venta Corridor, a pass linking the Tequila valleys with the Atemajac valley to the east. Along with the Southwestern Tepopote Complex, it sits around 100-150 meters above the floor of the pass and is surrounded by sheer rock faces and artificially constructed walls and terraces. More defensible locations are to be found higher up the mountain, but the builders chose this location. I have suggested that this center, like several others, served as a boundary site for the Teuchitlan polity at its peak, monitoring access to the core.

Minor test excavations in 1994 confirmed what we already knew from the surface architecture. The site was occupied during the Classic period (with Teuchitlan Tradition architecture and probably the defensive walls), but another component dates to the Atemajac phase. The distinctive Corral architecture is found within a limited sector of the site, and the builders even appear to have constructed atop older platforms. The Corral structures are lightly visible in the map above, particularly in the southeastern quadrant of the site.

Comments to Chris Beekman