Tlatelolco's archaeological zone

By Miguel Angel Gutierrez

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Archeologists have discovered the ruins of
an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of the Mexican capital that
could show the ancient city is at least a century older than previously
thought.

Mexican archeologists found the ruins, which are about 36 feet (11
metres) high, in the central Tlatelolco area, once a major religious
and political centre for the Aztec elite.

The pyramid, found last month as part of an investigation begun in
August, could have been built in 1100 or 1200, signalling the Aztecs
began to develop their civilization in the mountains of central Mexico
earlier than believed.
 
"We have found the stairs of this,
much older pyramid. The (Aztec) timeline is going to need to be
revised," archaeologist Patricia Ledesma said at the site on Thursday.
 
Tlatelolco,
visited by thousands of tourists for its pre-Hispanic ruins and
colonial-era Spanish church and convent, is also infamous for the 1968
massacre of leftist students by state security forces there, days
before Mexico hosted the Olympic Games.
 
Ledesma and the
archaeological group's coordinator, Salvador Guilliem, said they will
continue to dig and study the area next year to get a better idea of
the pyramid's size and age.

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The ruins of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid discovered in the central Tlatelolco area had updated the foundation time of the Mexico City at least by a century, media reported Friday.
 
    The ancient city, once a major religious and political center for the Aztecs, was thought to be founded in 1325 after the discovery of another pyramid at the site 15 years ago.
 
    "We have found the stairs of this, much older pyramid. The (Aztec) timeline is going to need to be revised," archeologist Patricia Ledesma said.
 
    The newly found pyramid is believed to have been built in 1100 or 1200. The ruin is about 36 feet (11 meters) high, and more studies are still needed for prove the pyramid's size and age.
 
    "What we hope to find soon should tell us much more about the society of Tlatelolco," said Ledesma.
 
    Mexico City is littered with pre-Hispanic ruins.
 
    The Aztecs, a warlike and religious people who built monumental works ruled an empire stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and encompassing much of modern-day central Mexico.

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The ruins of an ancient pyramid in central Mexico City may indicate that the area was inhabited at least 100 years earlier than previously thought, Mexican archaeologists said Thursday.
 
    The 11-meter pyramid, found in the central Tlatelolco area last month, could have been built by the Aztecs in 1100 or 1200 A.D., according to archaeologists.
 
    In 1992, another pyramid was discovered in Tlatelolco, a world famous archeological site.
 
    Since then, historians have thought Tlatelolco was founded by the Aztecs in 1325 as a twin city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, which became Mexico City after an invasion by Spanish conquistadors in 1521.
 
    In August, archaeologists also found what they believe was Tenochtitlan's main pyramid in Iztapalapa, an eastern district of Mexico City.
 
    The Aztecs, who once ruled an empire stretching from Mexico's Pacific to Atlantic coasts, built massive pyramids across what is now central Mexico.