Ihuatzio Archaeological Site

Inland Michoacán

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The Ihuatzio site contains a partially restored set of pre-Purépecha ruins, some of which date back as far as AD 900. The site lies about 1.5km up a cobbled road from the village’s small plaza. The ruins’ best attraction is the Plaza de Armas, an open ceremonial space some 200m long, which doubled as a ball court and features two 15m-high squared-off pyramids at its west end. The piled stones enclosing the site are muro-calzadas (wall-causeways), used as paths.

Two carved stone coyotes were found at the site. One is in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City and the other at the Museo Regional Michoacano in Morelia. There's a copy in the museum at the Tzintzuntzan Archaeological Site.

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