OUTSTANDING ARTICLES

Discover more?

There are 38,102 archeological sites around the Mexican territory, 175 of which are open to the public. In these places full of magic the visitors can discover the secrets concealed by the impressive constructions the ancient cultures created, i.e. the Aztec, Mayan and Teotihuacano civilizations.

Mexico is a country full of archeological remains. By June 2006, the National Institute of Anthropology and Archeology had registered 38,102 places where archeologically valuable traces of the ancient Mexican cultures have been found. These sites include monumental pyramids and impressive temples such as Teotihuacán in the state of Mexico, Palenque in Chiapas and Chichen Itza and Uxmal in Yucatan; El Tajin in Veracruz and Monte Alban in Oaxaca; all of these declared as World Heritage. But there are also small-scale places definitely worth of visiting, like the complex of houses in Paquime, Chiapas or the prehistoric cave paintings in Sierra de San Francisco, in the south of Baja California. For those interested in paleontology, there are surprising remains of prehistoric animals and fossils, like the ones found in Rincón Colorado, in the state of Coahuila.

Still today, specialists find new archeological treasures as the country?s ancient settlements are covered by the thickness of forests and by mounds of soil which have accumulated due to erosion or are simply buried under the current urbanizations. A good example of the latter one is the ancient capital city of the Mexicas, the city of Tenochtitlán: its temples and buildings are all buried under the streets in the historical center of Mexico City.