Yácatas of the Purepesha Empire

Yácatas of the Purepesha Empire

The capital of the Taruscan kingdom of Purepecha near the ancient 16th-century Franciscan monastery San Francisco de Asís known for its ancient olive trees and colonial history meaning "place of the hummingbirds" Purepecha thwarted the westward expansion of the Aztecs by building fortifications and patrolling its borders. Purepecha was skilled in metalworking particularly copper.Artifacts unearthed from burial sites at the base of the pyramids include pottery copper tools and obsidian objects

The site is famous for its five restored T-shaped semicircular and rectangular temples known as yácatas which served as bases for wooden temples popular. Festivals were held between Christmas and New Year featuring a ball game called uarukua and traditional dances.

The Tzintzuntzan Archaeological Zone is located i

n the state of Michoacán, Mexico, the last capital of the Purepecha Empire.

The most prominent structure is the yácatas unique semicircular stone pyramid bases characteristic of this civilization. These semicircular-rectangled pyramids were the locally known ritual pyramids the Purepecha were one of the few indigenous groups in Mexico that the Aztecs could not conquer. 

However despite the conquest their influence led to the development of the first Mesoamerican territory before they nearly disappeared from history. Archaeological evidence dating back to the early pre-classic period including radiocarbon dating of rocks pre-2,500 BC. such as grooved arrowheads and stone tools found in large hunting grounds of the early pre-classic Picuaro culture on the northern border of Mesoamerica indicates fortifications and patrolling along the border with the Aztecs the Purepecha civilization possessed expertise in metalworking a skill linked to later Purepecha cultural forms.