Tula (Mesoamerican site)

Listen to the gravel under your shoes. Feel the dry wind that moves across this hilltop and smells faintly of dust and scrub. Ahead of you, on top of a stepped platform, four stone giants stand in a row. They are dark grey, almost black, and they look out over the Tula valley. Their faces are calm and hard to read. You have arrived at the old heart of Tula, the city that later peoples remembered as Tollan.

This was the capital of the Toltecs. It reached its peak roughly between the tenth and twelfth centuries. For several generations, it was one of the most powerful cities in central Mexico. It controlled trade routes, and its art spread far beyond this valley. Today the town of Tula de Allende has grown up around the ruins. Even so, the ceremonial centre still feels set apart. It sits on a ridge, with wide open views in almost every direction.

Here is the first surprise. The Aztecs, who came to power centuries after Tula fell, treated this place almost as a legend. In their language, Nahuatl, the word for Toltec came to mean something like a master craftsman or a true artist. Aztec rulers claimed Toltec ancestry to make their own power look legitimate. They also dug into these ruins and carried objects back to their own capital. So when you stand here, you stand in a place that was already ancient and admired five hundred years ago.

Now look at the platform with the giants. Archaeologists call it Pyramid B. It is often linked to Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the god of the Morning Star, which is the planet Venus at dawn. Climb the steps if they are open. At the top, the stone warriors stand where they once supported the roof of a temple. Each figure is more than four metres tall. Each is built from several basalt blocks, stacked one on top of another and fitted together with stone joints.

Locals and guidebooks call these figures the Atlantes. Come close and study the details. Each warrior wears a tall feathered headdress. On his chest is a pectoral shaped like a stylised butterfly. In one hand he holds a spear-thrower, called an atlatl, a tool that let a warrior throw darts with much greater force. In the other hand he holds a bundle of darts and a curved weapon. On the back of each figure, look for a round disc. This was a mirror-like ornament worn at the small of the back.

Here is the second surprise. The giants were not found standing like this. During excavations in the middle of the twentieth century, led by the Mexican archaeologist Jorge Acosta, the warriors were found in pieces. The sections had been buried in a trench next to the pyramid. Archaeologists lifted them out and put them back together. That is why you can still see the lines where each block meets the next. What looks like a single statue is really a careful puzzle.

Behind the warriors stand square pillars carved with more figures. Together, the giants and the pillars once held up a roof of wood and plaster. Imagine a dark room at the top of the stairs, with these stone guards standing in the shadows. Now walk around the base of the pyramid. On its sides, look for carved panels. You will see jaguars and coyotes walking in procession. You will also see eagles holding what appear to be human hearts.

To the north side of the pyramid runs a low wall that scholars call the Coatepantli, which means serpent wall. Its carved frieze shows snakes that seem to swallow human skeletons. The images are graphic, but they are also very orderly, repeated again and again in a long band. For the people of Tula, death, sacrifice and cosmic cycles were part of public life. These walls showed that worldview to everyone who walked past.

Next to the pyramid lies a large building with many rows of column bases. It is known as the Burnt Palace, because excavators found clear signs of fire there. This was probably a great hall for gatherings and councils. Look along the walls for low stone benches. Their fronts carry carved and painted reliefs of richly dressed figures walking in a line. In one or two places you may also notice a Chac Mool, a reclining stone figure holding a dish on its stomach.

The Chac Mool is an interesting puzzle. Very similar reclining figures, and similar warrior columns, appear at Chichén Itzá, far away in the Yucatán. For many decades, scholars have debated what this connection means. Was there a migration, a conquest, a shared elite, or simply strong trade and influence? There is no single agreed answer. What is clear is that Tula's style travelled across Mesoamerica, the cultural region that covers much of Mexico and Central America.

The central plaza in front of you is wide and open. Facing it is Pyramid C, which is larger than Pyramid B but much less restored. Its rough slopes show you what the whole site looked like before excavation, a mound of stone and earth. The site also has ball courts, where a ritual game was played with a heavy rubber ball. Walk to one and look at the long, narrow playing alley between its sloping side walls.

Tula also has a famous legend. According to traditional accounts, a ruler called Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl governed here. Legend has it that he was a wise priest-king who was tricked by rivals and forced to leave the city, travelling east and promising one day to return. Historians treat this story with caution, because it mixes memory, myth and later Aztec retelling. Historical evidence does show that the city declined and its centre was burned sometime around the twelfth century.

Before you leave, stand once more in front of the four giants. Notice how the afternoon light falls on the rough basalt and brings out every carved feather. Listen to the wind, and to the voices of other visitors on the steps. As you walk back toward the site museum, look at the small fragments of stone along the path. Each one is a piece of a city that people admired long after it fell silent.