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Guachimontones is a part of Mexico’s culture and history  that was once a lost world. It is  located 40  kilometers West of Guadalajara. This site is over 2,000 years old and the architectural style is unique to the region and in the world. Guachimontones is one of the most impressive archeological sites ever seen. The characteristic that distinguishes this pyramid from the rest of the cultures of Mesoamerica is its unusual architectural style defined by ceremonial centers in the form of concentric circles. Their formal circular architecture , which is incomparable  to any pyramid in Mexico and the throughout the world,  is located in the center of the Tequila Valleys, and is the largest and most complex site in the world. These are the Guachamimontones, The Lost World.

Guachimontones Pyramid has only been excavated for the past ten years and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The discovery of these circular structures has caused great admiration and has created a new scope and expectation towards the outlook and research of one of the first civilizations in all of Mesoamerica. This archeological site also seems to be the parting point of this forgotten link to Western Mexican Cultures and histor.

In the surrounding areas of Teuchitian Mexico, a great number of artifacts made of  ‘obsidian’ (a material that was utilized for the production of art pieces during the pre-Hispanic era,) have been discovered. This complex, highly organized society began in western Mexico in 1000BC and reached it pinnacle in 200 AD. It was discovered that Teuchitlan had been a metropolis of sorts which housed around 25,000 people who were fed by produce from hundreds of ‘shinampas,’ where small agricultural islands were irrigated by an ingenious system of canals, dams and floodgates.  Their economy was booming as they traded in salt from the flats of Sayula and more importantly, they were situated next to the third largest ‘obsidian’ deposit in the world. They controlled more than 1,000 ‘obsidian’ mines from which some 14,000 tons of the precious volcanic glass were extracted.

The Teuchitlan’s workshops were full of skilled craftsmen who fashioned the ‘obsidian’ into knives, spear heads, mirrors of extraordinary quality, unique ultra thin earrings and flat bladed swords call ‘macahuitls’ that were capable of chopping off an enemy’s leg or a horse’s head with one blow. Since this society was without any hard metals, they believed that  ‘obsidian’ was the very gift of the gods.

In  ‘Guachimontones-The Lost World,’ ‘the Teuchitlan the men often played a ball game of skill and at the end of the day, the captain of the winning team of the ‘Teuchitlans,’ would receive the great honor of loosing his life as a sacrificial victim. Answers to questions abut the ‘Teuchitlans can be found in 25 ‘maquetas,’ clay models found buried in various sites that were under the influence of the Teuchitlan tradition. Found were extraordinary works of art that are about 2,000 years old that reveal what the curious circular architecture was typically used for. These little clay figures give us a three-dimensional look at people chattering with their neighbors, carrying on with business or playing everyday games.

The people of Teuchitlan worshiped Ehecatl, a gentle god, who did not need human sacrifice. Unlike the Aztecs whose ceremonies resulted in rivers of blood coursing down the sides of their pyramids, the god of the people of ‘Teuchitlan’ was  a kind god.

Other than their unusual architecture, another Teuchitlan custom that is well known is their distinctive way of decorating their ceramic pieces, a process now referred to as ‘pseudo-cloisonne.’ After firing up the pot, they would roughen its surface and apply ‘ahaute’, a mixture of charcoal, oil of sage seed and a glue-like substance from the ‘camote ‘ tuber. When the black coating was almost dry, they would carve out certain areas and fill them with bright colors made from inorganic materials such as ‘azurite’  and red ochre, leaving the raised chaute as a black border. Many of these ceramic pieces display a glimpse similar to those found in Mexico’s famous codices, which indicates that the innumerable ceramic pieces spirited out of western Mexico probably contain a wealth of priceless information.

The bright light of the Teuchitlan traditions began to dim around 500 AD for reasons that may never be known. For unknown reasons, a day came when every building around the circular pyramids was burned to the ground. This indicated an abrupt end to the enigmatic civilization of the ‘Teuchitlans,’ of Mexico.

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