Have you ever seen round pyramids? And such really exist - one of them is located in Cuicuilco, a few kilometers from the Mexican capital.
This ancient structure is one of the most mysterious and strange in the country. Some researchers claim that this pyramid is the oldest structure in the whole of America.
One of the very serious problems faced by researchers of the era of pre-Columbian America is that the Indians of that time practically did not leave any written sources. In those days, this valley was very fertile, attracting many people here.
Therefore, ancient cultures and peoples here replaced each other very quickly. On the territory of the valley, archaeologists have discovered a huge number of cultural layers, mixed with each other. They are mixed so strongly that it is not possible to separate them.
For a long time, archaeologists believed that only two developed civilizations existed on the territory of the valley - the Toltecs and the Aztecs. The latter fell during the conquest in the 16th century.
However, over time, archaeologists began to find here ancient artifacts that are not related to any of these cultures. It turns out that people came here much earlier than it seemed initially.
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For the first time, artifacts of this ancient culture penetrated the territory of Europe in the 19th century, when the expeditionary corps of the French army dismantled local clay figurines for souvenirs.
According to the quality of the artifacts found, archaeologists assumed that that culture was quite primitive, but there were a lot of them and they were all of the same type. This already speaks of the existence of some kind of production process for their manufacture, and this could not be done by a primitive culture.
Most of the figurines depicted people with arms thrown up. Researchers suggested that these were the people depicted in the dance process. These figures were called "Dancers of Tlatilco".
At the beginning of the last century, archaeologists decided to continue excavations there. They were interested in the fact that the figurines were found under a thick layer of volcanic lava.
And since Since local volcanoes have long been considered extinct, the civilization was indeed very ancient. And in 1910, excavations began here under the leadership of Manuel Gamio. The efforts of archaeologists were rewarded - here they managed to find the remains of an ancient settlement, ancient tombs and many buildings.
Until now, excavations continue here, because the exact size of the found settlement has not been determined - the buildings are found on a huge territory. And in 1922 a whole pyramid was discovered here - it was under a thick layer of lava. Its shape is very unusual - round. It is a stretch to call it a pyramid.
Archaeologists have established that the base of the pyramid was made of clay and sand. But the slopes are built of stone, volcanic tuff and even bricks. The diameter of the find is 136 meters, the height is 25 meters.
In order to clear the pyramid of lava, it took archaeologists more than 9 months. They eventually found a stone staircase leading to the top of the pyramid. Apparently, bloody human sacrifices were performed here.
Many ancient burial grounds have been discovered around the pyramid. The researchers suggested that being buried near this pyramid was considered very honorable by the ancient people.
But the dating of the find raises many questions. Official science has given a very large interval - it is from 2 to 7 thousand years. This continued until the middle of the last century, until the methods of radiocarbon analysis were applied to it.
It turned out that the pyramid was built in the first millennium BC. It is not clear only who advised the ancient people to build such a structure, and even in the form of a round pyramid - it cannot simply be taken and made by eye, it needs at least a plan, teams of professional builders, a large amount of building materials and an established connection between people to organize effective work.
Ordinary natives were clearly unable to do this.
But if you look at this pyramid from above, then it very much resembles the landing site for some flying saucer, so ufologists immediately assumed that it was part of an ancient alien cosmodrome.
But this version is not proven in any way.