Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent

18.8039°N, 99.2959°W.

The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent crowns the acropolis of Xochicalco in the state of Morelos, Mexico, the Epiclassic city that filled the political vacuum left by Teotihuacan's collapse around 700 CE. The pyramid was built between approximately 700 and 900 CE of cut andesite, with its lower talud-tablero registers carved in deep relief depicting an enormous undulating feathered serpent winding around the entire base. Within the serpent's coils sit seated figures interpreted as priest-rulers and astronomers, accompanied by glyphs from multiple Mesoamerican calendrical traditions. The site is widely interpreted as a meeting point where representatives of Maya, Zapotec, and Central Mexican calendar systems reconciled their counts. The pyramid was first cleared by Leopoldo Batres and Eduard Seler around 1900 and excavated in detail by César Sáenz in the 1960s.

The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent is a building whose walls record an ancient meeting of astronomers from cultures that did not share a language.