Overview
- INAH salvage teams working near Tula de Allende uncovered a previously undocumented building, identified as Structure II, measuring about 40 by 80 meters and located outside the mapped core archaeological zone.
- Archaeologists recovered two carved stone slabs that match imagery from Pyramid B: one depicting a jaguar (about 53 x 42 cm) and another showing the deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (about 78 x 53 cm).
- The wider assemblage recovered from the site includes ceramic vessels, bone awls, shell beads, spindle whorls, many figurines, a vessel with a Feathered Serpent image, and several infant burials dated provisionally to roughly 1100–1521 CE.
- Project archaeologist Luis Gamboa Cabezas interprets the material as evidence of 'autolegitimación,' with peripheral or later settlements reusing elite Toltec symbols and architectural pieces to assert a Toltec identity.
- Fieldwork, conservation and specialist analyses such as material sourcing, stratigraphic study and radiocarbon dating are ongoing and should clarify whether the slabs were moved from Pyramid B and refine the chronology and social meaning of the reuse.