Zempoala (or Cempoala), the archaeological ruins north of Veracruz, Mexico was the Totonac capital and the largest city on the Gulf of Mexico, with a peak population of about 30,000. The name means "place of the 20 waters," for the several rivers that converge near the site. The city was populated at least 1,500 years before the arrival of the Spanish in 1514. It is believed that the Preclassic town was built on mounds to protect it from floods. The majority of the buildings on the current archaeological site date from the 14th and 15th century.
In the middle of the 15th century, the Totonacs were defeated by the Aztec armies of Moctezuma I. The Aztecs demanded a heavy tribute whereby the Totonacs were forced to send several hundred children a year for human sacrifice and for use as slaves. This practice was, of course, an onerous one, although the Totonacs also took human sacrifices. Eventually this was one of the main factors that helped Cortez persuade the chief, Xicomecoatl (the Fat One), to rebel against the Aztecs and join forces with him.
In 1575–77, the Totonac fell victim to the small pox epidemic that claimed an estimated two million lives in Mesoamerica and the population of Zempoala dropped dramatically. In 1600, the entire population of Zempoala was removed under a viceregal scheme of concentration and the town was reduced to a village. Today it is an important archaeological site.
There are more than a hundred buildings in this archaeological zone, built with rounded river stones cemented with a pre Hispanic mixture of sea sand and eggshells.
Among the most outstanding temples are: the Great Temple which resembles the Temple of the Sun at Tenochtitlán and the Temple of Charity, a two-tier structure decorated with fragments of relief’s. It is named for the hundreds of stucco skulls that once adorned the facade of a small structure at the base of the temple's staircase. It is believed that this complex was dedicated to the god of death.
Included in the complex are the Temple of the Little Faces, decorated with stucco faces in the walls and hieroglyphs painted on the lower sections, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent god), and a round temple dedicated to the god of wind, the Temple of Ehecatl.
Research by Vincent H. Malmström of Dartmouth College describes an interesting astronomical relationship that exists between the three round rings found at Zempoala. Prof Malmström writes the following about the Three Ceremonial Rings Of Zempoala.
"In the central plaza of Zempoala, just beneath the massive pyramids that frame its northeastern corner, are three intriguing rings of stone, each fashioned of rounded beach cobbles cemented together to form a series of small, stepped pillars. The largest of the rings contains 40 of the stepped pillars, the middle-sized ring has 28 such features, and the smallest ring numbers 13 stepped pillars around its circumference. It would appear that the three rings were used to calibrate different astronomical cycles, possibly by moving a marker or an idol from one stepped pillar to the next with each passing day (in somewhat the same way that has been suggested for recording the passage of time at the Pyramid of the Niches).
Inasmuch as the three rings are surmounted by 13, 28, and 40 step like pillars, respectively, it appears that they were used by the Totonac priests as counting devices to keep track of eclipse cycles.
It is, therefore, quite possible that by using the three rings together, the Totonac priests were able to calibrate the movements of the moon closely enough so as to know when it might next be (devoured.) In any event, there is every reason to believe that the three stone rings of Zempoala afford yet another bit of evidence testifying to the intellectual curiosity and architectural ingenuity of the early Mesoamericans."
This site is easily explored. It is about 40 minutes north of Veracruz. There is a small but interesting museum housing artifacts from the site. The museum is open Mon-Sun 9:00am to 5:30.