A fortified hilltop city in what is now Morelos, first occupied by 200 BC but rising to urban prominence only in the Epiclassic (AD 700-900) after the fall of Teotihuacan, whose collapse it may have helped bring about; its art and architecture blend Teotihuacan, Maya, and Matlatzinca influences, and it hosted an astronomical observatory.
Burned and abandoned by around AD 900, apparently amid the wider Epiclassic power struggles of central Mexico that also ended Cacaxtla and preceded the rise of Tula; never resettled at urban scale, it survives as an archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage listing.
The standard edited volume on the Epiclassic period, with chapters specifically on Xochicalco's rise after Teotihuacan's fall.
Site-specific excavation report and synthesis of Xochicalco's urban development.