Source: WTL© digitized analogue photograph taken on site.
Notes: Here we see the base of the pyramid. At its height this community had a population of about 20,000. The lava laid down during the eruption of the nearby Xitle (Náhuatl: Xictli) volcano was up to 8 meters (25 feet) deep. It was at this pyramid that the Aztecs conducted their End of Epoch ritual on the last night of the last day of the 52-year Sun calendar. All light was extinguished throughout the Aztec empire. A human sacrifice was held at the temple atop this pyramid. The still throbbing human heart was ignited, and from that fire other torches were lit. Runners then ran throughout the empire progressively spreaking fires and light back to the temples in Tenochtitlán and throughout the rest of the empire. The ritual was seen to have pleased the Aztecs' sun god, Tonatiuh, so much that the sun indeed rise on the following morning, thus starting a new 52-year cycle in the next "Sun." Note that the Spanish conquest interrupted the Aztecs' 5th Sun; which means that, in a sense, we are still living in the period of the (interrupted) Fifth Sun.
Humanities question: (A) What is you own personal reaction to this place and this particular ritual. (B) Speculate why you think the Aztecs held this ritual at Cuicuilco?