On an ancient trade route high above the Río Grijalva, the ruins of Chiapa de Corzo comprise some two hundred structures scattered over a wide area, shared among several owners and sliced in two by the Panamerican Highway (Hwy-190). This is the longest continually occupied site in Chiapas, begun as a farming settlement in the early pre-Classic period (1400–850 BC). By the late pre-Classic period (450 BC–250 AD), it was the largest centre of population in the region. What you see today are mainly pyramids, walls and courtyards.

The old name must have this important Zoque prehispanic settlement is unknown. The current name comes from its proximity to the current city of Chiapa de Corzo, head of the municipality of the same name. Chiapa or Chiapan, is a Nahuatl word meaning "place where the chia grows" or "river of chia" name imposed by the Aztecs in the fifteenth century. The second part of the name is a tribute to the political and military Juarez Angel Albino Corzo.

Cultural Importance. The archaeological site of Chiapa de Corzo presents the remains of what was one of the largest settlements of Chiapas Zoque. It is located in the physiographic region known as Central Depression, on the right bank of the Grijalva River, east of the present city of Chiapa de Corzo. A good portion of this site was destroyed or altered by the growth of the city, industrialization and the construction of the Pan-American highway before there was the Federal Law on Archaeological Monuments, Artistic and Historical since 1972 protects the archaeological heritage in Mexico.

It is made up of over a hundred structures, many of them under the floor of the house room from today. The central area, which remains relatively intact, is in the southwest of the site consists of a series of platforms on which the main buildings known as Mounds 1, 4, 5.7, 8, 11 and 12 rose Recently the INAH with support from the municipal government, has acquired the property in which most of the mounds are located above and to visit small area opened. Chiapa de Corzo began as a peasant village circa 1,250 BC to grow and develop, along with San Isidro in the area of Malpaso and Old Church in Tonala, one of the largest sites of the Zoque region. In its heyday in the early Christian era, the buildings are built with well-cut stone and covered with lime mortar facades, so the site provides commercial networks to central Mexico, the Gulf Coast and the Guatemalan Peten; relationships gross raw material and objects from these regions. From 400 AD Chiapa de Corzo loses importance overpowered by Maya and Zapotec centers closing trading networks, giving a total abandonment of the site two hundred years later. Until the year 900 AD is again occupied by the Chiapas, who lived there until very near the Spanish invasion.

Services available in the area: Area under roof for school activities, leisure, etc., sanitation, first aid kit, Walkers and flowerbeds . to rest inside

Hours: Monday to Sunday from 8:00 to 17:00 hours.

Contact: Chiapas INAH Center 01 (961) 6 12 83 60.

Recommendations: Wear comfortable shoes and clothes for warm weather hat. The visit to the archaeological site is an excellent complement to a larger tour of the area of historical monuments in the first frame of the city of Chiapa de Corzo, including the Temple and former Convent of Santo Domingo, the Museum of Lacquer, Temple St. Sebastian and the Market; to which can be added the trip by boat on the Grijalva, to visit the Canyon Sink.

From the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez is necessary to move by the Federal Highway 190 to the town of Chiapa de Corzo. The visitable part of the site is in the east of the city and is accessible by Miguel Hidalgo Street.

There’s a small example of the ruins in the middle of the road, just beyond the terminal for buses to Tuxtla on the edge of town, but to get to the main site from the plaza, take any microbus heading east, get off at the junction with Hidalgo and follow the signs. After about fifteen minutes, you’ll come to an unmarked gate in a fence on the right; go to the house (officially closed Mon) and pay the small fee to the family who farm among the ruins. Walking, it’s about 3km northeast from the plaza in Chiapa de Corzo, passing the beautiful sixteenth-century church ruin of San Sebastián on 21 de Octubre along the way.