thirty to fifty thousand. During this period, ethnic changes divide the historical sequence into two phases: the Tlachihualtepetl and Cholollan phases. The Tlachihualtepetl phase (CE 700–1200) is named after the city of the Great Pyramid as it was recorded in the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca ethnohistoric source. During this phase according to the ethnohistoric accounts, Cholula was taken over by the Gulf Coast group known as the Olmec-Xicallanca, who made it their capital. From there, they controlled the high plateau of Puebla and Tlaxcala. Under this group, the potters of Cholula began to develop the fine polychrome wares that were to become the most popular vessels in all of ancient Mexico. In CE 1200, ethnic Tolteca-Chichimeca conquered Cholula. At this point, the Patio of the Altars was destroyed and the ceremonial center (with the “new” Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl) was moved to the present zócalo (main plaza) of Cholula. Polycrome pottery from this phase used distinctive design configurations but was derived from the earlier styles. The “laca” pottery also dates to this period. During this entire period, Cholula remained a regional center of importance, enough so that, at the time of the fall of the Aztec Triple Alliance, Aztec princes were still formally anointed by a Cholulan priest. Sometime between 1200 and 1517, Cholula was conquered by the neighboring city-state of Tlaxcala, therefore comprising one of three cities within the emergent Tlaxcala Triple Alliance. In 1517, Cholula seceded from the Tlaxcala Triple Alliance, opting to join the far more powerful Aztec equivalent. In 1519, the Tlaxcalans led Cortés and his troops to Cholula to facilitate an act of retribution against the city for its betrayal. Cholula, which was south of Tlaxcala and farther southeast of Tenochtitlan, was out of the way to the Aztec capital, so its visit was a Tlaxcalan machination, not a Spanish one. After a Cholulan welcoming ceremony made up of speeches and feasts, conquistador Bernal Diaz accounts that the Spanish soon became suspicious of the Cholulans' true intentions. According to Diaz, the Spanish were taken aback by Cholula's supposed trenches and dugouts with anti-cavalry spikes, alongside conspicuous piles of rocks found on Cholulan rooftops. Modern-day revisionist historians such as Matthew Restall agree that the Tlaxcalans, successfully executing a plan to use the Spanish as a tool of political advancement, persuaded Cortés into believing that the Cholulans were conspiring against him. Diaz alleges that, after feigning a Spanish departure in