squash flowers and huitlacoche, barbacoa and mixote. History The name is derived from Nahuatl and means “hill where the skulls of the sacrifice are stored.” Tzompantepec is the site of the earliest human settlements in Tlaxcala. The area was first inhabited about 12,000 years ago with agriculture appearing about 8,300 years ago, leading to settlements. Around 1700 or 1600 BCE, various villages in this area into Puebla called the Tzompantepec culture, named after the site in the municipality, which contains the most typical and most complete remains of this culture. In the late phase of this culture, terrace farming appeared as well as houses on raised foundations and irrigation. The ceramics of this culture indicate influence the Tehuacan Valley in Puebla and from the Gulf Coast. The area remained occupied but not organized into a dominion until the 12th century, when consolidation of the three cultural groups of the state began. This area was part of the Teo Chichimecas, whose influence extended to Lake Texcoco by the 14th century. Another important group for this area are the Otomis, who migrated into Tlaxcala during these centuries. The 14th and 15th centuries were prosperous for the area and the population grew with contacts as far as the Yucatán and Central America, mostly through trade. In the latter 15th century, the Aztec Empire threatened that of Tlaxcala. It could not conquer the area but blockaded it from its commercial ties, causing hardship. Tzompantepec and the rest of the dominion suffered shortages of goods as well as losses of men to Aztec flower wars, aimed to capture sacrifices for the gods. At the time of the Spanish arrival, the town was an important one in the Tlaxcallan dominion. In 1519, Hernán Cortés and the Spanish arrived with Totonac allies. In Tzompantepec on September 2 of that year, there was a major battle with the Tlaxcallans. The superior arms of the Spanish gave them victory against the Tlaxcallan force headed by Xicohtencatl. The battle made the Tlaxcallans allies with the Spanish against the Aztecs. Shortly after the Conquest, Cortés established a battalion here and the Divino Salvador Church was founded by the Franciscans. By the mid 16th century, this church became subordinate to Huamantla and the San Andrés Church was founded. During the colonial period, the town of Tzompantepec governed an area that included what are now Cuaxomulco, San Francisco Tetlanohcan, San José Teacalco and