Cañada de la Virgen, Archaeological site in Guanajuato, Mexico

Cañada de la Virgen is an Otomi archaeological site 16 km southwest of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, covering about 12 hectares along the Laja River basin. Its seven stepped pyramid platforms form sunken patios, plazas, a ballgame court, esplanades and a 1-km causeway. The main structure, Complex A or House of the Thirteen Heavens, has a sunken patio and a pyramid over 15 m high; a Red Temple and an abstract mural with red and black horizontal bands stand above it.

The site was registered by INAH in 1985 and first excavated in 1995, with official excavation beginning in 2002. It was probably a ceremonial and astronomical centre between 540 and 1050 AD, built by Otomi-Hñahñú groups within the Toltec-Chichimec sphere. Its last occupation is linked by plumbate ceramics to the maximum Toltec expansion, and it was abandoned around 1050.

The site's name means Virgin's Glen in Spanish. The Otomi, who built the city, watched the sky closely: at Complex A, the House of the Thirteen Heavens, a sunken patio may have held water used as a mirror for observing the sky and reading the agricultural cycle. The site was governed by the Moon, the Sun and Venus, according to INAH archaeoastronomical studies.

The site lies 16 km southwest of San Miguel de Allende, on private land, and access is controlled, so entry is arranged in advance rather than by simply arriving. The terrain is a semi-desert plateau; wear a hat and carry water. The seven structures are linked by a 1 km causeway.

Each building complex on the site aligns with specific sky events, revealing the sophisticated knowledge the ancient inhabitants held of celestial cycles and positions. This was not accidental design but a deliberate system linking buildings to the heavens.