Visit the Alta Vista Archeological Zone

Thirty-five miles southwest of Sombrerete is the archeological site of Alta Vista. What is now abandoned ruins, was once the Chalchihuites people’s most important city. This is the culture that occupied the valleys to the east of the Sierra Madre Occidental, from Jalisco all the way to Durango. Alta Vista existed in pre-Hispanic Mexico since 450-470 A.D until 850-900 A.D. During this time, its inhabitants witnessed the fall of empires such as Teotihuacan from afar. They knew of the riches of the region’s mineral deposits, and they traded with Mesoamerica and the communities to the south of what is now the United States.