150 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
shelter the statue of some god. Many fine remains of 
Totonacan art have been recovered from the Island of 
Sacrifices in the harbor of Vera Cruz. This island 
retained its ancient sacrificial character in the time of 
the Spanish conquerors. It is apparent, however, that 
the culture had already changed greatly if we may 
judge by the ruins of Cempoalan, the Totonacan capital 
in the sixteenth century. The art of this city is largely 
Aztecan. 
The Toltecs. The first peoples to appear in Mexi- 
can history are the Olmecs and Toltecs. Tales of 
ancient splendor cluster about them, but there is a woe- 
ful lack of definite information concerning their origin 
and the extent of their dominion. Some authorities see 
in the Olmecs a Mayan tribe that once inhabited the 
region east and southeast of the Valley of Mexico and 
who were afterwards driven out. But it seems more 
likely that both the Olmecs and the Toltecs were tribes 
of Nahuan rather than Mayan stock and that they were 
merely the first of the Highlanders to feel the quickening 
effect of Mayan contact. Both terms were probably 
generalized by the later nations far beyond their original 
significance. The Toltecs derived their name from Tula 
or Tollan, which was only one of several cities that 
flourished during the Toltecan period. Whether all 
these cities were ever bonded into a political whole is a 
question that cannot now be answered. 
Owing to the lack of a “‘long count” the dates in 
Toltecan history are few and uncertain. The Mexican 
document with the longest range of history is the Annals 
of Quauhtitlan in which the count of years goes back in 
a practically unbroken series to 635 A.D. Still earlier 
dates are indicated. For instance, the legendary 
departure from Chiconoztoc, the Seven Caves, is 
