According to tradition, it is the final resting place of Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc, whose alleged remains were found under the parish church here in the mid-20th century.

This church has been converted into a museum with displays a number of pre-Hispanic artifacts, offerings left in honor of the emperor and the alleged remains of Cuauhtémoc himself.

Unlike its neighbor, the vegetation surrounding Ixcateopan is forested with pine, red and white cedar, and walnut trees.

[5][7] Fray Torbio de Benavente, the local evangelist, and Fray Bernardino de Sahagún wrote texts about the death and burial of Cuauhtémoc which were initially kept at the Church of San Hipólito in Mexico City but somehow wound up in the hands of the family of Salvador Rodriguez Juárez, who was the doctor of Ixcateopan in the first half of the 20th century.

That the young adult mestizo whose remains face and teeth are part of Ichcateopan finding could not have been buried in 1529 [the year of the death of Cuauhtemoc] (...) Fourth.

[7][8] The Museum of Santa María de la Asunción, located just south of the main plaza in the center of town, was the parish church for the community from the 16th century until the mid-20th, when it was declared a national monument.

Since the discovery of the alleged Cuauhtémoc's tomb under the main altar, this building and its grounds have been converted from a religious sanctuary to a civil one.

[3][8] Jairo Rodríguez, son of the doctor who made the documents about Cuauhtemoc's burial public knowledge, is the official chronicler of Ixcateopan and the guardian of the museum.

[12] South of the Santa María de la Asunción Museum on Vicente Guerrero Street is the archeological zone of Ixcateopan.

This excavated complex was dedicated to religious ceremonies, administrative activities and the local hierarchy’s relations with the rest of the world.

The Chontales are a little-known group with most information about them coming from documents written in 1579, but nothing of their language is known as no human remains from their burials have been found.

stages The site has provided much information about the development of what is now the north of Guerrero state in the late pre-Hispanic period, when it was populated by groups such as the Matlatzincas, Tepoztecos, Nahuas as well as Chontales.

[14] The site was first excavated in 1976 by archeologist Juan Yaveún, with subsequent studies by Guadalupe Martínez, Alajandro Pastrana, José Hernández Rivera and Elizabeth Jiménez.

[14] However, excavations in the mid 2000s have uncovered new finds at the site including a set of stairs that run from south to north on the main plaza, dwellings and storage facilities as well as workshops with ceramics showing Aztec and Cholulteca influence and purely local designs.