Tenayuca (Nahuatl languages: Tenanyohcān pronounced [te.naˈyoʔ.kaːn]) is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Mexico.

In the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology, Tenayuca was a settlement on the former shoreline of the western arm of Lake Texcoco.

Tenayuca is considered to be the earliest capital city of the Chichimec, nomadic tribes who migrated and settled in the Valley of Mexico, where they formed their own empire.

When Nopaltzin died, his successor Quinatzin transferred the seat of Chichimec power to Texcoco, relegating Tenayuca to a site of secondary importance.

[1] However archaeological remains recovered from Tenayuca indicate that the site had already been occupied in the Classic Period, long before this foundational event described in several of the Mesoamerican historical documents.

[1][2] The grand temple base is surrounded by a coatepantli (Nahuatl for wall of serpents), a low platform supporting 138 stone sculptures of snakes.

[7] 200 meters from the main temple of Tenayuca are the remains of what appear to have been an elite residential complex, with surviving plaster floors in some rooms.

[1] The temple of Tenayuca is in the care of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History) and is open to the public.