The archaeological site of Tollán, sitting on a limestone promontory, although not quite as splendid as the legend, nevertheless, has an impressive number of surviving monuments. These include two large pyramids, a colonnaded walkway, a large palace building, and two ball-courts, all surrounded by a dense area of urban housing. The domestic housing is arranged in groups of up to five flat-roofed residences with each group centred on a courtyard with a single altar and the whole surrounded by a wall.
Surviving architectural sculpture on the pyramids includes large columns, each consisting of four drums, carved as warriors standing atop the five tiers of the 10 m high Pyramid B. The warriors would once have held up a roof structure. The warriors are dressed ready for battle with a drum headdress and butterfly pectoral and each holds an atlatl or spear-thrower at their side. In addition, feathered-snake columns survive from the original doorway. The warrior columns are near-identical and suggest sophisticated workshops capable of mass production.
Friezes run around the pyramids and a free-standing 40 m long L-shaped wall (known as a coatepantli and a Toltec innovation). They show scenes with animals such as the jaguar, wolf, and coyote (symbols associated with a warlike people like the Toltecs), and sacrifice (especially rattlesnakes and skeletons intertwined). There are also images of feathered creatures (perhaps jaguars) and eagles with hearts in their mouths.
Tollán also provides the first examples of chacmools, the reclining stone warriors clutching a vessel on their stomach to receive sacrificial offerings for the gods. These would become a common feature of temples in Mesoamerica. At Tollán they are positioned beside bench-thrones atop the pyramid temple.