El Zapotal is a
Totonac
The Totonac are an indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a city ...
archaeological site located in the
Ignacio de la Llave
Ignacio de la Llave y Segura Zevallos (26 August 1818 – 23 June 1863)https://www.gob.mx/inafed/articulos/conmemoramos-el-natalicio-de-general-del-ejercito-y-como-gobernador-del-estado-de-veracruz-ignacio-de-la-llave was a general and the gover ...
Municipality in
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
, Mexico.
It contains the ruins of a Totonac city that flourished from 600 to 900 CE, during what archaeologists call the
Classical Period.
Discovery
The site of El Zapotal was discovered in 1971 when several human burials with offerings of clay sculptures were found. The sculptures included a group of women with naked torsos, identified as representations of
Cihuatéotl, the lady of the land; these representations are now exhibited in the
Museo de Antropología de Xalapa
The Museo de Antropología de Xalapa ( en, Xalapa Museum of Anthropology) is an anthropological museum in the city of Xalapa, capital of the state of Veracruz in eastern Mexico. The building was designed by the architect Paul Balev at EDSA, 4 ...
.
Site
El Zapotal is a significant Totonac site whose apogee seems to have occurred at the end of the Late Classical Period and the beginning of the Early Postclassical period. Although it contains many buildings, only a few have been explored.
Mictlantecuhtli shrine
One notable sculpture, made from painted, unbaked clay, is an image of
Mictlantecuhtli, the Death God, represented as an emaciated person.
The sculpture sits on an elaborate throne, and the backrest is integrated into the huge headdress worn by the deity, with human skulls in profile and the heads of fantastic lizards and jaguars.
The body of the statuette is emaciated, with some joints, bones, ribs, and the skull exposed. In addition, its tongue hangs out as a symbol of the dark underworld.
The sculpture is located on the side of a shrine. The side walls of the shrine were decorated with scenes of priests in procession on a red background.
Excavations at the shrine found many offerings of clay figures, as well as remains of nearly a hundred individuals, indicating elaborate funerary rituals.
The offerings cover several stratigraphic layers.
Because of its fragility, the sculpture was kept on site, and a museum was founded there.
See also
Other archaeological sites in Veracruz:
*
El Tajín
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajín flourished from 600 to 1200 CE and duri ...
(300–1200)
*
Papantla
Papantla () is a city and municipality located in the north of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, in the Sierra Papanteca range and on the Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded in the 13th century by the Totonacs and has dominated the Totonacapan regio ...
(900–1519)
*
Cempoala
Cempoala or Zempoala ( Nahuatl ''Cēmpoalātl'' 'Place of Twenty Waters') is an important Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the Úrsulo Galván Municipality, in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. The site was inhabited mainly by Toto ...
(900–1519)
*
Cuyuxquihui
*
Castillo de Teayo
*
El Cuajilote
*
El Manatí
References
{{reflist
Mesoamerican sites
Archaeological sites in Mexico
Archaeological sites in Veracruz
Totonac sites