Teopantecuanitlan is an
archaeological site in the
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
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*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
state of
Guerrero that represents an unexpectedly early
development of complex
society for the region. The site dates to the
Early
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History
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to
Middle Formative Periods, with the archaeological evidence indicating that some kind of connection existed between Teopantecuanitlan and the
Olmec heartland of the
Gulf Coast. Prior to the discovery of Teopantecuanitlan in the early 1980s, little was known about the region's sociocultural development and organization during the
Formative period.
Location
Teopantecuanitlan is located in the state of
Guerrero, about 20 km in the southwesterly direction from the town of
Copalillo
Copalillo is a city and seat of the municipality of Copalillo, in the state of Guerrero, south-western Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is ...
. The nearest village is Tlalcozotitlan. It is situated at the convergence of the
Amacuzac and
Balsas rivers, and five miles (8 km) from where the Amacuzac flows into the
Mezcala River, providing an environment for trade and travel. Teopantecuanitlan occupies some 1.6 to 2 km² (500 acres), and is situated at the foot of a sharp hill which rises 200 m above the site.
Teopantecuanitlan was a center for a region that included
Oxtotitlán,
Juxtlahuaca,
Xochipala,
Zumpango del Río, and
Chilpancingo.
Art and architecture
Teopantecuanitlan was occupied from 1400 to 500
BCE, a period which is generally divided into four phases, peaking in population and complexity during Phase II, between 1000 and 800
BCE. The site’s settlement largely consisted of residential compounds characterized by four structures arranged around a shared courtyard or plaza. The structures themselves were made of perishable materials built over stone basal foundations. Imported shell and obsidian artifacts, as well as Olmec-influenced ceramic wares, have been found in association with and inside the residential groups. These artifacts provide material evidence that the Teopantecuanitlan community was a part of an interregional trade network that linked the Gulf Coast with the highlands of Central Mexico.
Mezcala culture
The Mezcala culture (sometimes referred to as the Balsas culture) is the name given to a Mesoamerican culture that was based in the Guerrero state of southwestern Mexico,Coe and Koontz 1962, 2002, p.55. in the upper Balsas River region.López Aus ...
type artifacts were found in the Teopantecuanitlan area.
To the north of the Sunken Patio, clay sculptures were found. These were the oldest sculptures on the site. Some similarities are found between them and the monuments at
Ojo de Agua, Chiapas
Ojo may refer to:
*Ōjō, a Japanese Buddhist term referring to rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha
*Ojo, a curious red bear cub who has a wild imagination and is good friends with Treelo on '' Bear in the Big Blue House''
* ''Ojo'' (com ...
, dated to 1200-1100 BC.
Sunken Patio
In addition to the residential areas, Teopantecuanitlan is notable for its monumental architecture, art, and agricultural terraces, in particular one of the first civil-ceremonial structures in all of
Mesoamerica, ''El Recinto'' ("the enclosure"), also known as the Sunken Patio, constructed during Phase II (between 1000 and 800 BCE). The Sunken Patio is so-named because it is 2 meters (7 ft) below the natural ground level, built on a base of yellow clay, dressed with
travertine blocks.
Four large, nearly identical, monumental travertine blocks adorn the east and west sides of the Sunken Patio. These blocks are carved to resemble anthropomorphic creatures, most likely
were-jaguars, with almond-shaped eyes and down-turned mouths. In fact, it is these 3- to 5-ton monuments that are referred to in archaeologist Guadalupe Martinez Donjuán's name for the site, Teopantecuanitlan,
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
for "place of the temple of the jaguar". According to Martinez Donjuán, these sculptures are situated so as to mark the equinoxes or solstices, and they "symbolized the opposing forces that ruled the world".
The back of one of these monuments, Monument 2, contains symbols which Martinez Donjuán interprets as "10 Flower". If this interpretation is correct, this would be the oldest
Mesoamerican calendar date yet discovered.
This site also contains two
ballcourts. One miniature ball court is located within the Sunken Patio itself while the other lies 900 m to the northeast. At one end of the smaller ball court there is an adobe sweat bath. This sweat bath was most likely used as a social bonding environment for the developing elite class of Teopantecuanitlan.
Stone-faced patios and bas-relief monumental art are the features that are also found at the site of
Chalcatzingo,
Morelos
Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...
. These are the only two sites known with these features. The sunken patio of Teopantecuanitlan is older. There are also other parallels between these sites.
Other features
Teopantecuanitlan is also home to the oldest known Mesoamerican dam. This dam was constructed around 1200 BCE and built of rough uncut rocks. This dam relied on gravity to bring water to the agricultural land. Canals, or channels, made of large flat stone slabs are also present in Teopantecuanitlan. The lining of these canals were of benefit to the domestication of plants by being a means of irrigation. These canals prevented erosion damage, loss of water also acted as a sewer.
This site is also the first known within Mesoamerica to utilize the architectural feature known as a
corbelled vault
A corbel arch (or corbeled / corbelled arch) is an arch-like construction method that uses the architectural technique of corbeling to span a space or void in a structure, such as an entranceway in a wall or as the span of a bridge. A corbel v ...
. This vault allowed for high ceilings without the use of trapezoidal cut stone. These corbelled vaults were used in ancient structures such as the tombs of the elite and in temples.
Teopantecuanitlan society was not egalitarian — otherwise such monumental structures would not have been built. There was a leader in place to oversee the building of these structures as well as instruct the laborers and ensure that all the necessary resources were available.
Discovery and excavation
Teopantecuanitlan was discovered by Martinez Donjuán in 1983, after reports of looting at this
Guerrero site. She was assisted in this effort by, among others,
Christine Niederberger
Christine Niederberger Betton, born in Bordeaux and died in 2001 in Mexico City, was a French archaeologist. She is mainly noted for her contributions to the field of pre-Columbian American archaeology, in particular for her work on Mesoamerican c ...
. Niederberger focused in particular on the residential areas known as the Lomerios zone, or as Tlacozotitlán.
The Teopantecuanitlan site is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 to 17:00 hours.
Olmec connections
Olmec influence is seen in many of the monuments of Teopantecuanitlan. In addition to the four prominent monuments discussed above, Olmec style or Olmec-influenced artifacts have been found throughout the site.
There are several theories regarding how such Olmec motifs and designs — perhaps even deities — came to be at a site hundreds of miles/kilometers from the
Olmec heartland. Martinez Donjuán believes that the roots of the Olmec culture lie in Teopantecuanitlan, and a splinter group left Teopantecuanitlan to colonize what we call the Olmec "heartland". a revival of
Miguel Covarrubias's hypothesis, first formulated in 1946.
The state of Guerrero seems to have played important role in the early history of Olmec culture. Olmec-style artifacts tend to appear earlier in some parts of Guerrero than in the Veracruz-Tabasco area. In particular, the objects from the Amuco-Abelino site in Guerrero reveal dates as early as 1530 BC.
Noted archaeologist
Michael D. Coe has said that this "position is contradicted by the environmental constraints" imposed by the semi-arid Guerrero highlands.
Niederberger finds Olmec influence only in the monumental architecture, with the rest of the culture derived from indigenous sources.
[Diehl, p. 169-170.]
Footnotes
References
*Coe, Michael (1994), ''Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs'', 4th edition, Thames & Hudson, NY.
*Diehl, Richard A. (2004) ''The Olmecs: America's First Civilization'', Thames & Hudson, NY.
*Evans, Susan Toby (2004) ''Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Cultural History'', New York: Thames & Hudson.
*Reilly, F. K., (2000), "Tlacozotitlán (Guerrero, Mexico)" in Evans, Susan, ''Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America'', Taylor & Francis.
*Malmström, V. H.
"A Survey of Teopantecuanitlán, Guerrero, Mexico"
*Martinez Donjuan, Guadalupe (2000), "Teopantecuanitlan", in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures'', Carraso, David, ed., Oxford University Press.
*Martinez Donjuan, Guadalupe (1986), "Teopantecuanitlan", in ''Arqueologia y Etnohistoria del Estado de Guerrero'', Roberto Cervantes-Delgado, ed., Instituto de Antropologia e Historia of Mexico, pp 55–80.
External links
* The
National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)
Teopantecuanitlan website with a brief description of the architecture of the Olmec.
{{coord, 17, 54, 06, N, 99, 06, 38, W, display=title
Archaeological sites in Guerrero
Olmec sites
Former populated places in Mexico
Mezcala culture