Sierra Gorda Part 5: The Ancient Huastec City of Tancama and its Plaza el Mirador

Edificio de las Mariposas de Cobre is the largest and most important structure. The name means "Building of the Copper Butterflies".  This pyramid looms over the Plaza de Mirador ("Lookout Plaza"). It stands at the very southern end, and highest point, of the ancient Huastec city of Tancama, The pyramid was actually much larger in pre-hispanic times, but much of its stonework was removed for building materials after the Spanish arrived. Even so, it is still an impressive structure.

In Part 4 of this series, I took you through some of the history, culture, and artistic creations of the Huastecs. They are a people who have continuously populated the region called the Huasteca from around 1100 BC until today. Parts 5 through 8 will focus on the ruins of Tancama, which was the main Huastec city in the Sierra Gorda. 

Overview

Google map of the route from Jalpan to the Tancama Archeological Zone. For directions from the Lago de Chapala / Guadalajara area to Jalpan, see Part 1 of this series. From Jalpan, take Highway 120 west toward Xilitla about 10km (6.2mi). For a Google interactive map showing how to get from the pueblo of Tancama to the ruins, click here.

Site map of the Tancama ruins. The city was built sometime before 500 AD during the Early Classic period. It stands on the slopes of a mountain that the Huastecs called Tancama, which means "Hill of Fire" or "Place of Flint". The city has a south to north orientation along a ridge that drops down in a series of steps. Each of the descending steps was leveled by the pre-hispanic people into a separate plaza. The Plaza de Mirador is the highest level and can be found at the bottom, or south end, of the map above. Next down the hill is Plaza Santiago and then Plaza de la Promesa. 

Part 5 of my series will focus on the large, north-facing building called the Edificio de las Mariposas de Cobre located at the very bottom of the map. In addition, we'll take a look at the four structures on the west side, called Los Cuatro Huastecos (the Four Huastecos).  Part 6 will cover the ball court in the center of the Plaza, as well as the structures on its north and east sides. Parts 7 and 8 will show Plazas Santiago and Plaza de la Promesa.

Edificio de las Mariposas de Cobre

View of the pyramid, looking east down the front (north) side. The four-stepped pyramid was built facing north, onto the Plaza. There is one broad staircase on the north side that once extended up to the fourth level. However, much of the stonework of the staircase was removed. Above the first level, there is only a grassy slope covered with scattered trees. The interior of the pyramid was constructed with rounded river stones, while the surface of the exterior is covered with cut stones. The wall in the upper right has even more finely cut stones.

Archeologists estimate that the pyramid lost about two-thirds of its volume due the looting of its materials. The current height of the structure is 7.5m (24.6ft), but it may have once been significantly higher. Whether there was a temple on top is unknown. However, if there was, it most likely would have been constructed with perishable materials such as wood with a thatched roof and has therefore long since vanished. 

The central staircase only has five remaining steps. They are bracketed with stone balustrades. Above the fifth step, the people who reconstructed the staircase built a retaining wall to prevent any collapse. Traces of the balustrades extend all the way up to the fourth level. This indicates that the stairs originally extended all the way up. In front of the bottom step are two stelae (standing stones). The meaning of these is unknown. However, in the ruins of other civilizations, I have seen stelae sculpted with markings that commemorated important events such as royal births, deaths, accessions to power or military victories.

These copper butterflies were found in the pyramid and gave the building its name. The earrings are beautifully crafted so that the butterflies appear to be feeding on the nectar of the copper flowers from which they dangle. The butterfly earrings were found in a burial containing several human remains in the upper part of the pyramid. Given the importance of the structure, and the craftsmanship of the earrings, the individuals in the tomb must have been part of the highest level of the social elite.

Butterflies held great symbolic meaning in pre-hispanic times. They appear in wall murals at Teotihuacan and on statues of Toltec warriors, who wear butterfly-shaped breastplates. The Aztecs believed butterflies carried the souls of warriors who were either killed in battle or sacrificed, or of women who died in childbirth. Live butterflies were sometimes used as a form of tribute and skilled craftsmen often created butterfly ornaments or jewelry. 

It is significant that the earrings were made of copper, rather than jade, obsidian or some other natural material. By smelting copper, and making useful objects from it, the Huastecs had entered into the early stage of the Chalcolithic (copper) Age. This period was the transition between the Neolithic (New Stone Age) and the Bronze Age. 

Along the eastern side of the pyramid is the Callejon (alleyway). This was the main entrance into the Plaza de Mirador, an area usually restricted to the elite. The low stone structure on the left side of this entrance corridor is called the Edificio del Callejon. It is unclear whether this structure had some purpose other than to simply create an eastern border to the walkway. 

To the left (east) of this structure, the land drops off fairly steeply, creating a natural barrier along the border of the elite area. During some important occasions, common people may have been allowed into the restricted areas. One such occasion might have been a ball game played on the court located in the center of the Plaza de Mirador. If so, the common people would have entered through the Callejon.

Los Cuatro Huastecos

A large circular huasteco stands to the west and slightly north of the pyramid. This one is called Edificio de los Muertos (Building of the Dead). It gets its name from the large number of human remains buried within it. Whether they died of natural causes or were sacrificed is not clear. This huasteco is one of four that form the west side of the Plaza. In addition to these, I have identified at least six more huastecos scattered among the plazas of Tancama. 

Huastecos are a distinguishing feature of other Huastec cities, as well as Tancama. These include Tamtoc, Tancol, and Tamuin (all in the state of San Luis Potosí). At Tancama, they have from two to four stepped levels, with a base level that is sometimes circular, but also may be semi-circular, square or rectangular. The upper levels are always circular and the topmost levels form broad flat platforms. 

Map of Los Cuatro Huastecos. The huastecos on the west side of the Plaza form an arc. Beginning on the left (south) is Edificio de los Muertos and then Edificio de la Culebre Azul (Blue Snake). Next comes Edificio del Patojo (Duck) and finally Edificio de las Espinas Mantarrayas (Manta Ray Spines). Each of these was named according to what was found when they were excavated. 

When I first saw the huastecos, I suspected that their shape was connected to the god of wind, known as Ehecatl. In most pre-hispanic cities, the important structures are rectangular or square, with each side facing in one of the four sacred directions (north, south, east, west). Edificio de las Mariposas de Cobre conforms to this pattern. 

However, since the wind can come from any direction, temples devoted to the worship of Ehecatl are circular in shape. Over the years, I have found similarly shaped temples at Xochitécatl, a Pre-Classic city, the Classic-era site called Guachimontones, and  the Post-Classic Aztec city of Calixtlahuaca. All of their circular temples were devoted to some version of the wind god.

View of the Edificio de los Muertos (foreground) and Edificio de la Culebre Azul. This shot was taken from the top of the Copper Butterfly pyramid. Los Muertos has four levels with a circular base, while La Culebra Azul has two levels and a semi-circular base. The wind god was worshiped in Mesoamerica for a very long time, dating back at least to the Olmec period (1500 BC - 400 BC). 

However, the name Ehecatl is from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. The Aztecs were one of the last groups who migrated from the far north into central Mexico, arriving during the 13th century AD. They were cultural sponges and soaked up the customs of the various cultures they encountered, much like the Romans adopted many styles, customs, and gods of ancient Greece (the Greek Zeus became the Roman Jupiter).

When the Aztecs invaded and conquered the Huasteca, they adopted the Huastecs' wind god and renamed him Ehecatl. They viewed him as a facet of Quetzalcoatl (the Feathered Serpent), another of their adopted gods, and built a number of circular temples to worship this amalgamation of gods. This process of cultural adoption not only enriched their own culture, but probably was also part of their strategy for the pacification of conquered peoples. 

The flat tops of the huastecos once contained structures made of perishable materials. This drawing is a reconstruction of a structure in the ruins of the Huastec city of Flores in the Tampico-Panuco region. Note the resemblance of the stone base to Edificio de los Muertos. Since the styles of architecture were quite similar among Huastec cities, there is every reason to believe that this is how the perishable structures atop Tancama's huastecos once appeared. 

The drawing above shows a strong similarity to the nah (houses) of modern Maya that I saw while visiting Yucatan. It also closely resembles the sculpture of a nah carved onto the facade of the Nun's Quadrangle at the ancient city of Uxmal. The Huastecs had migrated from Guatemala in 1500 BC and their language is a derivative of Proto-Mayan. However, their connection with their cousins in Yucatan and Guatemala was severed by the rise of the Olmecs back in 1200 BC. Even so, the style of their houses and temple-top structures has maintained a close resemblance after 1800 years! (Drawing is from Archeology of the Huasteca: The Ekholm Collection)

Edificio de la Culebra Azul. This huasteco was named after the large number of snakes encountered by the archeologists when they excavated it, no doubt an unnerving experience. There is a staircase on the east side of the circular structure, which probably means that its perishable structure once faced to the east. That is the most important of the sacred directions because it is where the sun rises. 

During their excavations, archeologists discovered evidence that there had been at least two phases of construction. I have not found mention of any human burials within this huasteco. Fortunately, the encounters with the snakes didn't result in any modern human burials either.

Edificio del Patojo. The first two levels of this huasteco are rectangular in shape. It is likely that materials were scavenged from whatever circular level once existed. There is a staircase leading up from the east, similar to the one at La Culebra Azul. The staircase faces directly into the ball court in the middle of the Plaza. This suggests a relationship between the huasteco and the ball game, perhaps involving ceremonies conducted before or after a game was played. 

The Edificio de Patojo gets its name from this piece of pottery. It was found during the excavation and is said to resemble a duck . The word patojo comes from the Spanish pato which means "duck". Oddly, it also means "child" in Honduras and "a limp" in El Salvador. (Photo from Lugares INAH) 

Edificio de las Espinas de Mantarraya. The structure has been mostly looted of materials. It faces south and forms the northwest corner of the Plaza. The remains of a stairway are located halfway down the building's south side, facing into the Plaza. The remains of an individual woman were found buried within the structure. Among her burial goods were several manta ray spines. These were highly valued at the time and probably originated on the Gulf Coast.

Manta ray spines were sometimes used in a ritual practice called "auto-sacrifice" (self- mutilation). Pre-hispanic people thought that life was a gift from the gods. Since blood was vital to life, it was a sacred substance. The shedding of blood, either through sacrificing victims captured in war or through auto-sacrifice, was considered necessary to propitiate the gods. In auto-sacrifice, a person would use a manta ray spine to pierce his own tongue, ear, thigh, arm, or genitals. This produced the blood desired by the gods and pain which sometimes produced an halluncinogenic trance. 

This completes Part 5 of my Sierra Gorda series. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please include your email address so that I am able to respond in a timely fashion.

Hasta luego, Jim

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Sierra Gorda Part 4: The ancient Huastec people

 

This head of a Huastec boy is part of a full-sized statue. The ears have large holes intended to contain jade spools for personal decoration. The skull was sculpted to show a deliberate deformity. Such deformations were performed by elite parents on the skulls of their infants when the bones were still soft. The purpose was to create an appearance that immediately identified the person as one of the elite class. There are also traces of tattoos on the forehead. 

This posting will focus on the ancient Huastec people who occupied the Sierra Gorda and other areas that comprised the region called the Huasteca. They were an artistic culture and carried on an active trade with people on the coast such as the Totonacs, as well as those of the interior, including the Teotihuacans, Toltecs, and Aztecs. They also had contact with the people of western Mexico known as the Shaft Tomb Culture, who lived in what are now the states of Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit. This is the first of five parts in my Sierra Gorda series that will focus on the Huastecs and their city of Tancama.

Overview

The Huastec culture occupied parts of the Gulf Coast and Sierra Madre Oriental. The area shown in pink above is called the Huasteca. It incorporates parts of the Mexican states of Vera Cruz, Hidalgo, Querértaro, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas. The Huastec occupation of this area began as early as 1500 BC. Their language is still spoken by

66,000 people, about two-thirds of whom live in San Luis Potosí and one-third in Vera Cruz. The ancient Huastecs were never a single kingdom, much less an empire like the Aztecs. Instead they lived in a large number of independent city-states, like the ancient Greeks. 

The Huastec Adolescent

The "Adolescent of Tamuin" statue is located in the Querétaro Regional Museum. It is a replica of the original, which is in the Museum of History and Anthropology (INAH) in Mexico City. The original was found at a ruined Huastec city near the pueblo of Tamuin in the state of San Luis Potosí. However, the sign on the base of the statue above indicates that a similar statue was found in Jalpan, in the Sierra Gorda, close to an ancient Huastec city named Tancama. 

The Adolescent of Tamuin is considered the finest piece of Huastec art in existence. The right hand of the nude statue has its fingers curled in a way that could have once held a flagpole. The oval eyes and the open mouth are features that suggest a strong Teotihuacan influence, possibly brought about by trade contacts. It is even possible that Huastec artists visited Teotihuacan itself during the period when the two civilizations were contemporaries.

Rear view of the Adolescent statue. The life-size adolescent figure appears small, but in the pre-hispanic era people in general were smaller than those of today. Note the odd protrusion in the middle of the statue's back. I was surprised at what I found when I examined the figure more closely.

Most of the cultures of pre-hispanic central Mexico arrived as part of a series of great migrations from the far north that occurred periodically through the centuries. Unlike these others, the Huastecs migrated from what is now Guatemala, near the border with the modern Mexican state of Chiapas. 

Scientists have determined this through linguistic studies. The Huastec language is an offshoot of Proto-Mayan, from which the many Mayan dialects evolved. It is believed that the Huastecs developed their version of Proto-Mayan around 2000 BC. Five hundred years later, around 1500 BC, they began their great migration toward the Huasteca. 

On the statue's back are the upside down head of a child and the outlines of its body. The child appears to be strapped on like a papoose. Some scientists believe that the presence of this papoose suggests a link to the god Quetzalcoatl. The outline of the child's body on the replica is too faint to be seen clearly. It is much sharper on the original statue in the Mexico City museum. This may be because the mold used to make the replica did not fully pick up some of the details. 

Over a period of at least 200 years, the Huastecs slowly migrated northward. First, they moved northeast along the Rio Usumacinta, which today forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Eventually they turned northwest, following the Gulf Coast. About 1200 BC, the migrants arrived in the area of central Veracruz. For a while, they settled there among a Mixe-Zoque-speaking population who had arrived about 200 years previously. These were the people who eventually developed into the Olmec civilization. 

The neck, left arm, and shoulder are covered with simulated tattoos. At the base of the neck, you can see four small concentric circles and two more on the upper left of the back. Each circle is bisected by two vertical and two horizontal lines. The Teotihuacan and Aztec civilizations both use similar circles in religious contexts. In the Nahuatl language, they are called chalchihuites ("precious stones" or "emeralds"). They represent blood or water, both essential to life. The four lines in each circle may represent the four sacred directions of the world (north, south, east, west), with the circle's center representing the world's center.

As the Olmec civilization rose to power the Huastecs were pushed northward. They moved along the coast and into mountainous areas like the Sierra Gorda, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas. By about 1100 BC, they had settled the region we now call the Huasteca.  However, the rise of the Olmecs in central and southern Veracruz effectively cut off the Huastecs from their Maya-speaking cousins in Yucatan and Guatemala. This isolated them from the later developments of the Maya civilizations in those areas and made the Huastecs a distinct cultural group. 

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Three more large circles appear on the right hip and leg. These are also concentric and have the same vertical and horizontal lines. However, unlike the smaller circles, the larger ones each contain a complex design in their centers. This design appears to be the same in each of them. According to the History and Anthropology Museum of Mexico City, some of the designs on the statue refer to maiz (corn). This is another association with Quetzalcoatl, the god who pre-hispanic people believed gave the gift of maiz to mankind. Some scientists suggest that the statue may be a representation of Quetzalcoatl himself.

Like many other cultures in Mesoamerica, the Huastecs were strongly influenced by the Olmecs, who have become known as the "Mother of Cultures". The Olmecs were the first to build stepped pyramids and the first to play the Mesoamerican ball game. They also pioneered large scale production of maiz, created a 365-day calendar, invented the concept of zero, and may have developed Mesoamerica's first written language (this is disputed). The cities the Huastecs later built show that they adopted many of these Olmec innovations.

Ancient artifacts of the Huastec culture

Necklace with an animal head pendant. The necklace was made with bone and shell. The beautiful little rabbit head appears to have been carved from bone. Jewelry like this was created both for personal use and for trade. Since there were no draft animals in pre-hispanic Mesoamerica, everything had to be carried by human porters. Therefore, items for trade needed to be light and compact. Trade networks throughout the Americas existed from a very early time and were responsible for the spread of goods and cultural ideas. 

While the Huastecs adopted many Olmec innovations, no evidence of a written language has yet been discovered in the Huasteca. The elaborate system of hieroglyphics that the Maya of Guatemala and Yucatan developed did not come about until many centuries after the Olmecs had cut the Huastecs off from those areas.  Consequently, we know very little about their history or system of government during the twelve hundred years between the end of their migration in 1100 BC and the beginning of the Classic Era around 100 AD. Much about the Huastec civilization remains a mystery. 

Jewelry was made from a variety of seashells. The shells would have come primarily from the Gulf Coast, but some could have arrived through trade routes from the Caribbean or even the Pacific Coast. The two shells on top are from some kind of clam, while the four in the middle row appear to be from mollusks, given their spiral openings. The three on the bottom left are probably cowrie shells. I can't identify the six small pieces on the bottom right, Worldwide, people have been making jewelry from shells for as much as 135,000 years. 

Over the centuries, waves of Nahuatl-speaking migrants settled to the west of the Huasteca.  Further north, fierce nomads inhabited the great deserts. To the south were the Olmecs and later the Totonacs. Being surrounded by these other groups increased the isolation of the Huastecs from much of the rest of Mesoamerica. However, the ruggedness of the Huasteca also spared them for a long time from the incursions of outsiders through invasions or migrations. However, with the rise of the Aztec Empire, all this changed.

Miniature masks and ceremonial pipe, all from Teotihuacan. The finely detailed little masks were probably made from molds. The use of molds to mass produce trade items was a Teotihuacan innovation. The larger mask in the upper right was sculpted from stone and carries the features typical of Teotihuacan facial sculptures. Pipes for smoking tobacco were used for ceremonial purposes as well as for everyday consumption.

The Aztec pattern of conquest started with trade. Their traveling merchant-traders were called Pochteca and they were agents of the state as well as businessmen. During their trading forays, they spied out the riches of the land and the people in an area. If the inhabitants refused to trade, suspecting treachery, the Aztecs took this as a provocation justifying a military response. However, if trade was allowed, eventually the Aztecs proposed that the area's inhabitants become part of the Empire. If these proposals were rejected, military force was always available to change peoples' minds.

A large and heavily weathered stone head, also of Teotihuacan origin. The great trading city of Teotihucan (100 AD - 650 AD) was founded in the Valley of Mexico. It dominated Mesoamerica during the Classic era both economically and culturally. After it fell, nothing comparable existed in Mexico until the Aztec Empire, nine hundred years later. During the period between the rise of Teotihuacan and the rise of the Aztec Empire, the isolation and ruggedness of the Huasteca seems to have spared its people from conquest. 

However, in the mid-1400s, the Huastec city-states finally lost their independence when the Aztecs invaded and conquered them. Following the usual Aztec practice, they left the Huastec culture and governing elites in place for the most part, but demanded regular tribute and recognition of the supremacy of the Aztec emperor. Less than a century later, the Aztecs themselves fell to the Spanish conquistadors and, not long after that, the Huasteca became part of Nueva España. See Part 2 of this series for an account of the arrival of the Spanish and so-called Spiritual Conquest by the Franciscans and other evangelical Orders.

Fragment of a Teotihuacan-style ceremonial "yoke" worn by ball players. Ornamental stone yokes like this were worn on the front of the waist of players during the game's ceremonies. The actual yokes used in play were made of leather and wood and protected a player's midsection against the impact of the heavy rubber ball. The stone version would have been too heavy to use during these intense ball games. According to the display's sign, the design is Teotihuacan. This may be another example of an import or it might have been a copy by a local artisan. 

Clay statue of a seated man with a bowl. This sculpture shows a strong resemblance to those produced by the people of the Shaft Tomb Culture in western Mexico. The figure's long straight nose, high forehead, and seated position holding a bowl are all typical features of the lifelike sculptures they produced. Once again, it is difficult to determine whether this was an import or an imitation by a local sculptor.

By the late Post-Classic period, the Huastecs were producing copper alloys to make jewelry and tools. Metallurgy probably arrived in the Huasteca from trade with the Shaft Tomb people and the Tarascan Empire of Michoacan. Both of them were actively engaged in metallurgy, a practice that they had acquired through trade with the civilizations on the west coast of South America.

A clay statue of an inquisitive deer peers up at visitors. The little statue is missing its left foreleg and part of one antler. I found it a charming example of the work of a long-ago Huastec artisan. The Sierra Gorda abounds with wildlife, including white-tailed deer. The sculptor clearly knew his subject and caught the stance and expression of the deer perfectly. The opening on the deer's back might have been used for burning incense.

This completes Part 4 of my Sierra Gorda series. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please include your email address so that I may respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim