Cacaxtla
Encyclopedia
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
site located near the southern border of the Mexican state
States of Mexico
The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...
of Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala is one of the 31 states which along with the Federal District comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and its capital city is Tlaxcala....
. It was a sprawling palace containing vibrantly colored murals painted in unmistakable Maya style. The nearby site of Xochitecatl was a more public ceremonial complex associated with Cacaxtla. Cacaxtla and Xochitecatl prospered 650-900 CE, probably controlling important trade routes through the region with an enclave population of no more than 10,000 people.
History
Cacaxtla was the capital of region inhabited by the Olmeca-Xicalanca people. The origins of the Olmeca-Xicalanca are not known with certainty, but they are assumed to come from the Gulf coastGulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
region, and were perhaps Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
settlers who arrived in this part of central Mexico around 400 CE.
The term "Olmeca-Xicalanca" was first mentioned by Tlaxcalan historian Diego Muñoz Camargo
Diego Muñoz Camargo
Diego Muñoz Camargo was the author of History of Tlaxcala, an illustrated codex that highlights the religious, cultural, and military history of the Tlaxcalan people.-Life:...
at the end of the 16th century. This historian described Cacaxtla as the principal settlement of the “Olmeca”, although what we today refer to as the Olmec culture ended ~400 BCE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
, that is, almost 800 years earlier.
After the fall of the nearby city Cholula
Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
Cholula , was an important city of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, dating back to at least the 2nd century BCE, with settlement as a village going back at least some thousand years earlier. The great site of Cholula stands just west of the modern city of Puebla. Its immense pyramid exceeds the Pyramid...
(ca. 650 - 750) -- in which the Cacaxtlecas might have been involved—Cacaxtla became the hegemonic power in this part of the Tlaxcala–Puebla valley. Warriors from Cacaxtla appear to have taken over Cholula for a time, but they were ultimately expelled by the Toltecs. Its ascendancy came to an end around 900 CE and, by 1000, the city had been abandoned.
Modern history of the site
The site was rediscovered in 1974 by looters, but quickly came to the attention of archaeologists that same year.The city
The centre of the city of Cacaxtla was the 200-metre-long, 25-metre-high Gran Basamento – a natural platform offering a fine defensive position and commanding views over the surrounding terrain. The city's main religious and civil buildings were located on this platform, as were the residences of the priest class. Several other smaller pyramids and temple bases stand in the vicinity of the main platform.Because Cacaxtla's main basamento was not excavated until the 1980s, many of the original coloured wall decorations have been preserved and can be appreciated in situ(In position not moved from original spot) by visitors to the site. Of particular interest is the fact that most of the murals seem to combine the symbology of Altiplano
Altiplano
The Altiplano , in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet...
cultures with influences from the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, making Cacaxtla unique in this regard.
The most famous of Cacaxtla's preserved paintings is the "Battle Mural", or Mural de la batalla, located in the northern plaza of the basamento. Dating from prior to 700, it is placed on the sloping limestone wall of a temple base and is split in two by a central staircase. It depicts two groups of warriors locked in battle:
on the one side are jaguar warriors, armed with spears, obsidian knives, and round shields, who are locked in battle with an army of bird warriors (some of whom are shown naked and in various stages of dismemberment).
Visiting the site
The archaeological site is maintained by the government's National Institute of Anthropology and HistoryNational Institute of Anthropology and History
The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia is a Mexican federal government bureau established in 1939 to guarantee the research, preservation, protection, and promotion of the prehistoric, archaeological, anthropological, historical, and paleontological heritage of Mexico...
(INAH) and is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 8:00 to 17:30. The admission is $46 MXP. In addition to the ruins, there is a small but well presented museum containing models of how the city appeared in its heyday and a collection of artifacts found on the site. If you ever find yourself at the archaeological site of Cacaxtla, take a walk around the Great Platform. This partially artificial summit contains layers upon layers of prehistoric occupations. There is more to Cacaxtla than just the beautiful murals. Here archaeologists have found rabbit pens, proof of the diet which was available to the elite who lived at the hill's summit.
Due to heavy hail storms on May 21, 2007, the archaeological site was closed until April 2008.
The site was to re-open on April 30, 2008.
Another nearby site associated with Cacaxtla is Xochitecatl which was a more public ceremonial complex.
See also
- XochitecatlXochitecatlXochitecatl is a pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican State of Tlaxcala, 18 km southwest of Tlaxcala city. The major architecture dates to the Middle Preclassic Period but occupation continued, with one major interruption, until the Late Classic, when the site was...
, a neighbouring archaeological site, approximately 1 km to the west.