Huamango
Encyclopedia
| Otomí Culture – Archaeological Site | ||
| Name: | Huamango | |
| Type | Mesoamerican archaeology | |
| Location | Acambay, Municipality of Acambay Acambay, Mexico State Acambay is a town and municipio located in north of the State of Mexico. The township of Acambay is the municipal seat of the municipio of the same name.-History:... , Mexico State |
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| Region | Mesoamerica Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and... |
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| Coordinates | 19°58′39"N 99°51′55"W | |
| Culture | Otomí Otomi people The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of... (Hñähñu, Hñähño, Ñuhu, Ñhato, Ñuhmu) – Toltec Toltec The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology... |
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| Language | Otomí Otomi language Otomi is an Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico. The language is spoken in many different dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible, therefore it is in... |
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| Chronology | First occupation 900 to 1100 CE. Second from 1100 to 1300 CE. | |
| Period | Mesoamerican early Postclassical | |
| Apogee | ||
| INAH Web Page | Huamango Archaeological Site | |
Huamango is an early Postclassical (Toltec period) archaeological located about 4 kilometers northwest of the modern city of Acambay in the State of Mexico.
The archaeological area is on the San Miguel plateau, in the vicinity of the Peña Picuda hill, at an approximate altitude of 2,850 (meters above sea level), it is rich in legends, stories and ancestral traditions.
The site has vestiges of a city inhabited by the Otomi culture, which dominated the Acambay Valley, strategically located by the apparent defensive needs in the dispute over control of territory and trade routes.
Huamango was most likely a major political capital in the area immediately north of the Toluca Valley during Early Postclassical times, perhaps subsidiary in some way to the Toltec polity centered at Tula to the northeast.
The site is maintained by the Instituto Mexiquense de Cultura, a branch of the State of Mexico. It is easy to reach by car, about an hour's drive north of Toluca, and a few km north-west of Acambay.
Prehistory
In prehistoric State of Mexico, the Tepexpan ManTepexpan man
The Tepexpan Man is a Pre-Columbian era skeleton, discovered by archaeologist Helmut de Terra in February 1947, on the shores of the former Lake Texcoco in central Mexico. The skeleton was found near mammoth remains and thought to be at least 10,000 years old. Dr. de Terra's research was funded by...
is an important finding for Mexican and foreign anthropologists; it is an important key to understand what the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
area was like, 5000 years ago, as well as helping establish the occupation chronology of the region. Some scholars attribute an age of 11 thousand years, others 8 thousand, and some have suggested 5 thousand years old. This individual, originally identified as a male, recent research confirm a female identity, although this is still subject of discussion.
Sacrum bone found in Tequixquiac is considered a work of prehistoric art. The town was inhabited in 35,000 BCE by primitive men who had crossed the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
from Asia. These people were nomadic, hunting large animals such as mammoths and gathering fruits as evidenced by archaeological evidence found at the site. One of the most salient discoveries of primitive art in America was found in here, called the Tequixquiac Bone, which had no known purpose, but reflected the ideological sense of the artist who carved the piece of bone from a camelid
Camelid
Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only living family in the suborder Tylopoda. Dromedaries, Bactrian Camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos are in this group....
around 22,000 years BCE. The first native settlers of Tequixquiac were the Aztecs and Otomi, who decided to settle there permanently for the abundance of rivers and springs. They were engaged mainly in agriculture and the breeding of domestic animals.
The earliest evidence of human habitation in current territory of the state is a quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
scraper and obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
blade found in the Tlapacoya area
Tlapacoya (Mesoamerican site)
Tlapacoya is an important archaeological site in Mexico, located at the foot of the Tlapacoya volcano, southeast of Mexico City, on the former shore of Lake Chalco. Tlapacoya was a major site for the Tlatilco culture....
, which was an island in the former Lake Chalco
Lake Chalco
Lake Chalco was an endorheic lake formerly located in the Valley of Mexico and was important for human development in central Mexico. The lake was named after the city of Chalco on its eastern shore....
. They are dated to the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
era which dates human habitation back to 20,000 years. These first peoples were hunter-gatherers. Stone age implements have been found all over the territory from mammoth bones, to stone tools to human remains. Most have been found in the areas of Los Reyes Acozac
Los Reyes Acozac
Los Reyes Acozac is a community that belongs to the municipality of Tecámac in the State of Mexico in Mexico. It has a population of 20,478 inhabitants and is located at an altitude of 2,250 meters above sea level. The area is known for significant deposits of mammoth bones.-References:...
, Tizayuca
Tizayuca
Tizayuca is a town and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 92.5 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 56,573....
, Tepexpan
Tepexpan
Tepexpan is the largest town in the Acolman municipality in Mexico State, Mexico. The population was 48,103 as of the 2005 Mexican census.One of the most interesting aspects of this town is the discovery of an early Mesoamerican skeleton commonly referred to as "Tepexpan man". Recent research tries...
, San Francisco Mazapa, El Risco and Tequixquiac
Tequixquiac
Santiago Tequixquiac is the seat of the municipality of Tequixquiac located in the northeastern part of the state of Mexico in Mexico, although both are commonly called Tequixquiac. The town is located at a northern pass leading out of the Valley of Mexico and about 120 km northeast of the...
. Between 20,000 and 5,000 B.C.E., the people here eventually went from hunting and gathering to sedimentary villages with farming and domesticated animals. The main crop was corn, and stone tools for the grinding of this grain become common. Later crops include beans, chili peppers and squash grown near established villages. Evidence of ceramics appears around 2,500 B.C.E. with the earliest artifacts of these appearing in Tlapacoya, Atoto
Atoto
Atoto is a village in Ancuabe District in Cabo Delgado Province in northeastern Mozambique.-External links:*...
, Malinalco
Malinalco
Malinalco is a town and municipality located 65 kilometers south of the city of Toluca in the south of the western portion of the Mexico State. Malinalco is 115 km southwest Mexico City....
, Acatzingo and Tlatilco
Tlatilco
Tlatilco was a large pre-Columbian village in the Valley of Mexico situated near the modern-day town of the same name in the Mexican Federal District. It was one of the first chiefdom centers to arise in the Valley, flourishing on the western shore of Lake Texcoco during the Middle Pre-Classic...
.
History
Toward the fifth Millennium BCE, Oto-Manguean languagesOto-Manguean languages
Oto-Manguean languages are a large family comprising several families of Native American languages. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica.The...
speaking peoples formed a large unit. Language diversification and geographical expansion, which has been proposed as their " Urheimat", that is, the Tehuacán valley (current state of Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
) should have occurred after the domestication of the Mesoamerican agricultural Trinity, composed by Corn, Beans and Chile pepper. This is based on the large amount of cognates in the repertoire of words alluding to agriculture in the Oto-manguean languages. After the development of an incipient agriculture, the proto-manguean language gave rise to two distinct languages that constitute the current eastern and western groups of the Oto-manguean family background. Continuing with the linguistic evidence, it seems likely that Pame
Pame
The Pame are an indigenous people of central Mexico living in the state of San Luis Potosí. They call themselves Xi'úi. They speak the Pame language, which belongs to the Oto-Pamean group of the Oto-Manguean language family....
s - members of the western branch - reached the Mexico basin around of the fourth millennium of the Christian era and that, in what some authors argue, have not migrated northward but south.
The earliest major civilization of the state is Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
, with the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon being built between 100 B.C.E and 100 C.E. Between 800 and 900 C.E., the Matlatzinca
Matlatzinca
Matlatzinca is a name used to refer to different indigenous ethnic groups in the Toluca Valley in the state of México, located in the central highlands of Mexico. The term is applied to the ethnic group inhabiting the valley of Toluca and to their language, Matlatzinca.When used as an ethnonym,...
s established their dominion with Teotenango
Teotenango
Teotenango was in important pre-Hispanic fortified city located in the southern part of the Valley of Toluca. It was initially founded during the last stages of the Teotihuacan civilization by a group generally referred to as the “Teotenancas.” Later, the Matlatzincas conquered the city and...
as capital. This city is walled with plazas, terraces, temples, altars, living quarters and a Mesoamerican ball game court. In the 15th century, the Aztecs conquered the Toluca and Chalco valleys to the west and east of the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
respectively. Part of the Toluca Valley was held by the P’urhépechas
P'urhépecha
The P'urhépecha, normally spelled Purépecha in Spanish and in English and traditionally referred to as Tarascans, are an indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of the Mexican state of Michoacán, principally in the area of the cities of Uruapan and Pátzcuaro...
as well. Other dominions during the pre-Hispanic period include that of the Chichimeca
Chichimeca
Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day Mexico and southwestern United States, and carried the same sense as the European term "barbarian"...
s in Tenayuca
Tenayuca
Tenayuca is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Mexico. In the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology Tenayuca was a settlement on the former shoreline of the western arm of Lake Texcoco, located approximately 10km to the northwest of Tenochtitlan...
and of the Acolhua
Acolhua
The Acolhua are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in or around the year 1200 CE. The Acolhua were a sister culture of the Aztecs as well as the Tepanec, Chalca, Xochimilca and others....
s in Huexotla
Texcoco, Mexico State
Texcoco is a city and municipality located in the northeast portion of Mexico State, 25 km northeast of Mexico City. In the pre-Hispanic era, this was a major Aztec city on the shores of Lake Texcoco. After the Conquest, the city was initially the second most important after Mexico City,...
, Texcotizingo and Los Melones. Other important groups were the Mazahua
Mazahua
The Mazahua are an indigenous people of Mexico, inhabiting the northwestern portion of the State of Mexico and northeastern area of Michoacán, with a presence also in the Federal District owing to recent migration...
s in the Atlacomulco
Atlacomulco
Atlacomulco is a city and municipality located in the northwest of the State of Mexico in central Mexico, 63 km from the state capital of Toluca. The name is derived from the Nahuatl phrase "atlacomulli" which means "where there are wells." The city, with a population of 20,477 is...
area. Their center was at Mazahuacán, next to Jocotitlán
Jocotitlán
Jocotitlán is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the State of Mexico on the central highlands of the country of Mexico. The town is located at the foot of the Jocotitlán or Xocotépetl volcano, while most of the rest of the municipality is in the Ixtlahuaca Valley...
mountain. The Otomi
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
s were centered in Jilotepec.
Historiographical texts on Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n prehispanic peoples have paid little attention to the Otomí history. Many centuries ago, in the territory occupied the Otomi flourished large cities like Cuicuilco
Cuicuilco
Cuicuilco is an important archaeological Mesoamerican Middle and Late Formative period site located on the southern shore of the Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico. Today, it is a significant archaeological site that was occupied during the Early Formative until its destruction in...
, Teotihuacán
Teotihuacán
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
and Tula
Tula
Tula may refer to:In geography:*Tula, Hidalgo, a town in Mexico, once the capital and sacred city of the Toltec people.*Tula, Tamaulipas, a place in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico*Tula River in central Mexico...
. Even in the Aztec Triple Alliance
Aztec Triple Alliance
The Aztec Triple Alliance, or Aztec Empire began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states or "altepeme": Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan...
which dominated the Aztec Empire, Tlacopan
Tlacopan
Tlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...
inherited the Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern part of Mexico City...
domains with a majority of Otomi people. However, the Otomi culture is hardly ever mentioned as protagonists of Mesoamerican prehispanic history, perhaps because the ethnic complexity of the Mexico plateau at that time does not permit distinguishing the contributions of the Otomi ancient from those produced by their neighbors. Only until recent years there seems to develop an interest on the role they played by the Otomi in the development of the Mexican plateau cultures, from the Mesoamerican preclassical period thru 1521 CE.
Huamango flourished and had its apogee between 900 and 1300 CE. Based on research investigations, it is established that the site occupants formed a hegemonic religious group. It has not yet been established the Huamango constructors cultural affiliation, although ethnic-historical sources information allow the assumption that these are groups of Otomi origins, ancestors of the current Otomi living in the place.
Etymology
Huamango, means "place where Wood is carved" in the Nahuatl language.This ancient settlement stands majestically in a geological formation known as the San Miguel Huamango Camaye Plateau, formed by Andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
extrusive igneous rocks.
About the name Acambay, it is based on ancient documents that mention that this region was called, in Otomi language, Cambay o Cabaye, which may be translated as “God’s Rock” (okha= “God”, mbaye= “Rock”).
A different theory claims the name is from the P'urhépecha language
P'urhépecha language
P'urhépecha is a language isolate or small language family spoken by more than 100,000 P'urhépecha people in the highlands of the Mexican state of Michoacán...
, from the word Akamba that means maguey or agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....
and the “rhi” esinence|desinence] that means; Akambari or “Place of Magueyes”.
Investigations
Huamango was discovered by architect Edgar Serrano Pérez.The site was excavated by Román Piña Chán and William Folan in the 1970s. It consists of a small ceremonial zone with some temples, located on a ridge overlooking the Valle de los Espejos. Although the dating of Huamango is not as certain as one would like, various lines of evidence point to an Early Postclassic (Toltec period) date for the site (A.D. 900 - 1100).
Archaeological investigations have placed various different hierarchy prehispanic settlements, among these Huamango was chosen because it represents the best example of the Otomi culture monumental architecture, in the region.
Following Piña Chan research, tentatively, two occupation periods have been established: one from 900 to 1100 CE, with similarities to the archaeological area of Tula (incense smokers, braziers and ceramic pots, as burial offerings); and another around 1200-1300 CE, which presents evidence that correlate with sites such as Teotenango
Teotenango
Teotenango was in important pre-Hispanic fortified city located in the southern part of the Valley of Toluca. It was initially founded during the last stages of the Teotihuacan civilization by a group generally referred to as the “Teotenancas.” Later, the Matlatzincas conquered the city and...
and Calixtlahuaca
Calixtlahuaca
Calixtlahuaca is a Postclassic period Mesoamerican archaeological site, located near the present-day city of Toluca in the State of Mexico...
.
Burials excavated at the site yielded ceramic offering vessels in a distinctive polychrome style. The lack of Coyotlatelco ceramics is a good sign that the site does not date to the epiclassical period (700-900 CE), and the presence of some types similar to Tollan-phase Tula supports the early postclassical dating.
Otomi Culture
Indigenous peoples of Mexico
Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...
inhabiting the central altiplano of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The two most populous groups are the Highland or Sierra Otomí living in the mountains of La Huasteca
La Huasteca
La Huasteca is the first climbing area in Monterrey, Mexico, only 15 minutes from the city. With nearly 200 bolted routes with grades from 5.8 to 5.13C, it is the favorite place for weekend climbers. It is also known for the slippery type of limestone from which it is comprised, and which makes...
and the Mezquital Otomí, living in the Mezquital valley in the eastern part of the state of Hidalgo, and in the state of Querétaro. Sierra Otomí usually self identify as Ñuhu or Ñuhmu depending on the dialect they speak, whereas Mezquital Otomi self identify as Hñähñu . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, Mexico
Mexico (state)
México , officially: Estado Libre y Soberano de México is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of the United Mexican States. It is divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Toluca de Lerdo....
, 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....
, Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
and Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
. The Otomi language
Otomi language
Otomi is an Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico. The language is spoken in many different dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible, therefore it is in...
belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family
Oto-Manguean languages
Oto-Manguean languages are a large family comprising several families of Native American languages. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica.The...
is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.
One of the early complex cultures of Mesoamerica, the Otomi were likely the original inhabitants of the central Mexican highlands before the arrival of Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
speakers around ca. 1000 AD, but were gradually replaced and marginalized by Nahua peoples. In the colonial period Otomi speakers helped the Spanish conquistadors as mercenaries and allies, which allowed them to extend into territories that had previously been inhabited by semi-nomadic Chichimecs, for example Querétaro and Guanajuato.
Hence the names used by the otomíes to refer to themselves are numerous: ñätho (Toluca Valley), hñähñu (Mezquital Valley), ñäñho (Santiago de Mezquititlán, south of Querétaro) and ñ'yühü (Northenr Puebla Sierra), Pahuatlán) are some of the names used by the Otomi to call themselves in their own languages, although it is common when talking in Spanish they use the Nahuatl ethnonym "Otomi".
Otomí Demonym origin
As with most ethnonymEthnonym
An ethnonym is the name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms and autonyms or endonyms .As an example, the ethnonym for...
s used to refer to native peoples of Mexico, the "Otomi" term is not native of the referenced village. "Otomi" is a term that derives from the Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
source "otómitl", a word in the language of the ancient Aztecs meaning "who walks with arrows", although authors such as Wigberto Jiménez Moreno have translated it as "bird hunter with arrows" (flechador de pájaros). Also it is plausible that the demonym is derived from the name Oton, a leader of this people in prehispanic times. According to the members of the Otomi people the term, "Otomi" is pejorative, associated with an image derived from colonial and Nahua sources where the Otomi are presented as indolent and lazy. Therefore, for some years now, there has been a resurgence of native names usage, especially in the Mezquital Valley, Querétaro and northwest of the State of Mexico; territories with a high percentage of Otomi ethnic population. On the other hand, in eastern Michoacán, recovery of the native demonym has not had the same effort.
Otomi Language
OtomiOtomi language
Otomi is an Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico. The language is spoken in many different dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible, therefore it is in...
(ˌ, Spanish Otomí otoˈmi) is an Oto-Manguean language
Oto-Manguean languages
Oto-Manguean languages are a large family comprising several families of Native American languages. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica.The...
and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
in the central altiplano
Mexican Plateau
The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano or Altiplanicie Mexicana, is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico...
region of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The language is spoken in many different dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible
Mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort...
, therefore it is in effect a dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
. The word Hñähñu hɲɑ̃hɲṹ has been proposed as an endonym, but since it represents the usage of a single dialect it has not gained wide currency. Linguists have classified the modern dialects into three dialect areas: the Northwestern dialects spoken in Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
, Hidalgo and Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
; the Southwestern dialects spoken in the State of Mexico
Mexico (state)
México , officially: Estado Libre y Soberano de México is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of the United Mexican States. It is divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Toluca de Lerdo....
; and the Eastern dialects spoken in the highlands of Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
, Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, and eastern Hidalgo and in villages in 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....
and Mexico states.
Like all other Oto-Manguean languages, Otomi is a tonal language and most varieties distinguish three tones. Nouns are marked only for possessor (either by prefixes or by proclitics); plural number is marked by the definite article and by a verb suffix, and some dialects maintain the historically existing dual number marking.
Huamango Legends
Huamango is a site with interesting legends. Local belief is that the Otomi occupied this settlement much before the Aztec armies conquered it and applied taxes.A legend tells that the "Apache" (thus named by inhabitants of the place) lived in Huamango, but had to leave, and went to San Miguel, from where they returned every year to dance at the Temple of the site.
Another legend says: "That originally the place was built and inhabited by Tula’s Toltec and later inhabited by Otomi for a long time." After an earthquake, Huamango inhabitants left the site and moved to a place called Dongú, where they formed a new Center. "Later moved into what today is known as Acambay".
Because of this last legend many direct inhabitants of the region, that claim to be descendants of Huamango builders, and take care of the place and of their Otomi customs.
The Site
The ancient city was built on leveled terraces, it was necessary to make important works on the site terrain irregular topography, to level the field and created large terraces for the structures construction, some probably ceremonial. For the city many reinforcement walls were built, from their size, probably were defensive walls of up to 2 meters high in some parts.During the site occupation, it is probable that the Central Highlands had political and social instability, there were different cultures disputing control of the region and its cities. Huamango, dominated the Acambay Valley and the peripheral region. It is likely that its location was due to defensive needs, and also to control trade and northern trade routes (States of Hidalgo, Michoacán and Querétaro) and also the southern (Valley of Ixtlahuaca - Atlacomulco and Toluca Valley). Tula exerted an important influence on the central plateau in religion, politics and Economics.
Political and Trade Center
It is thought that Huamango was an important political center with controls on other cities of the region.Their people kept different type of relations, mainly trade with sites in the Tula hierarchy and some settlements of the Michoacán region.
Because of the large ceramic variety found, and its strategic location, is thought the city mught have been an important trade center, of the central plateau with the western regions.
Constructions
The site covers six hectares, on which the architectural elements were discovered, the area is characterized by its oak forest and the unreliable land for agriculture, this difficulty diminished on the terraces built.The outline of most platform base is only marked by stones. Elite rooms are presumed to have been built, occupied by Huamango priests and administrators.
Although the land topography was not suitable for construction, the constructors had a remarkable solution to the problem, by the artificial leveling and conditioning of large terraces on which the structures were built using stones and clay mortar and covered with overlaid stone slabs.
Dr. Roman Piña Chan arranged the site in two separated architectural systems, in an east-west direction on the plateau, to facilitate research. System A is located in the western side and System B, in the eastern side.
System A
This set includes a two bodied overlaid structure with stairway on the west side. An altar is located at the front, in the center of a square, which is surrounded by residential houses foundations, probably for the ruling class.System B
It consists of a temple basement with three overlaid bodies, stairway with sloped wall (alfarda). In front of the structure is a small altar, with several residential structures surrounding it. Some of the monuments were coated with small imbricated stone slabs (overlayed as a roof tiles), a characteristic practice of the Otomi architecture. Archaeological investigations have shown that temples and rooms were roofed with a wooden beam structure, covered with a thick clay sealing layer. All buildings had stucco floors and stone furnaces, probably used for cooking, burning incense or as room heating stoves.Structures
The ceremonial center covers 300 m (north-south) and 200 m (east-west). Released buildings are as follows:The Palace
The Palace is located almost at the site center. The ceremonial building preserves the architectural style of the place, recessed stairways and stuccoed stone. It was identified as a palace, because at the top were found wooden pilaster elements at the entrance, as well as stone foundations and smokers, these depict religious activity.It has two bodies, covered with a wall of stone slabs and a central stairway case to the west. On the north and eastern sides is a 30 cm wide walkway. Atop the structure are indications of a temple-room, with a hallway in front and three entrance spaces, separated by two wooden pillars, as access to the aforementioned ample space, which had two furnaces or tlecuiles. The presence inside of Sahumerios
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
(Smokers) is an indication of the religious purposes of the place.
This building is a pyramid, roofs were made of perishable materials, such as adobe, dirt, tile and palm leaves, so could not be preserved over time.
Altar
Located west of the Palace. Possibly had a single body, although there is evidence of two stairs towards the east and west; the altar was coated with imbricated stone slabs. It is not known if the altars were related to any specific religious ceremony. It is possible they were associated with sacrifice rituals.Warrior Temple
It has three staggered bodies, it is the foundation over which a religious temple was probably built. At the front should have been a stairway, probably with sloped walls, for access to the top. It was identified as a temple because of its shape, height, associated ceramics, calcined burials deposited inside of ceramic vessels and the continued use for religious activities.Currently serves as a cross base; stones removed from the structure were used to construct the adjoining Catholic chapel. Very near this construction a headstone with a warrior depiction was found.