Huapalcalco
Encyclopedia
| Olmec (Xicalanca) Culture – Archaeological Site | ||
| Name: | font style="color:Blue;"> Huapalcalco Archaeological Site | |
| Type | Mesoamerican archaeology | |
| Location | Huapalcalco, Tulancingo Tulancingo Tulancingo is the second-largest city in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the southeastern part of the state and also forms one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, as well as the Archdiocese of Tulancingo... , Hidalgo |
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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 | 20°8′N 98°22′W | |
| Culture | Olmeca-Xicalanca – 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 | ||
| Chronology | 100 – 650 CE | |
| Period | Mesoamerican Preclassical, Classical, Postclassical | |
| Apogee | ||
| INAH Web Page | Huapalcalco Archaeological Site | |
Huapalcalco is an archeological site located some 5 kilometers north of Tulancingo
Tulancingo
Tulancingo is the second-largest city in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the southeastern part of the state and also forms one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, as well as the Archdiocese of Tulancingo...
in the state of Hidalgo, 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 site was built on the west slope of the “Tecolote” hill; the slope is separated east-west by a ravine that forms two sectors at the foot of the hill and two more on the top, all of which contain archaeological vestiges.
The site depicts Teotihuacán influence, and some believe that Topilitzin Quetzalcóatl
Ce Acatl Topiltzin
Cē Ācatl Topiltzin is a mythologised figure appearing in 16th-century accounts of Aztec and Nahua historical traditions, where he is identified as a ruler in the 10th century of the Toltecs—by Aztec tradition their predecessors who had political control of the Valley of Mexico and...
resided here, before governing Tula
Tollan
Tollan, Tolan, or Tolán is a name used for the capital cities of two empires of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica; first for Teotihuacan, and later for the Toltec capital, Tula-Hidalgo, both in Mexico...
. Also it is considered the oldest human occupation site in the Hidalgo State.
It is believed that it must have been a very important civil, religious and housing center. It is known that it was the second Toltec empire, before Tula.
The city was of olmeca-xicalanca origin, or the first settler tribes of the great central plateau of the mountain range. The meaning of such wooden building is not known, it was probably built when the ancient native people settled; perhaps it was a building destined as a Telpochcalli, for military training, justice administration, or learning dances or music.
Men passed through the Bering Straits 40 thousand years, 30 thousand years ago, men reached the Mexican plains and about 13 thousand years ago, men reached Huapalcalco in the Hidalgo, State, where vestiges have been located that date back to that period.
However, Huapalcalco is a mesoamerican classical period (100 to 650 CE), formed part of the State Teotihuacan, however, both its architecture and pottery is not equal to Teotihuacan, i.e. there is Teotihuacan influence, but are not Teotihuacan. It is not known what culture built these monuments; it can only be said that it is closely related to the Teotihuacan culture and had influence of the cultures of the Gulf Coast.
Background
During the archaic period (80000 – 10000 BCE) the first human settlement occurred in the valley. It was until the mesoamerican preclassical period (1200 BCE to 200 CE) that a clear division is made, as to the people’s occupation. During the classical period (200-600 CE) Tulancingo already was an important trade center, with roads and residential areas. It is during this period that Huapalcalco was built, of which today remain a three bodied pyramid and stairway, with ToltecToltec
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...
style.
Tulancingo
Tulancingo, was a forerunner of the TeotihuacanTeotihuacan
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...
civilization. The name 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...
words “tule” and “tzintle” which mean “in or behind the reeds.” This is confirmed by its Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
.
The area is home to some of the oldest settlements in mesoamerica, Huapalcalco and El Pedregal. These first settlements have been attributed to the Olmecs, Xicalancas and other tribes. A city was founded in 645 BCE by the Toltecs with the name Tolancingo as part of the empire centered in Tula
Tula, Hidalgo
Tula, formally, Tula de Allende, is a town and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 305.8 km² , and as of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 93,296, with 28,432 in the town...
. During this period, the city was home to school and temples. A calendar stone was sculpted here and a temple called Mitlancalco was built to receive the bodies of priests and princes. After 1116 CE, the Toltec empire declined and the city was abandoned.
According to the Tribute Codex (Códice de los Tributos), the Tulancingo area was a commercial center for 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...
-Tepehua and Totonac
Totonac
The Totonac people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they 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...
people since about 1000 CE bringing traders from lands now in the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz. Traditional trading still exists in the form of the Thursday “Tianguis
Tianguis
A tianguis is an open air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or city neighborhood in Mexico and Central America. This bazaar tradition has its roots well into the pre-Hispanic period and continues in many cases essentially unchanged into the present day....
” or market.
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 came to rule here under Xolotl (Chichimec ruler) starting around 1120. The city was refounded by these people and the remaining Toltecs. The population increased with the arrival of the Tlaxcaltecas. In 1324, a king named Quinantzin, reorganized the area politically, making Tulancingo the head of a province. Tulancingo marched against Texcoco, but was defeated. In the early 15th century, this same Texcoco, under Huitzilihuit, conquered Tulancingo, putting it within the Aztec Empire. In 1431, the Tulancingo area was again reorganized politically under Itzcoatl
Itzcóatl
Itzcoatl was the fourth emperor of the Aztecs, ruling from 1427 to 1440, the period when the Mexica threw off the domination of the Tepanecs and laid the foundations for the eventual Aztec Empire.- Biography :...
and Nezahualcoyotl
Nezahualcoyotl
Nezahualcoyotl was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexico...
.
Eventually, Tulancingo became part of the Texcoco empire and in 1416, was taken by the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
might empire. Since then, Tulancingo was divided into two sectors: Tlaixpa, located to the east, inhabited mostly by native Otomi; and Tlatoca in the west, inhabited by Nahua. The inhabitants of both sides paid tribute to the Aztec kingdom; tributes consisted of cotton blankets and seeds, such as corn and amaranth.
Although Tulancingo was a tributary of the Mexicas, they maintained certain administrative independence, they choose their own authorities. This city was an important food stocking place for the Aztecs.
Toponymy
Huapalcalco is a Nahuatl word, huapalli, "board or small beam "; calli, "house", y co, location proposition. Means "place of the wooden house ".The Huapalcalco Glyph represents a battlement building, with three doors, apparently made from wood, different from the common calli glyph, is the graphical idea of huapalcalli [vapalcalli], which means “tent or house of tables.” Huapal calli, is composed of calli, house, and huapalli or huapalitl, board or small beam: Huapal cal co, “in the house of boards, “or the wooden building”.
Investigations
The northwestern sector, perhaps the most important, was explored in 1954 by archaeologist Florence Jacobs Müller and Cesar Lizardi Ramos, whom throughout nine exploration seasons, that concluded in 1959, discovered a pyramidal monument complex with evident Teotihuacán influence and a plaza with a SteleStele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
(Mayan
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...
influence), Totonac
Totonac
The Totonac people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they 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...
yokes and a round altar.
Olmec-Xicalanca
The mid-classical period ended in Northern Mesoamerica with the decline of Teotihuacan ca 700 CE. This allowed regional centers of power to flourish and compete for control of trade routes and the exploitation of natural resources. In this way the late Classic era commenced. As stated above, this was a time of political fragmentation during which no city had complete hegemony. Various population movements occurred during this period, caused by the incursion of groups from AridoamericaAridoamerica
Aridoamerica, also known as the Gran Chichimeca, is a term used by Mexican archeologists to describe a region of the southwestern United States and the northern and central regions of Mexico, in contrast to Mesoamerica, which lies to the south and east...
and other northern regions, who pushed the older populations of Mesoamerica toward the south. Among these new groups were the Nahua, who would found the cities of Tula and Tenochtitlan, the two most important capitals of the Postclassical era. In addition to the migrations from the north, southern peoples finally established themselves in the center of Mexico. Among these were the Olmec-Xicalanca, who came from the Yucatán Peninsula and founded Cacaxtla
Cacaxtla
Cacaxtla is an archaeological site located near the southern border of the Mexican state of 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...
and Xochicalco
Xochicalco
Xochicalco is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Municipality of Miacatlán in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The name Xochicalco may be translated from Nahuatl as "in the house of Flowers". The site is located 38 km southwest of Cuernavaca, about 76 miles by road...
.
The term Olmec-Xicalancas refers to a culture (that should not to be confused with the Olmecs), although occupied a nearby areas. The main division between the Olmec-xicalancas groups was that each group would have been governed by a tahualz, a kind of King, independent of each other. In reality, had two tahualz between different groups.
They had a writing system that at least included 10 signs, pictograms of the Sun, the Moon, a tree, a field harvest, a person, etc. Religion would have been polytheistic. The most important was the Sun God called different in both villages.
Other Olmec-Xicalanca Sites:
- Cantona (Mesoamerican site)
- CacaxtlaCacaxtlaCacaxtla is an archaeological site located near the southern border of the Mexican state of 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...
- Cholula (Mesoamerican site)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...
- XochicalcoXochicalcoXochicalco is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Municipality of Miacatlán in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The name Xochicalco may be translated from Nahuatl as "in the house of Flowers". The site is located 38 km southwest of Cuernavaca, about 76 miles by road...
The site
Huapalcalco corresponds to the mesoamerican classical period (100 to 650 CE), was part of the Teotihuacán state, nevertheless, both their architecture and ceramics are not the same as to those of Teotihuacán, that is to say, they have Teotihuacán influence but are not Teotihuacan. It is not known who constructed these monuments, it can only be said that it has a large Teotihuacan culture relation and it had influence of the Gulf Coast cultures.The remarkable finding of Totonac yokes shows the influence of the Gulf of Mexico coastal cultures, as well as the discovery of a sculpture of the Teotihuacan God of fire.
An important finding was achieved when excavating the deepest part of one of the buildings, it consisted of arrowheads meserve type, that correspond to a pre-ceramic culture 7,000 BCE., and whose chronology matches a hand axe found of prehistoric type in the remains of a burnt cave in cliffs of “el Tecolote” hill, where also were found cave paintings of geometric human character predominating the red color, demonstrating the presence of Paleolithic man (approximately 10,000 BCE) in Huapalcalco.
A recent finding on the highest part of “El Tecolote” hill, located at the south-eastern corner, consisting of a pyramid foundation built with stone slabs and stucco finishing. A symmetrical monument, not yet explored, is located at the north-east corner, at the other side of the ravine, natives know the place as "iglesias viejas".
Huapalcalco has a 39 hectares extension, where more than 55 families currently live; within this area is the Archaeological Site in an enclosed 4 hectares perimeter.
Structures
The site features a Teotihuacan influence three bodied pyramid, 12 meters base by 8 meters high, with an altar that possibly was used for offerings.There are approximately 28 knolls: small pyramids buried, in which no archaeological work has been made.
The hill slope is divided by a ravine that divides the two sectors, this place is where Friar Bernardino de Sahagún passed and described it saying that it “has crystalline water cascades, at the foot stones, women were washing clothes while children swam and plunged into water”.
Over the ravine stones are the cave paintings, which are difficult to see, these are dispersed over the “Cerro La Mesa” behind the pyramid. It is sad that graffiti has reached them, making them in some points confusing. Also white crosses are painted in the stone by current inhabitants of the place, namely to scare away witches and nahuales.
On the slope, between rocky crags, the walls sink shaping the well-known caves of the place; villagers usually place altars to honor their dead. In front of the “Tecolote” Cave, the remains of a prehistoric man was found, according to carbon 14 tests made, this man lived here 10 thousand years ago. The remains are kept in the National Museum of Anthropology and History of Mexico City, in the Prehistoric Room.
Cave Paintings
These are located at the Huiztle hill and Huapalcalco plateau; these cave paintings transmit testimony of primitive groups’ life experiences in representations of men, schematic outlines and astronomical figures dating back to 9,000 BCE.A lizard and men are portrayed, a man depicted in the act of throwing something that seems to be a prehistoric weapon called atlán that was kind of an arm extension, with a type of large spoon dart in the end, it was used mainly to hunt ducks that must have existed by the thousands in the lagoon located west of the site.
These were hunter-gatherer men that did not have animals in captivity but knew fire.
Huapalcalco Legend
The Huapalcalco (or Coapalcallico) City was punished by the Gods, the punishment was imposed because their people were not able to defend it against invaders and were conquered by other civilizations, they constructed buildings over their structures.The Gods were angry by such situation, hence they completely buried the city, a city that was very extensive, covered an area about 10 sq. Km., which would include the area of what today is from Huapalcalco up to Abra, Santiago and Acatlán.
There was only one solution to remove the curse, the Gods said to the Shamans
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
, the curse could only be removed on June 24 at midnight, at such exact time a bridge would appear between both Coapalcallico hills, over the Main Pyramid.
And only at that instant, a man, woman, boy or girl with the purest and bravest soul could cross it and pull on a gold chain that would appear in the other side of the bridge and after pulling on the chain, the city, buried by the curse of the Gods would reappear.
Vandalism
Vandal hands have destroyed the Huapalcalco archaeological zone, considered one of Tulancingo cultural patrimonies.Huapalcalco, source of construction materials
People use pyramid stones to construct to houses. With stones from the Toltec ceremonial center, Huapalcalco, Tulancingo inhabitants, constructs their houses without the INAH intervention to stop the destruction of these important archaeological vestiges.Stones originating from the per-hispanic ruins of the Huapalcalco archaeological zone, in the municipality of Tulancingo, are used for the houses construction by people living around the site. This happens in front of the evident negligence on the part of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) state delegation.
Huapalcalco, a forgotten site
The archaeological site does not have signaling nor receives maintenance.The archaeological site is forgotten. The Huapalcalco cave paintings with more than 10 thousand years of antiquity are in danger by graffiti, bonfires soot, vandalism practices and civil employees’ lack of interest.
Even arriving to the site is already a problem. On a side of the federal highway to Tuxpan, that crosses the city of Tulancingo, there is a deviation to Huapalcalco, where a rusty signboard welcomes people to the archaeological zone and cave paintings. The worn out National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) logo is barely visible.
External links
- Municipio Tulancingo Official website
- State of Hidalgo Official website
Further Reading
- Mesoamerican chronologyMesoamerican chronologyMesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
- Tulancingo de Bravo
- Tulancingo’s History
- Pachuca’s History