Laguna de los Cerros
Encyclopedia
| Olmec Culture – Archaeological Site | ||
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| Name: | Laguna de los Cerros | |
| Type | Mesoamerican archaeology | |
| Location | Corral Nuevo, Acayucan Acayucan, Veracruz Acayucan is a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, located in the state's southeast, in the Olmeca region. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name.At the 2005 INEGI Census, Acayucan reported a population of 49,945.... , 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... |
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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 | Olmec Olmec The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco.... |
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| Language | ||
| Chronology | 1200 BCE to 900 CE | |
| Period | Mesoamerican Classical | |
| Apogee | 250 to 900 CE | |
| INAH Web Page | Non existent | |
Laguna de los Cerros is a little-excavated Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
and Classical era
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
archaeological site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
, located in the vicinity of Corral Nuevo, within the municipality of Acayucan
Acayucan, Veracruz
Acayucan is a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, located in the state's southeast, in the Olmeca region. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name.At the 2005 INEGI Census, Acayucan reported a population of 49,945....
, in the Mexican state 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...
, in the southern foothills of the Tuxtla Mountains
Sierra de los Tuxtlas
The Sierra de Los Tuxtlas are a volcanic belt and mountain range along the southeastern Veracruz Gulf coast in southcentral Mexico....
, some 30 kilometers south of the Catemaco
Catemaco, Veracruz
Catemaco is a municipality and city in the southeast of Mexican state of Veracruz, in the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas volcanic mountain range, along the Gulf of Mexico...
.
With Tres Zapotes
Tres Zapotes
Tres Zapotes is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the south-central Gulf Lowlands of Mexico in the Papaloapan River plain. Tres Zapotes is sometimes referred to as the third major Olmec capital , although Tres Zapotes' Olmec phase constitutes only a portion of the site’s history, which...
, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
, and La Venta
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
, Laguna de los Cerros is considered one of the four major Olmec centers.
Laguna de los Cerros ("lake of the hills") was so named because of the nearly 100 mounds dotting the landscape. The basic architectural pattern consists of long parallel mounds flanking large rectangular plazas. Conical mounds mark the plaza ends. Larger mounds, formerly raised residential platforms, are associated with the thinner parallel mounds.
It has been confirmed that the site was not occupied during the postclassical period.
Most of the mounds date from the Classical era
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
, roughly 250 CE through 900 CE.
This region, and the early Olmec people, presumably was the penetration point for commerce point between the Mexico highlands and Tuxtepec routes.
Background
The first major culture in Veracruz was the Olmecs, whose origin is unknown. Theories vary, including one which has a group of people with Negroid features arriving to Campeche then north to Veracruz over 3,500 years ago. The Olmecs settled in the Coatzacoalcos River region and it became the center of Olmec culture. The main ceremonial center here was San Lorenzo TenochtitlánSan Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
. Other major centers in the state include Tres Zapotes in the city of Veracruz and La Venta
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
in Tabasco. The culture reached its height about 2600 years ago, with its best-known artistic expression being the colossal stone heads. These ceremonial sites were the most complex of that early time period. For this reason, many anthropologists consider the Olmec civilization to be the mother civilization of the many Mesoamerican cultures that followed it. By 300 BCE, this culture was eclipsed by other emerging cultures in Mesoamerica.
History
Due its location in a pass between the river valleys to the south and the northwest, and its proximity to basaltBasalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
sources in the volcanic Tuxtla Mountains to the north, Laguna de los Cerros was occupied over an uncharacteristically long period – perhaps close to 2000 years, from Olmec times until the Classic era.
Laguna de los Cerros was likely settled between 1400 - 1200 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...
and by 1200 BCE it had become a regional center, covering as much as 150 hectares. By 1000 BCE, it had nearly doubled in size with 47 smaller sites within a 5 kilometer radius. One of these satellite sites was Llano del Jícaro, largely a workshop for monumental architecture due to the nearby basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
flows. Monuments carved from Llano del Jícaro basalt can be found not only at Laguna de los Cerros, but also the large Olmec center of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
some 60 km to the southeast. It is thought likely that Llano del Jícaro was controlled by San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, either directly or through control of Laguna de los Cerros.
Llano del Jícaro was abandoned sometime after 1000 BCE and Laguna de los Cerros itself shows a significant decline at that time. The cause of this decline is not known – perhaps a shift in the course of the San Juan river – but it does roughly coincide with the decline and abandonment of San Lorenzo, which is often attributed to environmental difficulties.
Laguna de los Cerros was briefly investigated by Alfonso Medellin Zenil in 1960 and by Dr. Ann Cyphers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The site
Unlike the other three major Olmec sites, no colossal heads have been found at Laguna de los Cerros, although roughly 2 dozen other Formative periodMesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
monuments have been found.
Important samples of ceramic, basalt stone and other materials were found in various excavations of the site during the 1997 and 1998. The ceramic material classification was made on the macroscopic characteristics of the paste and surface. The comparative study of ceramics prior to the late classical period with pre-established sequences is ongoing.
The ceramic found correspond to various shapes, the main types are as follows :
- ACHIOTE ORANGE. A medium texture mainly intense orange paste
- ANONA LIGHT GRAY, typical light gray color.
- CACHIMBA BLACK, the paste color fluctuates from medium to dark gray, and black, occasionally with the presence of brown hues.
- CAMPAMENTO FINE ORANGE, designates a group with fine orange pastes.
- CEIBA COARSE CREAM, is a cream color that may show light orange shades.
- MANGAL YELLOW, distinctive paste yellow color
- NANCHE COARSE ORANGE, the color fluctuates from orange to a reddish yellow.
- YUAL FINE CREAM, at macroscopic level it seems to be identical to Yual Fine Cream, similar to Campamento Fine Orange and Zapote Fine Orange to Grey.
- ZAPOTE FINE GRAY, name used from Coe and Diehl’s classification (1980:I:218), the paste is similar to Zapote Fine Orange to Gray.
Human burials were also found during excavations, some had ceramic and other offerings.
Also found many articles of different types and shapes, included are some 2,635 articles ranging from vessels, polishers, dishes, tablets, strikers, mortars, metates, basalt flakes, spheres, rings, sharpeners, etc.
The accuracy of the cultural development is based on the ceramic sequences used to generate it. The chronology, together with the prevailing poor state of preservation of the ceramics involved, affect the way in which such development may be understood. Fortunately, chronologies in neighboring areas have been refined (for instance Pool 1990, 1995; Stark 1989, 1995, 2001; Daneels 2002), and they represent a major comparative support for the present study.