Cacaxtla
| Cacaxtla (Archaeological Site) |
|
 Detail from the battle painting |
|
| meaning | Capital of the Olmeca-Xicallanca |
| Style elements : | late classic |
| Start of building: | 400 |
| founding | 600 (as capital) |
| Heyday | 650-950 |
| Given up | 1000-1100 |
| discovery | 1975 |
| Floor space: | Length: 200 m × width: 100 m, height: 25 m |
| Address: | Zona arqueológica de Cacaxtla 90710 Municipio Natívitas Tlaxcala , Mexico |
| Location: | 19 ° 14 ′ 40 ″ N , 98 ° 20 ′ 23 ″ W |
| Directions | Travel time by car from Mexico City (Zócalo) to Cacaxtla at least three hours. Directions in Spanish (GPS receiver recommended). |
| opening hours | Tue - Sun, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. |
| entry | |
Cacaxtla is an archaeological site in the south of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala in the Municipio Natívitas . The name is derived from the Nahuatl -word cācāxtli plus -co (a locative - suffix ) derived and means something like "Place of back pack," which the baskets are meant to use the traders to transport their goods. Cacaxtla is famous for some well-preserved wall paintings from around AD 800.
location
The ruins of Cacaxtla, located at an altitude of about 2300 m , are about 15 km to the south-west of the state capital Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl ; The next larger place is the pilgrimage site of San Miguel del Milagro .
history
According to the report of the mestizo author Diego Muñoz Camargo from Tlaxcala in 1584, Cacaxtla was the capital of Olmeca-Xicallanca , about which - apart from various legends - no reliable knowledge exists. The Olmeca-Xicallanca belong to the period of the end of the Classical and early Post-Classical periods and should not be confused with the so-called archaeological Olmecs, which archaeologists misunderstand .
Research history
According to the aforementioned report by Muñoz Camargo, the importance of the site was known. Archaeological prospecting began under the direction of Pedro Armillas. Cacaxtla was also documented as part of a comprehensive German-Mexican research project. The sensational mural of the "bird man" was discovered in 1975 by farmers in the community of San Miguel del Milagro while doing treasure hunt activities. The archaeological work began that same year.
Archaeological site
The buildings
The settlement consists of a fortified complex measuring 1700 × 800 m on the top of a range of hills, which is located directly above the Puebla valley through which the Río Atoyac flows and which towers over it by around 100 m. In the center of the area fortified by ramparts and moats is the large platform (200 × 110 m), which includes both central cult buildings and palace buildings, grouped around two squares.
The building material in Cacaxtla is exclusively rammed earth . The walls were then covered with a layer of lime stucco on which the paintings were applied or which was sculptured into ornaments.
Frescoes
The murals discovered here are among the most outstanding in all of Mesoamerica, also because of their good state of preservation. They show ethnic-cultural similarities in the symbolic language with many late classical works of art from Mesoamerica . The Mayan stylistic elements that appeared in various places in central Mexico during this period are particularly clear , but there is also an unmistakable influence from Teotihuacán, which has already disappeared .
Even if the paintings of Cacaxtla come from different periods, they prove the central importance of the planet Venus and the mythical importance of water, as well as the fight between jaguar warriors and eagle warriors in the beliefs of the Olmeca-Xicallanca. Venus was associated with war and the underworld.
North square
On the northern square are the Great Column, the Red Temple, the Temple of Venus and the Arcade A.
Base of building B
On the base of the building at the northern end of the north square is the mural "Mural de la Batalla" (battle painting, approx. 650–700) with the extremely realistic depiction of a possibly historical battle on both sides of the main staircase. In the battle, which was fought with enormous severity, two ethnically and culturally distinct groups face each other. The winners dressed in jaguar skins are distinguished by their gray-brown skin color, they have large noses and no skull deformation. Their weapons are round shields, obsidian knives, spear throwers . The underdogs, on the other hand, are almost bare, have a reddish-brown skin color and are armed with rectangular shields. On either side of the main staircase, the focus is on the capture of two eagle warriors, perhaps the same person. The one on the right is grabbed while pulling a lance out of his head; the one on the left, clad in a white cloak with star symbols, stands with his arms folded while his adversary's spear is aimed at him. It has been suggested that the underdogs could be Maya. The actual building is half a floor higher and consists of a long room, the front of which is divided by 7 entrances supported by 6 wall panels. The room has a thick red band along the floor.
Building a
The murals on this building were the first to be exposed. The building consists of two larger rooms and several small side chambers. The wall between the front and rear rooms, in the middle of which is a doorway, bears the paintings, as do the side walls of the doorway. The paintings on the back wall of the back room are poorly preserved, both in terms of quality and because the wall is only preserved in the lower third. The paintings on the front and the sides of the doorway are clearly related to each other. The paintings on the front show two people dressed as eagle and jaguar warriors. What both paintings have in common is a border that encompasses the sides, in whose fields a large number of aquatic animals, above all various types of snails and turtles, are depicted.
- Northern wall surface
The northern figure is completely covered with the fur of a jaguar, only the face of the human bearer peeks out of the open mouth. Hands and feet are completely clothed with the corresponding parts of the animal's body. The other clothing of the figure is minimal: a skirt made of blue material with long falling white bows, and decorative ties made of white material on the legs. The figure wears a back shield made of green-blue feathers on its back. In her hand she holds a tightly tied bundle of 7 spears, diagonally across her body, from which water is dripping. The whole figure stands on an animal being that combines the characteristics of different animal species: The shape is that of a snake or a similar reptile, the body surface is the fur of a jaguar, to which the front legs also belong. Finally, the animal still has antlers on its head. A large bird, perhaps a macaw, flies above the figure (only partially preserved) . Several hieroglyphic symbols can be seen on the deep red background: on the left the calendar symbol 9 Ojo de Reptil (an art term for a symbol that is unclear in its meaning and occurs mainly in Monte Albán ). The number is expressed by a bar for the number 5 and four disks for the four units to be added. Similar to other occurrences, the small volutes at the edge of the Ojo de Reptil could indicate that the name of a year is meant. What the flames emerging from the sign could mean is a mystery. On the right side, two other presumed calendar signs can be seen: The head of a person with the number 2 and a bowl with snakes and the number 1. The right quarter of the painting was later covered with a bas-relief made of clay depicting a person in one shows field filled with volutes. References to the late classical curvilinear style of El Tajín were supposed to be recognized here.
- Southern wall surface
The structure of the painting corresponds to that on the northern wall surface, but with decisive changes: Again a human figure stands in a frame formed by a border of water and aquatic animals against a red background. A corn plant with ripe corn cobs can be seen on the left edge. The central figure, with almost black skin, is only barely dressed this time. She also wears a short skirt, in which the yellow color dominates. White ribbons fall down on both sides. The back shield here is the hide of a great eagle. The person's face looks out of the bird's oversized beak. Both on the wrists and over the ankles are white decorative bands, the ends of which are knotted with white clamshells. The feet are in large bird feet. The figure carries a roll tied with white ribbons in its hands, from which a snake's head with an open mouth protrudes at the lower end. The pink forked tongue and individual white teeth are clearly recognizable. The large scroll is reminiscent of the ceremonial beam that many figures in the central Maya area carry in the same position. The entire figure stands on a snake, which is covered here as a feathered snake with blue, reddish shimmering feathers. The snake wears a long nose plug as a piece of jewelry and has a blond beard. Her long forked tongue hardly stands out against the red background of the painting. On this background, a macaw can be clearly seen on the right edge. Below him the calendar symbol 13 spring. On the upper right edge you can see the feathers of a large bird, the upper part of which has not been preserved. On the left is the most mysterious sign: a rectangular frame made up of two blue arms with white star signs. There are gray footprints around the sign. Including the eye of a bird. The shape of the signs is reminiscent of the place signs in the roughly contemporary Xochicalco . An interpretation fails because the language and sign convention of Cacaxtla are not known.
- Northern door side surface
Here the person completely clad in the jaguar skin returns, but the background is blue. The elements of their costume are slightly different: the skirt here is predominantly white-pink with a red belt. She wears a white bow with clams around her neck. The face is dominated by a long nose plug made of precious green stone. The skeletonized head of a crocodile protrudes from the head (the lower jaw is of course missing). A tuft of feathers blows behind the head. Three elements are important for the symbolism expressed by the person: In the left claw hand he is holding a snake, the small head of which can hardly be seen against the feathers of the headdress. A tendril with large flowers grows from the person's navel. In her right hand she holds a vase, perhaps made of alabaster, which (perhaps in turquoise mosaic) bears the face of the rain god Tlaloc . From this vase she pours water in large drops onto the earth. A calendar symbol can be seen above the border, which is also identical here: The year 7 ojo de reptil .
- South door side surface
The person here falls out of the ordinary due to their moving posture, which is why they have occasionally been called a dancer. The freedom of representation becomes particularly clear here: the feet reach halfway into the border with the aquatic animals, so they fall out of the frame, as it were, the legs cross each other almost three-dimensionally. This freedom has nothing like it in all of Mesoamerica. The dark-skinned figure wears high sandals, a short skirt made of jaguar fur with a long loincloth loop that falls over the blue belt. A large ear disc and a long nose plug can be seen as face jewelry. The headdress cannot be identified with certainty, it seems that stripes of a dark material emanate from it, but that have yellow flowers at the ends and thus modify the theme of the plant from the navel of the figure opposite. This person is also carrying an object associated with water, a large sea shell. Most noticeable, however, is a small figure that emerges from behind the shell. She has light skin and long reddish-blonde hair and is equipped with many decorative objects: a wide collar and a piece of jewelry on the arm, presumably made of jade, a small nose stake and a diadem made of green stone. An interpretation has not yet been successful. Small calendar symbols can be seen against the blue background, 7 ojo de reptil at the bottom right (this time the whole number is expressed with discs and not with a bar for 5) and 3 deer at the top left.
Red temple
On the west side of the large courtyard, on a lower level, is the Red Temple, which got its name from the red-dominated wall paintings. The murals are on the side of the stairs that lead down to the temple (not accessible). Due to its location, the temple is dated as older than the battle depiction described above. A person wrapped in a jaguar skin is depicted here, around whom an ensemble of symbolic objects is arranged: a large cacaxtli (dealer's bundle, symbol for cacaxtla) with an animal mask, above a quetzal bird. In front of the person are two maize plants whose cobs are small human heads. On the left edge an oversized frog climbs up the stairs along the stream of water. The whole scene is very similar to that of building A with a border depicting a stream of water. Here, too, all kinds of aquatic animals, but also birds that live by the water, can be seen in an unusually natural representation.
Temple of Venus
On the south-west side of the excavation area lies the temple of Venus on a lower level below an unexposed large pyramid. Its name is derived from two symmetrically arranged human figures that probably symbolize the planet Venus. The male figure, an eagle warrior, is dressed in a jaguar apron with a Venus symbol, has a long scorpion spine and feathered scorpion limbs with jaguar claws and is surrounded by Venus symbols. The female figure opposite has no scorpion features.
A medium-sized pyramid has been partially uncovered below the covered excavation site.
Visit the site
The partially covered facility is maintained by INAH and offers the usual tourist infrastructure, such as a parking lot, restaurant, bus connection and taxi service to Xochitécatl, 2 km away .
The small museum shows replicas of the wall paintings (whose originals can no longer be viewed up close) and models of the historical Cacaxtlas, as well as small finds.
See also
literature
- Norman Bancroft-Hunt: Atlas of the Indian civilizations. Olmec, Toltec, Maya, Aztec . Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85492-557-3 .
- Hanns J. Prem : History of ancient America . Oldenbourg, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-486-53032-1
- Peter N. Peregrine, Melvin Ember (Eds.): Encyclopedia of Prehistory . Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York 2001, ISBN 0-306-46259-1
- Deborah L. Nichols, Timothy H. Charlton: Central Mexico Postclassic (Volume 5, Middle America )
- Gordon R. Willey: Old America . Propylaea Verlag / Ullstein, Berlin 1974 (Propylaea art history, volume 18)
- Mari Carmen Serra Puche: Cacaxtla . In: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures . Oxford University Press, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-510815-9 , Volume 1, pp. 114-115.
Web links
- Cacaxtla (INAH) (Spanish)
- Project Pre-Columbian Wall Paintings in Mexico by UNAM (Spanish)
- Tour by Mexico (English)
- INAOEP ( Memento from June 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Cacaxtla and Xochitécatl
- Cacaxtla - Video (Spanish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Diego Muñoz Camargo: Descripción de la ciudad y provincia de Tlaxcala ... . In: Relaciones geográficas del siglo xvi: Tlaxcala Vol. 1, pp. 25-285. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México 1984, ISBN 968-5805-90-3
- ↑ Pedro Armillas: Los Almecas-Xicalanca y los sitios aqueológicos del suroeste de Tlaxcala . In: Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos 3 (1946) pp. 137-146
- ^ Peter Tschohl, Herbert J. Nickel: Catalógo arqueológico y etnohistórico de Puebla-Tlaxcala . Volume 1, Freiburg i. Br. 1972
- ↑ Angel García Cook: Cacaxtla, Tizatlan, guía oficial . INAH-Savat, México 1986, ISBN 968-32-0115-6 , p. 65