El Azuzul

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Cultural area of ​​the Olmecs
Figure group from El Azuzul

El Azuzul is an Olmec site in the Mexican state of Veracruz .

location

El Azuzul is located on a hill above the Río Chiquito, a tributary of the Río Coatzalcoalcos approx. 10 km south of the archaeological site of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan at an altitude of approx. 30 m above sea level. d. M.

history

Because of the short distance, but also because of stylistic similarities to some sculptures by San Lorenzo, the site of El Azuzul is classified in the same period (approx. 1100 to 800 BC). The site was explored in 1987.

architecture

Archaeologists have identified the heaped mound of a temple pyramid . Along the river bank runs an elevated dam, probably built by human hands, which also served as a road.

sculpture

"Twin" from El Azuzul

More important than the barely noticeable remains of architecture, however, are two pairs of figures sitting opposite one another in a row. Two figures approx. 1 m high have human features, the other two are recognizable as jaguars . The two human figures (associated with the Divine Twins of Popol Vuh by some researchers ) wear distinctive headdresses that run backwards in a kind of train, the upper bodies are wrapped in cloths, and a skirt can be seen from the waist down ; they also wear a pectoral on their chest. The hands grip an object that is interpreted as a ceremonial staff. The two jaguars, one of which had overturned and lay a few meters away, are about 10 to 20 cm larger than the human figures, but much less precisely worked, which has led to the assumption that they could be older and originally in another Related.

The asymmetrical hand position of the two human figures corresponds to that of the approximately 2 m tall sculpture by San Martín Pajapan .

The extraordinarily original and above all rare group of figures is now in the Museo de Antropología of Xalapa . Their meaning is completely unclear - perhaps they are two rulers before jaguar deities.

See also

literature

  • Ann Cyphers Guillén and Fernando Botas: An Olmec Feline Sculpture from El Azuzul, Southern Veracruz. In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. 138, No. 2 (June 1994), pp. 273-283.

Web links

Commons : El Azuzul  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 17 ° 41 ′ 25 ″  N , 94 ° 45 ′ 25 ″  W.