Tlaxcala State: Magnificent Mural Paintings at Cacaxtla

Cacaxtli means "place of the merchant's backpack" in Nahuatl; here, the backpack is the rectangular shape with various items neatly lashed to it.  Left Click to Enlarge (Recommended).  Photo: Reed

Like many centers throughout Mexico, Cacaxtla was a trading hub, which is the theme of this mural painting. But Cacaxtla was more than that. One anthropologist describes the acropolis at Cacaxtla. Acropolis in Mexico? As it turns out, an acropolis is also "a raised area holding a building or cluster of buildings, especially in a pre-Columbian city."

Cacaxtla is located about 50 miles west of Mexico City in the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley. Developed around 600 CE, Cacaxtla was occupied until 900 CE, which means that it had been abandoned for about 600 years when the Spanish arrived in 1519. Constructed on a slope less than a mile west of the earlier ceremonial site established at Xochitécatl, Cacaxtla—like Xochicalco in Morelos State—was well-fortified with moats and a wall.

Before a trip, we read about the archaeological site we intend to visit. But nothing prepares us for the actual experience, which inevitably raises more questions. At Cacaxtla, for example, the last kilometer is approached on foot via a stone pedestrian walkway along a volcanic ridge. I believe we may have been following a path trod by the Olmeca-Xicalanca peoples for millenia. As we walked, the acropolis slowly came into view above us to our left.

Cacaxtla under its protective roof as we first saw it from the pathway walking in;
the older pyramid at Xochitécatl is visible at the horizon to the left.

Seen from slightly below, the Gran Basamento (Great Platform) is impressive even though it is not as large a site as other centers built at roughly the same time. These centers on the periphery of the Valley of Mexico rose to fill the power vacuum created by the fall of Teotihuacan. As we walk, my thoughts drift to those other archaeological sites. We've visited most of them.

Tula and Cholula were probably dominant in filling that vacuum, but Xochicalco (Morelos State), El Tajín (Veracruz State) and Cacaxtla also reached their highest developments during this same time period.

As we continued walking, we passed a small temple-pyramid. Investigators say that altars and temples are common on the hillsides around Cacaxtla. Arriving at the base of the acropolis, we looked up the five or six flights of stairs that visitors climb to enter. Taking deep breaths, we began to climb.

The climb is an intrinsic part of the experience. The higher we ascended, the more we were able to see of the surrounding countryside, dominated by fields.

Photo: Cacaxtla (Tlaxcala State) Web Site

The climb is affecting. Step by step, we left the modern world behind and entered a space created by the Mesoamerican cosmovision.

The graphic below gives an idea of what Cacaxtla looks like without its roof. The single graphic presents two distinctly different views:

(1) Acropolis at Cacaxtla without its roof; and
(2) Topographic map that locates Cacaxtla (red) in the Tlaxcala-Cholula Valley. 

This graphic represents: (1) Acropolis at Cacaxtla; and (2) Topographical map locates Cacaxtla (red print) in the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley. 

Topographic Map

Cacaxtla is located almost in the center of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley between La Malinche volcano to the East and the Popocatéptl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes to the West. On a clear day, the Great Pyramid at Cholula is visible to the South (red dot). Mexico City is West of Popocatéptl and Iztaccíhuatl.

Along with Xochitécatl, Cacaxtla is on a direct line such that on September 29, the sun appears to rise directly from the crater of the La Malinche volcano. The three volcanoes are identifiable by their white, snow-capped peaks.

Acropolis

The acropolis at Cacaxtla consists of several open plazas surrounded by multi-room structures that served elite residential and ritual functions. Its population may have been as large as 10,000.

We entered on the side shown in the middle, then walked straight and turned left, following a visitors' walkway that 'floats' above the ancient structure. 

Murals

Once again, we are struck by the symbolic richness of the Mesoamerican religious imagination. It is fair to say that nothing in these murals was arbitrary: everything has meaning. As novices, we struggle to understand, but I must say that our efforts are always richly rewarded. It seems that no matter how well we think we've prepared for a visit, our post-visit research never fails to peel back more layers of meaning.

The description that follows draws on several sources—see Still Curious? For starters, anthropologist Susan Toby Evans describes Cacaxtla as typifying

"the Late Classic dynamic—a rich exchange of goods and ideas, thrust forward by aggressive claims of right to rule...." 

Red Temple: God of Merchants

This concept of "a rich exchange of goods and ideas" is a useful introduction to the first mural, located at the bottom of a staircase. Designated the Red Temple for the red that surrounds the entrance, the mural painting depicts Cacaxtla's sources of wealth: water, fertile land, and trade.

Cacaxtla means "place of the merchant's backpack"; the mural depicts the Maya God of Merchants as an old man leaning forward on his cane. 

Behind a staircase (bottom left) is this mural of the God of Merchants.
Photo: Reed

The Merchant God stands on a feathered serpent border. I recall that the 'feathered serpent' is Quetzalcóatl, the god who moves easily between the three planes of existence: underworld below, heavens above, and the natural world.

Photo: Wikipedia

In front of the Merchant God rises a cacao tree, which is meaningful because the Maya entered central Mexico precisely in order to trade cacao fruit. In fact, all Cacaxtla's mural paintings are in the Maya style. To the left is a cornstalk whose fruit is not corn cobs but little human heads.

Detail: Instead of corn cobs, small, elongated human heads on cornstalks.
Photo: Internet Images

Here's Anthropologist Susan Toby Evans's comment on this detail:

For Mesoamericans, the integration of the environment, spiritual values, and human culture was not an intellectual exercise but their own deeply ingrained way of life. Here, a maize plant sprouts human heads instead of corn cobs. Maize is the food that humans eat, thus it is what humans are made of. Maize is also a gift of the gods, and, in grateful reciprocity, humans should offer themselves as sacrificial victims—maize for the gods. 

Note that in this mural from Cacaxtla, the human heads are elongated. This is not just artistic license in order to emphasize the analogy between the ears of maize and heads of humans, but also a realistic depiction of the results of cranial remodeling, a practice widespread in Mesoamerica that involved constraining an infant's head between boards until the soft bones had assumed a cone-like or wedge-like shape. This caused no damage to the brain and was regarded as a mark of beauty and refinement. [Evans, p. 53]

Commanding attention is the large blue toad resting on what appears to be running water containing more animal and Venus star symbols (described later).

Detail: Blue Toad  Photo: Internet

The toad, whose glands at the back of his head produces the powerful hallucinogen bufotenine, is a religious symbol that goes all the way back to Olmec culture—widely recognized as the "mother" Mesoamerican culture. Shaman-priests believed that this hallucinogen protected them as they moved between the world of 'spirit' (underworld and heavens) and the natural world.

Temple of Venus: Anthropomorphic 'Dancing' Blue Figures

The walkway passes in front of the so-called Temple of Venus, where visitors look down to see two rectangular columns decorated with murals. From their dress, researchers believe the broken-off figure on the left (south) side is a female, while the one on the right (north) is male.

Venus or Star Temple  Photo: State of Tlaxcala  

The painting below is the male figure found on the North (right) column. Masked and possessing a large scorpion tail (associated with rain) that extends behind him, with wings on his arms, and jaguar paws, this figure holds in his left hand the half-star that represents the planet ("star") Venus. Other half-stars, known as the Venus symbol, are found on the border at the bottom half of the mural.

Detail: Figure on North (Right) Column. Eerie, blue, anthropomorphic, probably male figure standing or dancing atop a wavy water motive with representations of water-related animals. Left click to enlarge. Photo: Reed

Although European culture associates Venus with love and beauty, throughout Mesoamerica, the "star"  we know as the planet Venus was a male god of danger and war. The timing of warfare and of long-distance merchant travel for the Maya and other early peoples were governed by the cycles of the planet Venus, which is symbolized by the figure's five-part "skirt". The figure wears a jaguar pelt as armor (loin cloth), representing strength and protection.

Now the walkway turns north toward Building B, the long structure distinguished by its row of white columns. We're headed for the spectacular Battle Murals on the low platform wall below the columns.

White columns at palace entry. Photo: Reed

Building B: Battle Murals

Cacaxtla's spectacular murals are rendered in Maya style, but depict military scenes. Although the style is Maya, the mural paintings lack the long hieroglyphic texts found in nearly every piece of Classic Maya monumental art. Some researchers believe the Cacaxtlans painted purely pictorial scenes because they were trying to reach a central Mexican audience that could not read Maya writing.

Victorious warrior with spear standing over fallen, defeated warrior
Note: Venus symbols on warrior standing at the right.
Photo: Reed

The Battle Mural depicts the bloody conflict of the Jaguar and Eagle Warriors at the moment the battle turned the Eagle Warriors' way, and they began to butcher their opponents. Art historian Mary Miller believes the scene depicts an actual battle between a Maya group—the Jaguar Warriors with their Maya noses and flattened foreheads—and the more 'mexicanized' Eagle Warriors of the Central Highlands.

The "Venus" warrior is now at the left. Shields are circles with feathers hanging down.
Note: Quincunx (five points arranged in square or rectangle: one at each corner;
one in middle) on shield held by warrior at the right.

Victors and Defeated. Warriors were not always killed in battle;
prisoners were taken to participate in Ball Games and for sacrifice.
Photo: Reed

At the far end of the murals, we climb another stairway to Building A, which is at one side of the palace (Building B).

Building A: Jaguar Warrior and Bird Warrior

At the top of the stairway, we turn right. In front of us are two columns flanking a doorway. The columns are decorated with intensely colored, highly complex murals. They depict a Bird Warrior (right) and a Jaguar Warrior (left) holding bastóns, ceremonial bars symbolizing power, in their arms.

Bird Warrior standing on serpent and holding bastón (cane, symbol of power).
Note: Warrior's black-painted human face emerging from Bird Mask.
Photo: Reed

The Bird Warrior's skin is painted black, and he stands on a feathered serpent whose body also becomes the mural's border; his ceremonial bar has a stylized monster face on the end. A quetzal bird with his long tail feathers flies at the right border; at the left is a three-sided rectangular frame with three Venus half-star symbols and hands reaching on the base.

Detail: Bird Warrior  Note: Bird Claw Feet  Photo: Reed

Jaguar Warrior also holding bastón made of bundles lances dripping
raindrops, the sign of fertility.
Photo: Reed

The outside borders of both murals contain the same water animals found in the Temple of Venus and Red Temple murals. The bird and the jaguar may have represented Cacaxtla's main warrior castes. Offered in battle or in sacrifice, their blood fertilized the soil and allowed the crops to grow.

In the opinion of art and myth scholars Roberta and Peter Markman, the murals at Cacaxtla are a striking mixture of the styles of Xochicalco, Teotihuacán, Veracruz, and the Maya. The Markmans draw attention to the head of a human figure emerging from the open mouth of the mask of jaguar or bird god.

Detail: Human head emerging from open mouth of mask of Bird God.

The Markmans write:

"...the most dramatic portrayal of the liminal position of man in relationship to the world of the spirit ... shows the head or even the entire upper body of a human being emerging from the jaws of the mask of the god...."

This group of murals is hence a magnificent visual expression of the mystery of the liminal experience that can only occur in a place 'betwixt and between'; that is, in a 'time out of mind'.

The murals on the door jambs aren't very visible to visitors from the walkway, but post-visit poking around on the Internet led me to this remarkable photo of another Jaguar figure on the door jamb of Building A's north column, around the corner from the Bird Warrior.

Mural painting on north door jamb, Building A. Left click to enlarge.
Photo: Dr. Brian Hayden

The man depicted in this mural is either wearing a jaguar costume or is emerging from the open mouth of a jaguar; the ambiguity arises from the fact that the figure's hands and feet are the paws of a jaguar rather than the human hands and feet usually depicted in Mesoamerican art that shows human beings. Strikingly, the figure holds a stylized serpent (Quetzalcóatl?) in his left hand and clutches a Tlaloc effigy urn from which water flows under his right arm. The Markmans argue that this effigy urn connects the mural to Teotihuacán.

Let me end this post with this description by Canadian Ethno-archaeologist Brian D. Hayden:

Beginning with the Olmec, the mother culture of Mesoamerica, and throughout Mesoamerican history, certain animals have been illustrated and commemorated in art. People valued animals and sanctified many as symbols of their deities and ideas of afterlife; the Eagle was associated with the spirit world above, the Crocodile with the world below, and the mighty Jaguar with the terrestrial world. The Serpent [especially the feathered serpent, Quetzalcóatl] was a transitory figure that could go between all three worlds. 

The Serpent is often depicted in carvings and sculptures with an open mouth, which symbolized a gateway through which priests and shamans could enter the spirit world. There is a close symbolic relationship between the Jaguar, warfare and the wielding of spiritual and political power by shamans and chiefs. A shaman would transform into the Jaguar and thus embody its strength, leadership, knowledge and protection. With the power of the Jaguar, the shaman could thwart off unfriendly powers that threatened his people.

Taking Our Leave....

We made our way back down the five flights of stairs and slowly retraced our steps back to the entrance...back to the 'modern' world, or so we thought. On our way we came upon two young men sitting on a boulder by the side of the road.

Conch shell announces arrival of procession
Photo: Reed

Just after we passed, one young man rose and lifted a conch shell to his lips, then began to blow the extended, haunting call that has echoed off these hills for millenia. Seconds later, a procession came into view. Where were they headed? To the top of the ancient acropolis....

Still Curious?

This is the third of three posts describing our visit to Tlaxcala State:

• Xochitécatl: "Kingdom of the Flowers"
• Cacaxtla Presents Cultural Puzzle

Reed's Photo Album: Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla.

Reed's Photo Essay, Olmecs of Tabasco, is a beautiful, informative introduction to the Olmec peoples.

Jenny's Post Travel Journal: Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco (Part IV) describes our visits to the Comalcalco archaeological site and to the park in Villahermosa where the Olmec sculptures were relocated when the ancient site was developed as the La Venta oil field.

Jenny's Posts describing Teotihuacán:

• Teotihuacán I: 'City Where the Gods are Made'
• Teotihuacán II: The Shape of Space and Time
• Teotihuacán III: Seat of Political-Religious Power
• Teotihuacán IV: Temple of Quetzalcóatl (The Plumed Serpent)
• Teotihuacán V: Residential Palaces and Mural Art (murals here rival those at Cacaxtla).

Jenny's Posts describing Xochicalco (Morelos State):

• Quetzalcóatl at Xochicalco and other symbolism
• Xochicalco's Engineers and Scientists

Jenny's Posts describing El Tajín (Veracruz State):

• El Tajín I: Beauty and Mystery
• El Tajín II: On Ants, Gods and the Hill of Plenty
• Travel Journal: A Most Mexican Day in Veracruz

For the Fanatics:

Wikipedia Cacaxtla has photos of the complete Battle Murals in situ—located to the left and right of the central staircase leading to the palace. For details, see incredible photos presented at the Third Conference (below).

Gustavo Thomas's Flickr Photo Album: Cacaxtla Murals (Red Room: Details of 'Merchant' Mural)

Scholarly papers presented at Third and Fourth Palenque Round Tables: Scroll down below list of speakers and their topics to a series of photographs of the columns and door jambs (Building A). I found this gold mine after I'd already published this post. George Kubler and Don Robertson are both highly respected art historians who specialized in Mesoamerican art. Hyperbole aside, these photos—taken in original light in 1980 before the protective roof was installed— are absolutely spectacular: Portico (Jaguar Warrior; Bird Warrior; North and South Door Jambs).

YouTube Videos produced by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). They're in Spanish, but the video images speak for themselves.

• YouTube: Cacaxtla I
• YouTube: Preserving Cacaxtla II

Coe, Andrew, Archaeological Mexico: A Traveler's Guide to Ancient Cities and Sacred Sites (2001): Son of renowned anthropologist Michael Coe, Andrew has written a highly readable, usable and useful guide to Mexico's archaeological treasures. Published in 2001, I just came across it. Highly recommended.

Evans, Susan Toby, Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History (2008): This textbook is encyclopedic in scope. Not an easy read, nonetheless, it provides reliable access to the archaeological record, including the impact on culture. As such, it is indispensable.

Markman, Roberta H. and Peter T., Masks of the Spirit: Image and Metaphor in Mesoamerica, Introduction by Joseph Campbell: The Markmans tell a story of spirit—nothing less than a tale of the Life-Force itself, and they invite us to accompany them as they discover layers of meaning in the masks of Mesoamerica. Most Highly Recommended.

Miller, Mary and Taube, Karl, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: If you're interested in learning more about Mesoamerican culture and its symbols, this reference work is very useful. Well-illustrated, this dictionary will answer most of your questions that begin, "But what does it mean that ____?"

Tlaxcala State: Cacaxtla Presents Cultural Puzzle

As an online magazine for the culturally curious, Jenny's Journal builds on our ongoing exploration of Mexico's multi-faceted, multi-leveled  culture. It helps that cultural puzzles fascinate us.

Cultural puzzles don't appear with a picture of the completed puzzle displayed on the box lid. Half the time, we don't realize we're working on a puzzle until it is more or less solved. Instead what we get are bits and pieces that seem out of place...facts and events that just don't quite seem to fit together...or, alternatively, tidbits that pique our curiosity and tease us to undertake additional investigation.

During our recent trip to Tlaxcala State, for example, our goal was to explore the world-class murals located at Cacaxtla (kah-KAHSH-tlah). However, on the way, yet another cultural puzzle presented itself. Why does the old title "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...." come to mind?

For a number of reasons we decided not to drive in Mexico, relying instead on public transportation and taxis. With admirable frequency, our drivers have proved to be rich sources of cultural information. As our taxi neared the site and began its ascent up the side of the extinct volcano, the number of cars and walkers along the side of the road increased exponentially. Puzzle piece #1 had appeared: traffic jam.

Casually, our driver mentioned that our visit (September 29) coincided with the fiesta of the patron saint of the pueblo of San Miguel del Milagro (Saint Michael of the Miracle). The heavy traffic—think slowly creeping parking lot—suddenly made sense. Not much to do but settle back to enjoy the hustle, bustle of fiesta in Mexico.

Once we'd inched past a sharp turn that split off in a "Y" toward the parish church, traffic thinned noticeably. To our delight, the entrance to the Archaeological Zone was no more than another fifty yards (45 meters). Leaving car and driver, we began the trek toward the pyramid, which we could see about a kilometer away.

While we were walking back to the entrance after touring the pyramid, more pieces of the cultural puzzle appeared. We came upon two young men, sitting on a small boulder at the side of the road. We greeted them with the usual greeting, Buenas tardes. Moments later, a procession came into view.

Procession of San Miguel del Milagro
on its way to the top of the Cacaxtla Pyramid.
Photo: Reed (click to enlarge)

Behind us, one of the young men who'd been seated on the boulder rose and blew on a conch shell he'd  taken out of his gym bag. At the sound of that ages old plaintive call, the cultural light bulb came on.

The conch shell is an ancient Mesoamerican
instrument used during religious ceremonies to
summon both the people and their gods.

Reed reminded us that September 21 is the Autumnal Equinox. The puzzle quickened. It struck us that a connection between the fiesta of San Miguel del Milagro, the Equinox, and the Mesoamerican pyramids was highly probable, but unearthing the connection required additional research.

When we got home, we got on the Internet and discovered via Wikipedia that September 29 is the day the sun appears to rise directly behind the crater of the Malinche volcano as seen from both the Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla pyramids. Significantly, the ancient peoples had named their sacred volcano to the East, Matlacuéitl. She was wife of Tlaloc (god of rain), Matlauéitl was the goddess of vegetation.

Tlaxcala, this land along the banks of the Atoyac (Balsas) River, is one of the first maize-growing regions in Mexico. Undoubtedly, it was the river valley's agricultural productivity that prompted construction of ceremonial centers first at Xochitécatl, then at Cacaxtla. 

The older pyramid at Xochitécatl (Pyramid of the Flowers) was oriented in such a way that on September 29, from the pyramid's highest level, the sun would be observed to rise directly from the crater of the Matlacuéitl volcano; that is, from the mouth of the goddess of vegetation.

GoogleEarth view looking East to Malinche (Matlacuéitl).
Xochitécatl is in the foreground; Cacaxtla is next in a
straight line to Malinche's crater. The pueblo of
San Miguel del Milagro is just past Cacaxtla.
Image: GoogleEarth via Reed (click to enlarge)

Built at a later date, the Cacaxtla Pyramid was nonetheless also sited due East from Xochitécatl along the same volcanic block. Today a footpath winds across open land, inviting passage between the two pyramids.

Cacaxtla Pyramid viewed from the highest level of the
Xochitécatl Pyramid. The shed roof covers Cacaxtla's
entire platform—essential protection for the murals and
other architectural features.
Note agricultural fields and footpath in the foreground;
pueblo of San Miguel de Milagro in the background.
Photo: Wikipedia

Like the older pyramid, the pyramid at Cacaxtla commands a view of the sun rising from the crater of the sacred volcano to the East. As they passed us, people in the procession told us they were on their way to the top of Cacaxtla Pyramid, thus providing us with another essential piece of the puzzle.

Seasonal pilgrimage to sacred natural sites is an ancient Mesoamerican tradition. When the Spanish arrived, Spanish Catholic priests did not challenge traditional practices. Instead, they tirelessly and ingeniously sought ways to overlay ancient sacred sites with Christian rites and rituals.

One way was to build Christian churches on ancient sites—such as the Christian church that sits atop the Great Pyramid at Cholula.

Church atop Great Pyramid at Cholula.
From a distance, the pyramid looks like a hill,
but it was constructed entirely by hand.
The Great Pyramid at Cholula was visible from
Cacaxtla looking to the South.
Photo: Wikipedia

At Cacaxtla, the pueblo's parish church of Saint Michael of the Miracle was constructed less than two kilometers from the Pyramid; moreover, the feast day of the pueblo's patron saint was matched to the day on which early peoples observed the sunrise over Malinche, the sacred volcano. 

As we listened to the plaintive call of the conch shell that has sounded for millenia across these lands, we were once again reminded that the ancient practices have not died. Not at all.

Still Curious?

Related posts from Jenny's Journal:

• Tlaxcala State: Xochitécatl - "Kingdom of the Flowers";
• Travel Journal: A Most Mexican Day in Veracruz describes the adventure we embarked on as we set out in a taxi to visit waterfalls just outside Papantla, Veracruz;
• Mexican Traditions: Pilgrimage (Peregrinación) describes the syncretistic layering of Catholic Christian religious rites over ancient Mesoamerican sacred practices. 

Wikipipedia entry on Cacaxtla.

Tlaxcala State: Xochitécatl - "Kingdom of the Flowers"

Recently we took a weekend get-away trip to Tlaxcala State or, as Reed put it, "We went to Mexico."

Tlaxcala State is very small — the Mexican equivalent of Rhode Island — less than two hours by bus east of Mexico City. The colonial city of Tlaxcala is also the State capital. Our hotel was close enough to the main plaza that we heard the drum and bugle corps that played for the flag-raising in the morning and its lowering in the evening.

Two archaeological sites in Tlaxcala are remarkable for different reasons: Xochitécatl (so-chi-TEH-caht) is one of the oldest settlements in Mexico; Cacaxtla is justifiably famous for its murals, discovered in 1975. This post discusses Xochitécatl; the next post will describe our multi-leveled visit to Cacaxtla.

Xochitécatl

Located in the Tlaxcala municipality of Nativitas, Xochitécatl occupies a dominant position on the summit of a 4 km (almost 3 mile) wide extinct volcano that forms a range of hills rising approximately 200 meters (656 feet) above the floor of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley. This so-called Atlachino-Nativitas-Xochitecatl block is located in the center of the valley, due West of the sacred volcano Malintzin.

Note: The Tlaxcalteca people named this volcano Matlacuéitl, wife of Tlaloc (god of rain) and goddess of vegetation; the Spanish renamed the volcano Malintzín in honor of the indigenous woman who was their translator.

Xochitecatl has clear views across the surrounding valleys to the neighboring volcanoes of La Malinche (East), and Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl (West), and to the Great Pyramid at Cholula (South). The Atoyac and Zahuapan rivers flow close to the site. The Atoyac is better known as the Balsas River, a major river in south-central Mexico that flows through the states of Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, and Mexico before emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Mangrove Point, adjacent to the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.

The Balsas River Valley is one of the oldest maize-growing sites in Mexico, dating from around 9,200 BCE—over 10,000 years ago! Am I alone in feeling a bit stunned to realize that humans have worked these lands for over 10,000 years?

The surrounding countryside is terraced for better cultivation of crops; the terraces look as if they have been there forever...reminding me of a warm, sunny afternoon on the Island of Crete sitting on a hillock watching a farmer and his burro make their way across farm fields, as he and his ancestors have been doing for millenia....

As one of the oldest settlements in the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, Xochitécatl is a legacy of the ancient agricultural settlements in the valley of Puebla-Tlaxcala. The oldest settlements took place between 1,600 and 1,200 BCE (Before Common Era). These dates mean that settlement of Xochitécatl occurred even before the settlement at Cuicuilco in the Valley of Mexico (1,200-800 BCE).

Between 1,100 and 800 BCE, the valley's human population increased significantly — most likely as a result of the area's high agricultural productivity. Archaeological evidence of Olmec presence at Xochitécatl dates to this period; this is important because Olmec culture is widely regarded as the ‘mother’ Mesoamerican culture. Xochitécatl's early date also lends credence to evidence of cultural influences from Teotihuacán (Valley of Mexico), Cholula (near Puebla) and El Tajín (Totonaca people on the Gulf Coast).

Xochitécatl: What, Where, Why

Xochitécatl is the focal point of a region distinguished by high agricultural productivity. But high crop yields could not be taken for granted. Bountiful crops depended on the benevolence of natural forces, above all, on seasonal rainfall. Early peoples were acutely aware of their vulnerability before la naturaleza (natural forces) — rainfall, certainly, but also the damaging effects of volcanic eruptions and the potentially lethal effects of hurricanes and violent storms.

Given their acute vulnerability, how might early peoples have sought to 'mediate' or even 'regulate' the  forces of nature? This comment by George Kubler, renowned art historian and specialist in Mesoamerican culture (1984), is the best I've come upon:

"[The people engaged in] collective endeavors to guarantee the continuity of the creation of the universe against catastrophic dissolution in an unstable world."

The combination of these factors — the summit of an extinct volcano, whose altitude extended into sacred celestial space, located in the center of a fertile valley not only ringed by sacred volcanoes but due West of Matlacuéitl (Goddess of Vegetation) — likely explains why the site was chosen for development as a ceremonial center. Intriguingly, the archaeological evidence suggests that Xochitécatl was used solely as a ceremonial center and not as a settlement.

Given the critical importance of agriculture for early settlers, it is not surprising that the ceremonial center that rose up at Xochitécatl honored Tlazolteotl, Goddess of Fertility who is also associated with Ollín, the essential life-force.

The ceremonial center at Xochitécatl covers 12 hectares (almost 30 acres). Its development began in earnest around 800 BCE with construction of the Spiral Building, the Serpent Building, and the Pyramid of Flowers. As elsewhere in Mesoamerica, the architects at Xochitécatl expanded original buildings over time. The Pyramid of the Flowers, which is the largest of the buildings at Xochitécatl, acquired its monumental proportions around the third century BCE.

Pyramid of Flowers

The site selection gives clear evidence of the builders' intentionality:

At the Spring Equinox, when the sun passes directly over the Equator — or, as the ancients would say, “the sun is born and dies” —, the sun rises from the mouth of Matlacuéitl-Malintzín volcano to the East and is centered on a stone lintel set atop the Pyramid of Flowers by its builders in a dramatic demonstration of their sophisticated understanding of astronomy, the “celestial mechanics”.

Vernal Equinox at Xochitécatl
Photo: Wikipedia

Pyramid of Flowers with lintel above.
Note basin at base of the staircase.
Photo: Reed

In size, the base of the Pyramid of the Flowers (100 x 140 meters; 328 x 459 feet) is comparable to the base of the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan. A staircase ascends the pyramid; at its base stand two large monolithic basins, one measuring 1.7 meters (5' 6") in diameter; it is thought they were filled with water for purification.

Looking down on basins from top of staircase, Pyramid of the Flowers.
The outline of the Volcanoes Platform is visible beyond the tree,
and way at the back is the Spiral Building with its white cross.

Xochitécatl means "Place of the Flower Lineage". Associated with beauty, pleasure and the arts, flowers were richly symbolic in ancient Mesoamerica. I might add that they remain a vital, essential  component of Mexican culture. There is even a flower stall in the small, local market a block from us.

Two Mesoamerican gods have special connections with flowers:

• Xochipillo: “Flower Prince”, whose generative powers are linked to the Maize God; 
• Xochiquetzal: “Flower Quetzal”, epitomized young female sexual power; she presided over childbirth and pregnancy and served as guardian of young mothers; in these ways she was related to Tlazolteotl.

More than 2,000 clay figurines and 15 stone sculptures representing both humans and animals have been uncovered on the stairway leading to the upper part of the pyramid. Deposited as offerings, many of the figures represent the life cycle of women, including childbirth, motherhood, infant care, old age and death.

Goddess
Photo: Reed

These figures not only praise women for their procreative and maternal activities but may recognize women as rulers.

Richly dressed woman; note the quincunx depicted on her skirt. 
Ends of the 'X' represent the four cardinal directions; circle in the
center represents the World Axis that links Earthly Plane with the
Underworld and the Heavens.
Photo: Reed

Some figurines show mothers carrying their children in their arms or upon their backs. Others represent women with an opening in the abdomen sheltering richly dressed babies.

Woman Carrying Fetus
Photo: Reed

The figurines are richly detailed, giving a glimpse of daily attire in prehispanic times. Some of the women represented are wearing pleated skirts or skirts decorated with geometric designs such as lines, stripes, circles and dots; some figurines wear blouses (quezquemetl) which are similarly decorated. Some of the women wear colored bows in their hair while others are adorned with four- or five-petaled flowers.

Richly patterned dress
Photo: Reed

Serpents as Symbols

It is no exaggeration to say that everything in Mesoamerican culture carried symbolic meaning. One commentator wrote that Mesoamerican religious thought represented a "spiritualization of natural forces" — an idea that sets the context for understanding the sculpture found deposited in the larger basin (described earlier) at the foot of the staircase to the Pyramid of Flowers: a mythological serpent des-gorging a human face from its open jaws.

Anthropologist Mary Miller observes that, in religious terms, serpents may have been the most important fauna of Mesoamerica. Two features of serpentine behavior led Mesoamerican people to regard snakes as vehicles of rebirth and transformation:

1. Snakes swallow their prey whole, decomposition occurs within their bodies; and 2. Snakes shed their skins.

The serpent's upturned snout dis-gorging a human-like face is an ancient means by which a deity or ancestor shows himself to humanity. It is an ancient image grounded in notions of rebirth and transformation intimately linked to the Mesoamerican cyclic (in distinct contrast to the Westerner's linear) view of time.

In sum, serpents are a complex symbol that represented three fundamental notions in Mesoamerican religious thought:

• The serpent is water, or the bearer of water: vitally important for a bountiful harvest; hence, the traditional indigenous saying, “El agua es vida" (Water is life); 
• The serpent’s mouth opens to a cave: symbol of the source of fertility and riches; and 
• The serpent is the sky: symbol of sacredness because man cannot penetrate the sky as he could the earth and underworld, e.g., via caves. 

Serpent Building

This building dates from around 700 BCE and measures 80 x 50 meters (262 x 164 feet). A monolithic stone basin measuring 1.3 meters (4 feet) across and 60 cm (24 inches) high is located at the top of the structure. A mutilated stela was deposited inside, bearing the carving of a snake's fangs and forked tongue—hence the building's name.

Serpent Building

To the north of this basin were found two stone sculptures: one of a man dressed as a jaguar and the other of a man with pronounced forehead and lips holding a scepter or staff in his right hand (bastón, or ruler's staff).

Originally the Serpent Building was a square structure whose only means of access was a stairway on the north side. Later the building was expanded to the east with the addition of another platform. At the same time the north stairway was blocked off and a new stairway was built using tepetate (brittle volcanic rock) covered with mud.

Spiral Building

This circular, stepped pyramid lies on the western side of the ceremonial center and was built around 700 BCE. Due to its location on the hillside, the western side of the pyramid has more levels than the eastern side. No trace of internal structures was found during excavation; the structure's interior consists of volcanic ash.

Spiral Pyramid
Photo: Reed

The building has no stairway giving access to the top; it was ascended by following the spiral form of the structure itself. It is worth noting that the spiral is also a symbol of Ollín, the essential Life-Force, which we've already identified as being associated with the Goddess of Fertility. Hence, those who entered this sacred space literally traced the wind's spiral, the spiral of Ollín, the essential Life-Force....

A Christian cross was placed on top of the structure in 1632 CE, about ninety years after the Spanish arrived; a simple wooden cross remains in place to this day. Two burials were found in the structure, which was probably a temple to Ehécatl, God of Wind—an aspect of Quetzalcóatl, the plumed serpent, viewed as bringer of the rains (Tlaloc, God of Rain). A circular temple dedicated to Ehécatl is  found at Tlatelolco.

Platform of the Volcanoes

Oriented North-South, this structure rests in the middle of the central plaza. The building measures 50 meters along its north-south axis; it is 35 meters wide. Construction began in the Middle Preclassic period, and the building was reused during the Classic Period, thus producing two phases of architecture and construction.

Platform of the Volcanoes

During the 1960's, more than two hundred figurines representing the female form were recovered from the platform by German archaeologist Bodo Spranz. Of particular interest was a figurine identified as the Goddess of Fertility, Tlazolteotl.

Xochitécatl's Decline

For nearly nine hundred years (750 BCE–100 CE), Xochitécatl was the most important ceremonial center of the valley's dispersed population, but it was abandoned by its inhabitants about 100-150 CE, when Popocatépetl erupted.

Although Xochitécatl is relatively far from the volcano, its eruption nonetheless precipitated environmental changes in the western part of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley with adverse affects on human activity. The likely immediate negative effect was on the valley’s crops, whose surpluses had originally contributed to Xochitécatl’s rise as a ceremonial center.

The people were slow to leave their ceremonial center but Xochitécatl had been abandoned by 200 CE, during the heyday of Teotihuacan and Monte Albán. When the ceremonial center was constructed at Cacaxtla (less than a mile away), Xochitécatl was brought back into use from 500–950 CE.

Reflections

A Mexican observer recently wrote,

"Mexico is a country of a mostly urban population with a rural mentality."

I take it to mean that in the hearts of the people of Mexico, it is the customs, traditions and, above all, the legends and myths of the agricultural, maize-growing countryside that give them heart. A traditional saying is, "Sin maís, no hay país" (Without corn, there is no country).

Octavio Paz famously wrote about the fatalism of the people of Mexico, but it's my experience that the people of Mexico show less a fatalistic attitude (assuming the worst) than a realistic recognition that as human beings, we remain — despite modern advances — vulnerable to forces beyond our control. It's a valuable reminder of an ancient truth.

Still Curious?

Related Jenny's posts:

• Tlaxcala State: Cacaxtla Presents Cultural Puzzle describes our adventure as we fit the cultural pieces together—history of the archaeological site, a current happening, chats and, oh yes, a bit of investigative digging;
• Cuicuilco, Volcanoes and the Fragility of Life in Mesoamerica describes the transition from nomadic hunter-foragers to settled agriculturalists; Cuicuilco honored the god of fire, and it was the eruption of Ixtle, a nearby volcano, that buried their settlement in lava;
• Teotihuacan: The Shape of Space and Time explains the essential role of the quincunx in Mesoamerican thought;
• El Tajín I: Beauty and Mystery relates our trip to Veracruz;
• Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco recounts our travels through these Mexican States, including the park of Olmec statues in Tabasco (Section IV); 
• Mesoamerican Worldview: Nature and Spirit describes how the Mesoamerican creation myths served as building blocks for the Mesoamerican worldview;
• Mexico's Volcanoes and Mesoamerican Mythology explores this vital, essential relationship;
• Geography: Ground of Mexico Culture and History—take it from me, the key to understanding Mexico begins here;

Best Reads: Mexico Traditions and Customs is literally that—what we've read and what we're reading now.

• Mary Miller and Karl A. Taub, An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya is high on our list.
• Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 Years, Sean B. Carroll, New York Times, May 24, 2010. Fascinating science and persistence by Nobel winner George W. Beadle establishes teosinte plant growing in the Balsas River valley of southern Mexico as corn's 'cradle'. 

Reed's Photo Albums:

• Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla;
• Olmecs of Tabasco State, photos of sculptures rescued from La Venta site before Pemex drilled wells to make it an oil field.

Wikepedia Xochitécatl: This entry is impressive; it is exceptionally well-written, well-researched; sources are cited.

Finally, here's the GoogleEarth view (click to enlarge) of Xochitécatl, which shows:

• Pyramid of the Flowers: at right, under yellow stick pin;
• Serpent Building: lower left-center;
• Platform of the Volcanoes: directly in front of Pyramid of the Flowers;
• Spiral Building: in front of Pyramid of the Flowers, almost at left margin.