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”.
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| Vernal Equinox at Xochitécatl Photo: Wikipedia |
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| Pyramid of Flowers with lintel above. Note basin at base of the staircase. Photo: Reed |
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| 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.
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| Goddess Photo: Reed |
These figures not only praise women for their procreative and maternal activities but may recognize women as rulers.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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;
- 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'.
- 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.
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.
Thanks for the great read! I love your pictures as well. If yu have time, please check out my own articles on Tlaxcala
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