In rocky shelters

More than a dozen dwelling, ritual and funerary sites, some of them more than 1,000 years old, were located inside shallow caves at Barranca de la Sinforosa (Sinforosa Gully), Chihuahua. According to preliminary studies, vestiges could correspond to Tubar people, an indigenous group that isolated in Tarahumara Mountain Range during Colonial times to avoid evangelization, and extinguished in late 19th century.

Nine dwelling sites, 2 ceremonial and 2 of funerary character were found in Ohuivo, Chorogue, Zapuri and Güerachi localities of Guachochi municipality in Chihuahua.

Archaeologist Enrique Chacon, from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), declared that according to first explorations, 3 types of sites were identified, which, according to architecture, burial system and regional research references, are dated in 16th-17th centuries, while others could go back to 11th century of the Common Era.

Regarding the features of these sites, he mentioned they are similar to those known traditionally as “cliff dwellings”, found in Northwest Mexico and Southwest United States.

Chihuahua INAH Center researcher pointed out that at funerary sites detected in rocky shelters, 5 individuals were found: 2 children and 3 young persons, which remains have been dated between 1000 and 1450 AD. In a cave at least 6 individuals of both genders and different ages were located; these rests date from 16th or 17th centuries of the Common Era. Skeletons were found disperse, they were not placed in specific positions.

Associated material indicates they were wrapped up in vegetal fiber matting (Petate), tied up with rope, and assured with wooden needles.  Offerings were found as well, such as ceramic artifacts and vegetal gourds, mainly.

Cultural affiliation has been preliminary determined: Rests correspond to Tubar people. “The collective memory of Raramuri or Tarahumara people refers that archaeological sites located were dwelled by Cocoyome, term used to name Tubares that would not accept evangelization”, explained the researcher.

 “We know that Tubar people had 3 development stages: they were nomadic, semi-nomadic and finally they settled down in small communities, using caves as dwellings, graves and warehouses”, added Chacon.
   
Ceremonial or ritual sites correspond to cavities drilled in the rocks of hills where rituals took place, apparently. One of these sites was found atop a hill and the other at the entrance of a cave.

Archaeological exploration began after indigenous groups reported the vestiges in 2009.

“We obtained ceramic material samples to compare them to Tubar ceramics we keep at Chihuahua INAH Center”. Chacon concluded that the first step to protect caves and cultural heritage has been taken; vestiges are registered in the INAH Public Register of Monuments and Archaeological Sites.

Archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo

Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered a sarcophagus of more than 1000 years old at the Acropolis of Toniná Archaeological Zone, in Chiapas. The finding might help understanding the collapse of ancient Maya culture, since it corresponds to the same period, between 840 and 900 AD. This entombment, due to its features, has been compared to the Reina Roja (Red Queen) burial uncovered in Palenque.

Inside the sarcophagus a container and a skull that presents fractures and deformation were found, as well as long bones displayed in a cross figure. Experts have expressed that osseous rests could correspond to an individual of Maya affiliation, although they have not been dated.

Archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo, in charge of research and conservation at Toniná Archaeological Zone, in Ocosingo municipality, informed that a stone sarcophagus that measures 200 by 70 centimeters, with a depth of 60 was found; on each corner it has supports in the shape of a button. A 15 centimeters thick lid of the same dimensions covered it.

The tomb was discovered during the most recent field season conducted in late 2009. Finding took place when floor leveling works were carried out and an alteration in the 5th Platform of Acropolis was found, which led to archaeological exploration.

“This sarcophagus is unique in ancient Mexico, similar to Reina Roja one, discovered in 1994 in Palenque, due to its size and the lack of inscriptions”.

Parts of the skeleton were found outside the coffin; in life, this person must have been part of the hierarchy, maybe a woman or a minor, since orbital bones are small. Diverse studies, among them physical anthropological ones, will be conducted at INAH Direction of Archaeological Studies to determine age, gender and ethnic affiliation.

Yadeun mentioned that inside the crypt was found a Chib-style globular urn with a lid; it contained human bones that were boiled and fragmented, which date from a different period than those found at the casket.

“Diverse elements of the finding point out to the tomb remaining unaltered for more than 500 years, from 900 AD approximately until 1490, when a Tzeltal chieftainship installed in Toniná. Buildings were occupied again and tombs were looted; Maya objects were extracted and new offerings placed.

“The sepulcher presents alterations; it was opened around 1490-1495 by Tzeltal peoples that removed some original elements, mainly ceramics, placing them around the sarcophagus. Remaining bones were moved to a section and the recipient with boiled bones was placed inside”.

The specialist mentioned that the tomb is dated between 840 and 900 AD, and represents a period that could fill a gap in the time line between the last inscription registered in Toniná in 840 AD, and the Tolteca-influenced writing from 903-910.

This discovery brings in new elements regarding Maya collapse, and may point out “who caused decline, possibly being people from what today is Tabasco, from the High Plateau or influenced by them”.

According to the archaeologist, one of the theories about the fall of Maya seigniories indicates it was due to arrival of High Plateau groups. These Tolteca affiliation faction had corporative character, with huge armies that might have come from Puebla-Tlaxcala region, the Gulf Coast and Oaxaca, all linked to Tula during that period.

“In 840 AD a major transformation occurred in Maya cities: sculptural representations and inscriptions ended, which has been interpreted as a massive abandonment of the settlements.

“This means there was a revolution in the Ancient Mexico after the fall of great dynasties and the rise of warrior groups to power”, concluded Juan Yadeun.

Western Mexico Cultures

Earthenware “talks” to archaeologists: each fragment brings in data that helps reconstructing the history of Prehispanic society. This aspect is discussed at the exhibition Hablar con barro (Earthenware Talks), presented at Aguascalientes Regional Museum.

A hundred and twenty ceramic artifacts, some of them 4,000 years old, provide elements to date occupation periods in a given place; how towns interacted, and how quotidian life of people who created and used them was. Even their way of thinking is expressed through color, form and design.

Pots, bowls, plates, flat bowls, human and zoomorphic figures account for development of the peoples included in the Western Mexico Culture concept, in the region integrated to present by Michoacan, Colima, Nayarit, Jalisco and Guanajuato.

Organized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the exhibition “looks forward to remark importance of earthenware in our culture and explain how our ancestors used it to create magnificent pieces”, informed anthropologist Lourdes Herrasti, director of the museum.

The specialist informed the script of the exhibition presents a chronological route, embodied by Ceramic objects from Pre Classic (1800 BC-200 AD), Classic (200-900 AD) and Post Classic (900-1521 AD) periods.

The anthropologist commented that during Pre Classic and Classic periods there were small agricultural villages with social hierarchy at the Western Mexico region; by the end of Post Classic, societies turned more complex, received Teotihuacan influence and formed independent seigniories influenced by Tula; Purepecha seigniory prevailed.

Objects are displayed in 4 halls, where their origin, features, techniques and decoration are represented. “One of the objectives is to remark the idea that ceramic talks to archaeologists, explaining how Prehispanic societies were”.

The first hall locates development of Western Mexico cultures in time and space, comparing it to what happened in the other regions of Mexico at the same time, and locating them in a map.

The second hall is related to techniques used to model and decorate earthenware. Gourds, animals and humans were represented. “We exhibit vessels, pots, flat bowls, meticulously decorated; beads, ear ornaments, human and zoomorphic figures, representing a dog, a bear and a jaguar lifting a turtle”, declared Herrasti.

The third hall refers to what was represented: Animals and small human figures. “Pregnant women and a crib with a baby are exhibited”.

Musical instruments made with clay such as flutes, ocarinas, whistles and rattles are displayed at the fourth hall, as well as tools such as chisels, pliers, burins and axes.

Hablar con barro will be exhibited until late May 2010 at Aguascalientes Regional Museum, located at 118 Venustiano Carranza St., Downtown, Aguascalientes, Ags. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 18:00 hours.

In Chiapas

Recent explorations conducted by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) point out that Plan de Ayutla Archaeological Site, in Chiapas, could have been the political center where the lineage that founded Bonampak originated,more than 1,400 years ago. This hypothesis is based on interpretation of inscriptions at different monuments.

The archaeological zone that will be open to public before 2012, according to the compromise of President Felipe Calderon, could have been in Prehispanic times one of the legendary cities didentified by epigraphic as Sak T’zi or Ak’e.

The first hypothesis regarding Plan de Ayutla identity points out that it might have been Sak T’zi, city that between 600 and 800 AD struggled with Maya metropolis of Tonina, Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan, informed archaeologist Luis Alberto Martos.

The site located in Ocosingo municipality “is key to understand development and political integration in Bonampak and Lacanha”, commented Martos, director of Plan de Ayutla Archaeological Project.  

Sak T’zi (white dog in Maya) was described in different carved monuments, such as Lintel 2 at Yaxchilan were the defeat of the city by Yaxchilan and Bonampak, in 787 AD, is described.

According to inscriptions, Luis Alberto Martos recalled, “it must have been a site bigger than Bonampak but smaller than Yaxchilan. Some authors have traced its area of influence between seigniories of Yaxchilan, Bonampak, Piedras Negras, Tonina and Palenque, and given its features, Plan de Ayutla might have been Sak T’zi”.

“One of Sak T’zi rulers, K’ab Chan Te (the one who holds the sky), named himself seignior of 2 katunes, corresponding to 40 years approximately in our calendar, and warrior at the ballgame; this means ballgame was important at Sak T’zi.”

The aforementioned data makes sense if we consider the greatest ballgame court of High Usumacinta region is at Plan de Ayutla. Located at the center of the city, it measures, including the structures that limit it, 85 meters long and 40 wide. It has enclosed end-zones and is covered with slabs.
    
The second theory refers to Plan de Ayutla as the ancient city of Ak’e; Martos, also head of INAH Direction of Archaeological Studies, pointed out that this ancient political center was subordinated to Tonina in different stages.

We find at Plan de Ayutla architectural elements similar to those at Tonina, such as the aforementioned ballgame court, the frets that adorn Structure 13, and the frequent use of column altars, which could indicate this is ancient Ak’e, which means turtle in Maya.

Nearness with Bonampak (only 25 kilometers away) points out that if this is the ancient Ak’e, from where the founding lineage of Bonampak came from. Apparently, the dynasty moved out taking with them the “Ak’e” emblem glyph.

Dr. Luis Alberto Martos remarked neither place has been archaeologically located but, according to epigraphic studies, both were important in the history of the High Usumacinta region.

Archaeological evidence reveals there was human occupation at Plan de Ayutla since 150 BC, although its history as an integrated city began 100 or 150 years later. Regardless most of Usumacinta cities were abandoned towards 800-850 AD, material dated from 1000 AD have been located, which indicates the relevance of the site.

Part of the Sierra de Jalapa region, near the Biosphere Reserve of Montes Azules, this Maya site has particular features that provide its character, such as monumentality and quality of the Usumacinta style buildings.

Archaeologist Luis Alberto Martos remarked that Structure 13, located at Acropolis Norte, has the form of a hut. “It is a superb construction with two 8-meters-high roofed spans, an unusual feature in the region. Apparently, it was an observatory, since, from mid July (beginning of Maya calendar), it marks the zenithal passing of the Sun.