Vestiges of a Prehispanic Oven to Melt Copper Found in Zacatecas (México)

Vestiges of a Prehispanic Oven to Melt Copper Found in Zacatecas (México)

The finding of vestiges of a Prehispanic oven used more than 800 years to melt copper was registered by archaeologist of the The National Institute of Anthropology and History(INAH) at El Teul Archaeological Zone, in Zacatecas, during exploration that will leave ready this site to be opened before 2012.
As part of this work, during the first field season was accomplish the excavation of 2 pyramids and a part of a ballgame court, as well as several human burials that reveal changes in funerary patterns of ancient dwellers.
Archaeologist Peter Jimenez, co director of El Teul Archaeological Project, informed this at a conference at “Jose Luis Martinez” Bookstore in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he made a balance of the first excavation season at the site.
“Finding the rests of the oven to melt copper is very important because it is the earliest found in Mexico and was used during Early Post Classic period, between 900 and 1200 of the Common Age”, added the researcher at his lecture “Advances of the archaeological rescue at El Teul”.
He described the structure of the oven made out of stone and masonry that presents rests of ashes and carbonized maize, used as combustible. This material will allow getting a more precise dating.
Jimenez explained that in its last occupation stage, El Teul was the religious center of Caxcan people, group that settled between 15th and 16th centuries. “It is considered one of the earliest sites in Mesoamerica, being occupied for almost 18 centuries, from 200 BC to 1540 AD”.
He commented that the second stage of exploration will take place in August 2010 in a place called El Sombrero, where the pyramids were found in an excellent conservation state.
“Both pyramids show traces that there was fire around them, and date from Epi Classic period (600-900 AD)”, declared, adding that a circular altar with a 6 meters diameter was located as well.
He mentioned that one half of the ballgame court was excavated, revealing 2 different constructive stages. The first one corresponds to Epi Classic period, and the later shows a new construction made out with fine masonry from the Early Post Classic period (900 to 1100 AD).
Regarding the human burials discovered, the archaeologist declared that 7 shift tombs were found, characteristics of the Western Mexico cultures, which correspond to the Late Formative period (200 BC-200AD).
Since burials are in profound pits so a magnetometer was introduced to identify sealed spaces under the surface. “This devise can give a lecture of how the tomb looks like, allowing us to work before excavation begins”.
The specialist mentioned that other human burials found in the place called Patio Hundido correspond to the “tumbas de caja” (box tombs) tradition: Individuals were placed in a flexed position inside masonry boxes, with offerings.
“These tombs date from 200-500 of the Common Era, and give account of changes in funerary patterns; passing from shaft tombs to box burials refers to the moment when cultures from Western Mexico begin to integrate with those from Bajio and Mexico Valley”.
Jimenez declared that not much is known about El Teul settlers before Caxcan people. Historian Wigberto Jimenez Moreno wrote that El Teul was a religious center of great territorial extension, where pilgrims from the Pacific Coast arrived every year with offerings.

Fuente: Art Daily: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=39373

Rock Paintings at La Pintada Archaeological Zone Catalogued (Mexico)

Rock Paintings at La Pintada Archaeological Zone Catalogued (Mexico)

More than 2,000 rock paintings distributed in a natural canyon part of La Pintada Archaeological Zone, in Sonora, are being digitalized by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Designs reveal the world vision of ancient groups that dwelled this area 1,200 years ago, as well as at the colonization process.
It has been calculated that more than 2,500 graphics are found in the area, from which 70 per cent have already been registered, with the aim of creating an inventory of images for their study and for the preparation of a monitoring plan for their preservation.
Since 2007, a group of technicians headed by archaeological Manuel Graniel have been conducting the meticulous analysis and digital registration of the ancient manifestations distributed along 33 hectares.
“Research has revealed that La Pintada was an important space for diverse human groups, from 12th and 13th centuries’ hunter-gatherers to Seri, Yaqui, and Pima groups that used it as ritual space ritual between 17th and 18th centuries of the Common Era.
“The canyon represented an oasis because it stores rainwater, and it was used as a hide-out during evangelization, since it is a hard to reach place”.
Manuel Granier explained that for registration “we do a photographic panning on each surface with paintings and parting from a reticule system we unite the designs to get every detail, just as they are placed.
“This way, we are able to reproduce in large format the designs located in hard to reach places, for their analysis”.
Regarding images at rocks, the archaeologist part of Sonora INAH Center mentioned that those created 1,200 years ago represent local fauna such as deer, reptiles and birds; hunter-gatherers captured them with the intention of propitiating abundance.
During 17th and 18th centuries, facing hounding from colonizers, many natives took refugee in the canyon; they were also attacked by Spaniards, who were represented in paintings riding without the horse, in the belief that they would not attack natives, since they would loose power”.
One emblematic image at La Pintada is El Venado, one of the largest graphic representations, where a boy is riding a deer, scene of the Seri myth of the mighty boy.
Graniel detailed that analysis of paintings has allowed identifying 3 different styles at the Contact (with Europeans) Age; “by the limits of Seri, Yaqui and Pima settlements that came together at the canyon, and by descriptions made during the 17th century, we think they dwelled La Pintada 300 years ago.
“Styles were determined based on anthropomorphic images, since each group wanted to represent themselves differently”.
The archaeologist explained that different techniques confirm that not all paintings were created by a single group. Finally he commented that digital registration of rock paintings will be used to place large format pictures of designs placed in hard to reach places, for their exhibition.

Fuente: Art Daily: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=38957

Pyramid Tomb Found: Sign of a Civilization's Birth?

Pyramid Tomb Found: Sign of a Civilization's Birth?

John Roach
for National Geographic News

After sheltering jeweled royals for centuries, the oldest known tomb in Mesoamerica—ancient Central America and Mexico, roughly speaking—has been uncovered, archaeologists announced Tuesday.
Apparently caught between two cultures, the 2,700-year-old pyramid in Chiapa de Corzo (map), Mexico, may help settle a debate as to when and how the mysterious Zoque civilization arose, according to excavation leader Bruce Bachand.
At the time of the pyramid tomb's dedication, hundreds of artisans, vendors, and farmers would have known Chiapa de Corzo as a muggy town, redolent with wood smoke and incense.
Above them towered the three-story-tall pyramid, a "visually permanent and physically imposing reminder" of their past rulers and emerging cultural identity, said Bachand, an archaeologist at Brigham Young University.
The two rulers found with the pyramid-top tomb had been coated head-to-toe in sacred red pigment. At the center of the tomb, Bachand's team found a male in a pearl-beaded loincloth. To his side lay a companion, likely a female.
On their waists were jade beads shaped like howler monkeys, crocodiles, and gourds. Seashells inlaid with obsidian formed tiny masks for their mouths, which in turn held jade and pyrite ornaments.
Arrayed around the royal corpses were offerings to the gods: ceramic pots, ritual axes perhaps associated with fertility, iron-pyrite mirrors, and a red-painted stucco mask.
"These people were at the top of society, there is no doubt about it," said Bachand, whose work was partly funded by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
Slightly lower on society's ladder were two apparent human sacrifices, an adult and child, who looked as if they'd been tossed into the tomb. The adult was slumped against the side of the crypt, an arm craned awkwardly over his or her head, Bachand said.
Pyramid an Emblem of an Emerging Culture?
The pyramid tomb is a window into how and when unique cultures emerged from the Olmec, one of the oldest civilizations in the New World, Bachand said.
The Olmec began fanning out from their Gulf of Mexico homeland around 1200 B.C. and influenced many Mesoamerican civilizations to come—to what extent, though, is a longstanding debate among archaeologists. (See "Ancient City Found in Mexico; Shows Olmec Influence.")
The Chiapa de Corzo site, in what was a borderland between the Olmec and Maya civilizations, may eventually help settle the debate (interactive map of the Maya Empire).
"We are trying to distill from the archaeology how the Zoque emerged out of an Olmec ancestral base, and it seems like it happened right around the time this tomb appeared," Bachand said.
In the centuries prior to the construction of this tomb, archaeologists believe, Chiapa de Corzo was a large village along a major trade route, likely operated by the Olmec from their capital city, La Venta, on the Gulf Coast.
As Chiapa de Corzo gained wealth and power it began to assert its own identity, Bachand said. The newly discovered tomb, which includes Olmec and Zoque traits, suggests this transition was well underway by 700 B.C.
Some of the tomb's ceramic pots, for example, are identical to pots from La Venta.
On the other hand, the human remains lack the large jade earspools and breastplates commonly found on Olmec remains. What's more, the tomb's stone and clay walls and wooden ceiling represent a unique Zoque style that persisted at Chiapa de Corzo for centuries, Bachand said.
"We think that this is a parting moment" for the Zoque, Bachand said. "Yes, there are Olmec elements lingering around and being incorporated into their culture, but at the same time they are starting to move out and move on."
Prototype of Maya Architecture?
Emerging from the influence of the Olmec, the nascent Zoque culture at Chiapa de Corzo may have been influencing other cultures, in turn—not least the Maya Empire, Bachand suggested.
For one thing, the pyramid, with its long, terraced platform, presages the classic Maya "E group" layout, named after the Group E at the Uaxactún site in Guatemala. Aligned with the sunrise on solstices and equinoxes, E groups appear to have astrological significance.
"So this isn't just any old pyramid," Bachand said. "It appears to be one of the earliest E groups in all of Mesoamerica. That's why we are investigating it.
And now that we've discovered this early tomb—well heck, no one has discovered a tomb this early in any pyramid, never mind an E group pyramid," he added.
The new findings, he said, suggest that the E group—so strongly associated with the Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures—could actually be a Zoque invention. (Pictures: what the Maya Empire looked like.)
Theory "Perfectly Reasonable"
Bachand's conception of Chiapa de Corzo as an emerging capital sits well with Mesoamerican-civilization expert Robert Rosenswig.
"To have a powerful ruling dynasty established at Chiapa de Corzo beginning sometime around 700 B.C. sounds perfectly reasonable," said Rosenswig, an archaeologist at the University of Albany in New York State.
By then the Olmec had been around for 400 to 500 years and had established other centers that were building their own monumental architecture.
"Things were becoming considerably more complex, and it is fairly evident that these groups were all in contact with each other," he said.
Late-Breaking Discovery at Pyramid
In hopes of solidifying his theory, Bachand and his team are digging deeper into the pyramid, hoping to find evidence of more direct contact with the Olmec capital.
Just this past Saturday, they may have found just that—a bluish green jade ceremonial axe, perhaps of Olmec origin, at the base of the pyramid.
"It doesn't have any incised design or anything on it, but it is right on the axis of the building, and we think it is associated with something special," Bachand said.
In 2008 the team had found a pit full of similar axes—including one with an Olmec design on it—in the plaza next to the pyramid as well as a nearby pit where the axes were manufactured.
The discovery of another axe deep inside the tomb, Bachand added, "is definitely associated with an axe offering of Olmec inspiration."

Fuente: National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100518-oldest-pyramid-tomb-zoque-mexico-science/