Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site)
Chiapa de Corzo is an
It rose to prominence around 700-500 BC, during the
The modern township of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, founded in Colonial times and after which the site was named, is nearby.
Site history
The site shows evidence of continual occupation since the Early Formative period (ca. 1200 BCE).
The mounds and plazas at the site, however, date to approximately 700 BCE with temples and palaces constructed at the end of the Late Formative or Protoclassic period, between 100 BCE and 200 CE.[2][3]
In 2008, archaeologists discovered a massive Middle Formative
In April 2010, archaeologists discovered the 2,700-year-old tomb of a dignitary within Mound 11 that is the oldest pyramidal tomb yet discovered in Mesoamerica.[4][5][6][7]
According to archaeologist Bruce Bachand, the tomb exhibits Olmec rather than Maya affinities. This tomb predates by 600 years any other such tomb found in Mesoamerica, such as those at Tikal, and at Kaminaljuyu.[8]
Cultural affiliation
The site is believed to have been settled by
Chiapa de Corzo and a half dozen other western Depression centers appear to have coalesced into a distinct Zoque civilization by 700 BCE, an archaeological culture that became the conduit between late Gulf Olmec society and the early Maya.[9][10][11] Certain Mesoamerican traits such as planned cities, earthen pyramids, E-Group commemorative complexes, cloudy-resist waxy pottery, incensarios, and early logographic writing may have originated in the Zoque region.
Regional centre
Starting around 100 BCE, during its Guanacaste phase, Chiapa de Corzo played the role of the regional capital. The city was linked with other areas across the Maya Lowlands, Maya Highlands, Pacific Coast, and Oaxaca. This is the time when the first hieroglyphic writing appeared on flat stamps, pottery vessels, stelae, and building panels.[12]
Maya pottery types began to be included in elite burials, although utilitarian ceramics retained traditional patterns.
Decline
Big changes occurred in the area during the Istmo phase (AD 300-400). There was an economic decline, as craft activity diminished and long-distance ties contracted.[12]
Chiapa de Corzo and a number of western Depression sites were abandoned by the
The Chiapanec chose to occupy the adjacent floodplain of the Grijalva River where the modern town is now located, and they left the Zoque ruin on the nearby plateau untouched. The abandoned city then became a place of pilgrimage.[12]
Modern developments
The site has been heavily encroached upon over the last 70 years with the construction of roads, homes, businesses, utility systems, and a cemetery. The Nestlé company constructed a large milk processing plant in the center of the ruin in the late 1960s, removing Mound 17, one of the major ceremonial mounds at the site. In recent years, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (
Notable finds
The oldest
Chiapa de Corzo is also notable for a pottery sherd containing what is likely
The site possesses possibly the earliest example of a Mesoamerican palace complex in Mound 5.[19] This palace was constructed in the first century CE and ritually destroyed a couple centuries later.
More than 250 Formative period burials have been scientifically excavated at Chiapa de Corzo. Many derive from a unique Late Formative burial ground below the Mound 1 plaza. Chiapa de Corzo has the largest and perhaps the best chronologically subdivided Formative period burial sample in southern Mesoamerica.
Chiapa de Corzo has more clay cylinder seals and flat stamps than any other Formative Mesoamerican site, save Tlatilco.[20] Hieroglyphs appear on examples made around 100 BCE.
Notes
- ^ Pool, p. 272.
- ^ Lowe, p. 122-123.
- ^ Lowe 1962
- ^ In an Ancient Mexican Tomb, High Society New York Times, 17 May 2010
- ^ One of Mesoamerica's Oldest Tombs Found Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2010
- ^ BYU-led Team Finds Treasure-filled Tomb in Chiapas Salt Lake Tribune, 21 May 2010
- ^ Pyramid Tomb Found: Sign of a Civilization's Birth? National Geographic Society, 18 May 2010
- ^ Discovery of one of Mesoamerica’s oldest known ancient pyramidal tombs Popular Archaeology
- ^ Clark 2000
- ^ Lowe 1977
- ^ Lowe 1999
- ^ a b c [1]Archived 2011-08-13 at the Wayback Machine The Chiapa de Corzo Project chiapadecorzo.byu.edu
- ^ Pool, p. 272.
- ^ See discussion in Pool, p. 272.
- ^ Lowe 2000, p. 122.
- ^ Navarrete 1966.
- ^ Warren, pp. 139-144.
- ^ Justeson, p. 2.
- ^ see Lowe 1962
- ^ see Lee 1969
References
- Clark, John E. (2000). "Los pueblos de Chiapas en el Formativo". In Dúrdica Ségota (ed.). Las culturas de Chiapas en el periodo prehispánico (in Spanish). Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico.: OCLC 52631535.
- Justeson, John S.; Terrence Kaufman (2001). "Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- Lee, Thomas A. (1969). The Artifacts of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 26. Provo, Utah, USA: OCLC 462311120.
- Lowe, Gareth W. (1962). Mound 5 and Minor Excavations, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 12. Provo, Utah, USA: OCLC 962203.
- Lowe, Gareth W. (1977). "The Mixe–Zoque as Competing Neighbors of the Early Maya". In Richard E. W. Adams (ed.). The Origins of Maya Civilization. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA: OCLC 2984416.
- Lowe, Gareth W. (1999). Los Zoques Antiguos de San Isidro (in Spanish). Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico: Consejo Estatal para las Culturas y Artes de Chiapas. OCLC 47126036.
- Lowe, Gareth W. (2000). "Chiapa de Corzo". In Susan T. Evans; David Webster (eds.). Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: an encyclopedia. London, UK: Garland. OCLC 45313588.
- Navarrete, Carlos (1966). The Chiapanec History and Culture. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 16. Provo, Utah, USA: OCLC 432388.
- Pool, Christopher (2007). Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. New York, USA: OCLC 68965709.
- Warren, Bruce W. (1977). The Sociocultural Development of the Central Depression of Chiapas, Mexico: Preliminary Considerations (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Anthropology, OCLC 4214390.
External links
Media related to Chiapa de Corzo (archeological site) at Wikimedia Commons