Contact Between Teotihuacan and Costa Grande Region Finding Reveals
Contact Between Teotihuacan and Costa Grande Region
Teotihuacan en Línea. INAH. Nearly 6,000 fragments of Teotihuacan-style ceramics, more than 1,400 years old, were found recently in Costa Grande Region, in Guerrero, by specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The finding reveals that Prehispanic groups such as Tepoztecas, Cuitlatecas and Tomiles that dwelled the area had relations with Teotihuacan, and not only Mezcala groups as thought before.
“Fragments of vessels and flat bowls with finger support, some of them with the Tlaloc effigy and theater censers of a Teotihuacan style never seen before in Guerrero were found”, explained the archaeologist Rosa Maria Reyna, who explored with Elizabeth Galeana the El Embarcadero Archaeological Site, where the finding took place.
“This finding opens new interpretations about the relations of Teotihuacan people with other cultures, and at the same time, promotes research of cultures and archaeological sites in Costa Grande, one of the less studied regions of Guerrero”, mentioned the archaeologist.
Announced by the archaeologist at the 4th Table “Anthropological and Historical Knowledge of Guerrero”, taking place until August 21st 2010 in Taxco, Guerrero, she remarked that the discovery of these ceramic pieces that date from Early Classic period (250-650 AD) reinforce the few evidence had until now that confirmed that Costa Grande Region had commercial and cultural relations with Teotihuacan since an early age.
“We knew that Teotihuacan maintained economic and cultural interaction with Mezcala culture –settled between 150 and 650 AD- by the greenstone masks found at Teotihuacan, but there was no evidence of interaction with other populations settled in what today is Guerrero”.
After laboratory studies practiced by archaeologist Gabriela Escamilla, it was determined that 20 per cent of ceramics found in El Embarcadero, located in the municipality of Coyuca de Benitez, has a Teotihuacan style not known in Guerrero, “which indicates a very close relation between this coastal settlement and Teotihuacan”.
The Guerrero INAH Center archaeologist commented that in other Costa Grande sites such as Soledad de Maciel and Tambuco, Teotihuacan-style ceramics were found in recent years, but theater censers have only been discovered at El Embarcadero.
She also mentioned that studies also indicate that many of the objects found were not imported from Teotihuacan, but made in Costa Grande following the Teotihuacan style.
Finally, Rosa Maria Reyna pointed out that archaeological explorations conducted until now at El Embarcadero indicate that Teotihuacan influenced the ceramic production but not its architecture, since no monumental structures were constructed.
Found at Teotihuacan sherds Hallan fragmentos de cerámica teotihuacana en Guerrero
Online Teotihuacan. Notimex. About six thousand fragments of Teotihuacan-style pottery, with a length of more than one 400 years, were found recently in the Costa Grande of Guerrero by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The finding reveals that pre-Hispanic groups Tepoztecan, Cuitlatec and thyme, which occupied that area, had interaction with the "City of the Gods" and not just the culture mezcal as hitherto known.
"These fragments of vases and bowls with annular, some of which have the image of Tlaloc, god of rain, and incense burners theater style, a style clearly Teotihuacan had not been seen before in any region of Guerrero, "said archaeologist Maria Rosa Reyna.
She and her colleague Elizabeth Galeana explored the archaeological site of El Embarcadero, which recorded the discovery.
"This finding opens up new interpretations of Teotihuacan relations with other cultures, and also promote further research on archaeological sites and cultures located in the Costa Grande, which is one of the least studied regions of Guerrero," said Reyna .
This was made known by the researcher in the framework of the Fourth Round Table "Anthropological and Historical Knowledge on Guerrero ", held until 21 August in Taxco.
Reyna said that the discovery of these ceramic pieces, which correspond to the Early Classic period (250-650 AD), strengthening the scanty evidence that they had the Costa Grande of Guerrero had maintained commercial and cultural relations at a very Teotihuacan early.
Until recently it was known that Teotihuacan had maintained economic and cultural interaction with the culture mezcal settled between 150 and 650 AD, in the center and north of what is now Warrior by jade masks have been found in the "City of the Gods."
However, it was not known the interaction of Teotihuacan with other populations in this region of present-day Guerrero, said the specialist.
Reyna explained that after a study in laboratories INAH archaeologist by Gabriela Escamilla, it was determined that 20 percent of the pottery found in the archaeological site, located in the municipality of Coyuca de Benitez-style has Teotihuacan .
That style was not found throughout the body, even in the region Mezcal, "which undoubtedly indicates a close relationship between this coastal settlement with Teotihuacan."
"Some of the items had not been are theater-style censers, bowls and cups with support ring with rectangular supports, some of them with the image of Tlaloc "he argued.
The INAH Center archaeologist-Guerrero said that the Costa Grande sites as Tambuco Soledad de Maciel and in previous years and had found some few copies of Teotihuacan-style ceramic objects, mostly bowls, however, not had located the theater-type censers that were on the Embarcadero.
The biannual academic forum organized by the INAH, and which brings together 98 researchers from various disciplines to present the progress of their studies on Guerrero, "Reyna said that the regions of the Costa Grande and Mezcala are separated by the Sierra Madre del Sur, and although the archaeological remains of both are completely different, both report that the two had an interaction with Teotihuacan.
Mezcala region held primarily commercial relations with Teotihuacan, who are mainly interested in masks and jade figurines features of this region of Guerrero.
While in the Costa Grande can see a greater variety and richness of cultural trade and Teotihuacan, as they point the thousands of fragments of pottery found, and also reveal that settlements such as El Embarcadero adopted the Teotihuacan style to produce their vessels.
Archaeologist abounded that the studies also indicate that many of the objects found were not imported from Teotihuacan, but were made in this region of the Costa Grande, local ceramics, but the style of Teotihuacan.
Finally, Reyna said that the archaeological explorations so far made in the archaeological site of El Embarcadero, refer to the influence of the Teotihuacan culture was only in ceramic production, but not in its architecture, since there is no monumental constructions as Teotihuacan.
