El ZAPOTAL

El ZAPOTAL: THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD’S
SHRINE
Introduction
To even the practiced eye of an archaeologist, El Zapotal looks no different
than any other small Classic period mound cluster in the flat and incredibly hot
Mixtequilla region south of Veracruz City. However, for more than 1,000 years,
one inconspicuous mound at the site covered a truly extraordinary shrine
dedicated to the Lord of the Underworld, a shrine that included life-sized hollow
clay sculptures that Chera Wyllie, an authority on ancient Mexican art, has called
“…the apogee of ancient Mesoamerican ceramic artistry.” (Wyllie 2008: 234).
The story of El Zapotal is that of a major archaeological treasure that has been
lost, found, and then almost completely ignored for decades. Today it is finally
receiving the attention it deserves.
The shrine remained hidden until the 1960s when local looters began to uncover
a trove of beautiful ceramic objects. Soon thereafter, Mexican law enforcement
officials seized several large ceramic sculptures awaiting illegal export abroad in
the port of Veracruz. They were able to trace them back to a small village a few
kilometers from Cerro de las Mesas, a large ancient center famous for its stone
stelae. Manuel Torres and a team of archaeologists from the University of
Veracruz (UV) in Xalapa assessed the situation and spent several field seasons
excavating one of the mounds already opened by the looters. They uncovered a
unique temple shrine dominated by an unfired clay image of the Lord of the
Underworld, an ancient Mesoamerican deity often known by his Nahuatl name
Mictlantecuhtli. This macabre figure sits menacingly on a raised throne
surrounded by mural paintings charged with religious symbolism. Outside the
shrine stood nineteen large ceramic statues depicting the Cihuateteotl (Nahuatl,
plural), much feared goddesses who represented women who had died in
childbirth. They in turn were encircled by 200+ jumbled human skeletons
accompanied with an astounding array of superb human and animal ceramic
figures, musical instruments, and other fine-wrought clay objects.
Upon finishing their excavations, Manuel Torres and his colleagues transported
all the materials except for the fragile unfired Lord of the Underworld back to the
Museo de Antropología de Xalapa (MAX), where they have remained since 1972.
A small selection of the most spectacular pieces has always been displayed in
MAX and at a local museum constructed over the in-situ Lord of the Underworld
but neither museum can display even a fraction of the El Zapotal trove.
Most tragically, the excavation was never properly written up or published. Were
it not for a few publications in relatively obscure Spanish language academic
outlets, nothing would be known about the find. These include an excellent
monograph on the ceramic sculptures by Nellie Gutiérrez Solano and Susan K.
Hamilton and licenciatura theses at the UV by Adelina Suzan Morales and María
Eugenia Maldonado Vite, the sources of much of my information. Fortunately
modern scholars, particularly Dr. Sara Ladrón de Guevara, Director of the MAX
and Dr. Cherra Wyllie of the University of Hartford, are initiating new studies of
the objects and their context and plan to make them much more widely known to
the world at large.
The Region
The Mixtequilla is a small area of low-lying terrain on the western edge of the
Papaloapan river drainage. Named perhaps for 19th century Mixtec-speaking
Indians from Oaxaca who arrived each year to help pick the cotton for which the
region is famous, it is hot, dry, and mosquito-infested virtually year-round. It
hardly seems a likely setting for a cultural and artistic florescence but such was
the case during the Classic period (AD 600-900). By then Cerro de las Mesas,
the largest archaeological site in the region was largely abandoned but small
centers such as El Zapotal, Cocuite, Dicha Tuerta, and Nopiloa had emerged in
its shadow. None of these were large or impressive in the Mesoamerican
scheme of things but their inhabitants included some of the finest potters who
ever worked in the Americas, men (and perhaps women as well) whose level of
skill and imagination made them true artists rather than craftsmen.
The Shrine and surrounding area
The Shrine to the Lord of the Underworld rested on what archeologists called
Mound 2, a low platform surmounted by a three-sided building painted inside
and out with a colorful and complex tableau depicting a pregnant woman, a
warrior dressed in a coyote skin, skeletal figures receiving homage from
attendants, and solar disks. The unfired painted clay sculpture of the Lord of the
Underworld occupies the focal point of a scene that extended beyond the wall
paintings to include almost-life-sized standing hollow statues of women. The
statues are thought to represent the local equivalent of the Aztec Cihuateteotl,
women who lived in the dark underworld but whose death in childbirth, the
equivalent of a battle to create a future warrior, had earned them the right to
accompany the sun on its daily journey from noon until sunset. Numerous
primary burials and a vast jumble of human bones possibly belonging to
sacrificial victims lay around the exterior of the shrine. Mixed in with them Torres
uncovered a vast profusion of clay sculptures, figurines, vessels, musical
instruments, and other objects placed as offerings. The best description in
English of the shrine and its contents can be found in two accounts by Cherra
Wyllie (“Continuity and Changes in Late Classic Southern Veracruz Art,” in
Classic Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz,, edited by
Phillip Arnold III and Christopher A. Pool, pages 225-258, Dumbarton Oaks
Research Library and Collections, Washington, DC, 2008, and “The Mural
Paintings of El Zapotal, Veracruz, Mexico”, Ancient Mesoamerica, to be
published in 2010).
Looting of the Mixtequilla
The illegal excavation and sale of antiquities has a long history in the Gulf
Lowlands but became endemic in southern Veracruz in the 1960s and continues
today, albeit perhaps on at less rapacious pace. The scale of these clandestine
but lucrative activities can be seen in the fact that by as early as 1971, the Ethnic
Arts Council of Los Angeles could mount an exhibition of 150 exhibit-quality
Classic period central Veracruz objects found in collections in the city of Los
Angeles alone! Many of these pieces, just as is true of those scientifically
excavated at El Zapotal itself, were badly damaged and have been heavily
restored. The fact that we do not know where these looted pieces came from and
what they were associated with greatly limits our ability to interpret them and the
lives of their creators.
The collection from El Zapotal is as valuable for the information it provides as it is
for the beauty of its objects. One reason is that the context and disposition of the
objects shows how this art was used by its makers. Another is that we can
assume all the objects were made at one moment in the history of the community
to be used in a specific ritual setting. This in turn sheds considerable light into the
minds and activities of its makers.
Finally, knowing that so many pieces of such superb quality were created in one
place for one activity suggests that El Zapotal must have been home of one or a
handful of the greatest artists who ever lived in ancient Mexico. But, why was this
so? Why El Zapotal and not a great city like Teotihuacan or Cholula in the
Mexican highlands, or a Maya center such as Tikal or Copan? Furthermore, was
El Zapotal truly unique in its homeland, a Mesoamerican Florence surrounded by
lesser artistic lights, or do other equally outstanding discoveries await future
excavations? If so, I can only hope the archaeologists get before the looters.
The El Zapotal Image Portfolio
The images below provide a broad-ranging but far-from-complete
introduction to the inventory of objects found at El Zapotal. All are located
in the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa (MAX) in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
I present them in order to bring this under-appreciated treasure to the
attention of the world public. I hope that current research by the scholars
mentioned above will amplify the information available on this most
unusual archaeological find and encourage others to pursue new
investigations. I must enter a caveat to anyone who views these objects. In
almost every case they were found badly damages and subsequently were
restored. In some cases the restorations appears to have been quite
extensive. Thus some of these objects may appear differently today than
when they were buried by the ancient Veracruzanos.
I have drawn my images and many of my interpretations from the sources
listed below, as well as from the monograph Las Esculturas en Terracota
de El Zapotal, Veracruz, by Nelly Gutiérrez Solana and Susan K. Hamilton,
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1977. I extend my thanks and
appreciation to all of these authors and photographers.
1. El Zapotal lies at the boundary between the Central and South Gulf
Lowlands. From Diehl, Richard A. “The Precolumbian Cultures of the
Gulf Coast,” in The Cambridge Prehistory of the Native Peoples of
Americas: Volume II, part 1, eds. R. E. W. Adams and M. Macleod, pp.
156-196., 2000
2. El Zapotal is located a few kilometers from Cerro de las Mesas, the
largest Early Classic Period (300-600 AD) center in the region. Boca del
Rio, located south of Veracruz City, has some of the finest restaurants
in the Gulf Lowlands. Photography by Google Earth.
3. This photograph taken from the summit of “El Gallo” (The Rooster), the
tallest mound at El Zapotal, shows the flat terrain and scrub vegetation
characteristic of the region today and probably in the past as well.
Photograph by Richard A. Diehl, May 1995
4. “El Gallo” is an unexcavated but looted mound that dominates the site.
Its name probably reflects a common local folk belief that certain
mounds conceal gold or other treasures that can only be recovered by
the lucky person who hears a cock crow or sees a shimmering green
light on the mound during the night hours of Good Friday. Photograph
by Richard A. Diehl, May, 1995
5. The local site museum is maintained by the federal government to
protect the shrine and the unfired clay statue of the Lord of the
Underworld. Photograph by CONACULTA, Mexico
6. The unfired sculpture depicts the Lord of the Underworld as a grinning
character who is part-skeletal (skull, rib cage and arms) and part-flesh
(hands, legs, and feet. Fragments of pigment show that the sculpture
was originally painted. He sports an elaborate headdress adorned with
profile skulls and a bat face in its center, large circular ear spools, and a
bib-like pectoral. The roundel on his belt and loincloth serves to identify
rulers on stone sculptures at nearby Cerro de las Mesas. His facial
expression seems to say “Welcome to my realm.” (Height: 150 cm.)
Photograph by Michael Zabé, published in Museo de Antropología de
Xalapa, edited by Beatriz Trueblood, 1992.
7. Cherra Wyllie’s Drawing of the Lord of the Underworld seated in his
shrine illustrates the murals that flanked him. The walls surrounding
him are now too badly deteriorated to show well in photographs but
depict an ancient crone in advanced pregnancy and a warrior dressed in
a coyote pelt. Published in Wyllie, 2008.
8. This view of the shrine by Wyllie, based on a reconstruction drawing by
Maldonado Vite (1997), depicts the murals on the interiors and exteriors
of the flanking walls, and a line of hollow “Cihuateteotl” ceramic
sculptures. In its totality the tableau illustrates the mythical passage of
the sun through the day and night, the world of the living and nocturnal
realm of the underworld. Published in Wyllie, 2008.
9. Nineteen standing Cihuateteotl sculptures were recovered at El Zapotal.
All are similar in concept and design while each differs in details. Paint
residues remind us that as with Classical Greek sculptures, what we see
today are no more than the armatures for flamboyant polychrome
creations that have lost their colors over the centuries. This Cihuateteo
(singular) is remarkably complete, lacking only a fragment of her
headdress and whatever object she held in her left hand. Her closed
eyes signify death while the open mouth suggests the act of singing or
chanting. Her clothing is confined to a simple full length skirt with a
double-serpent-headed belt and an elaborate headdress. She is nude
from the waist up, a common practice among Indian women of the
region well into the 20th century. She wears a necklace of beads with a
circular pendant, complex round ear spools, and what appear to be
woven bracelets. The pouch or censer in her right hand is adorned with
a bat (a Mesoamerican bat out of Hell?), an appropriate symbol for the
Underworld. (Height: 140 cm.) Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno,
published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz,
México, 1988
10. This magnificent sculpture appears to depict a taller, more slender
woman than the others. The broken right arm allows us to appreciate
the thin clay walls that form the figure. Her bent elbows, the turn of her
left wrist, the realism of the twin serpent belt and the extraordinary
object in her left hand all bespeak the work of a master artist able to
control the clay as he or she wished.
11. This close-up of the object in the left hand of the Cihuateteo above
shows it to be an idol, pouch, or perhaps a censer adorned with a
striking human skull and suspended from a pliable cord. The artist
obviously had considerable first-hand knowledge of the endemic snake
population of the region. The crack in her lower torso reminds us that
most of the El Zapotal offerings were found damaged and may even
have suffered deliberately destruction prior to interment. The dark
patches on the torso are firing marks created by the surface being too
close to a piece of fuel.
12. While every Cihuateteo shares many similarities, each has her own
unique aspects. This lady’s facial features, headdress, collar, and the
specific form of the object in her left hand all distinguish her from her
companions. Her now-empty right hand may once have held a ceramic
torch, as does a Cihuateteotl now in the collections of the North
Carolina Museum of Art.
13. The manufacturing processes used in the creation of the monumental
sculptures have never been studied in detail but they were clearly
created in pieces of a manageable size that were then assembled into
the completed sculpture. These pieces included lower and upper torsos,
heads, arms, headdresses, belts, and ornaments. According to
Gutiérrez Solana and Hamilton (pages 35-36), the larger fragments were
created by coiling long “ropes” of clay into the basic shape, smoothing
and allowing the structure to dry before firing. They were joined by
using a clay binder to secure them to each other. Faces may have been
made in molds, as were smaller elements such as ornaments and
headdresses. Gutiérrez Solana and Hamilton believe that firing was
done in an open hearth but recent discoveries of numerous closed
ceramic kilns in several nearby archaeological sites suggests such
sophisticated facilities may have been used here as well.
14. This well-preserved Cihuateteo from near-by Cocuite is so similar to
those from El Zapotal that it may have been manufactured in the same
workshop. Her elaborate headdress is as richly painted as real-life
headdresses would have been. The thick necklace and bracelets are
depicted as snail shells, while her skirt tie overlaps a belt of what
appear to be olivella shells. The absence of a snake belt is intriguing:
perhaps she had a slightly different connotation than the classic solar
underworld travelers. Considerable paint fragments remain: turquoise
blue, white, and red can be seen in the headdress, yellow and red on the
torso and arms, red and white toenails, and white fingernails. The belt is
blue and the snail shells below it are rose. Five six-pointed stars, each
is painted brown with a black-outlined orange spot in the center,
decorate her skirt. All in all, she must have been a most striking
presence. (Height: 136 cm.) Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno, published
in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988
15. The corpus of monumental ceramic sculpture at El Zapotal includes four
seated Cihuateteotl figures. Like their standing companions, they wear
long skirts with serpent belts, elaborate headdresses, necklaces, and
bracelets. One writer has suggested they represent midwives. This
example has a unique five-point device behind her head. The veil
covering her head and neck is adorned with an almost-comical bat
figure, perhaps symbolic of her nocturnal realm. The delicate modeling
of her fingers is just another example of the superb skills of the artist.
(Height 105 cm). Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno, published in Museo
de Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988.
16. Like so many of the El Zapotal sculptures, this standing man carrying a
jaguar on his back is unparalleled elsewhere in Mesoamerican
sculpture. Is the feline the man’s supernatural alter ego or nagual, or
does the scene depict an incident in a long-lost myth? The cape he
wears is a most unusual shape and the determined look on his face
contrasts sharply with the joyful face of his companion. (Height 67 cm).
Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno, published in Museo de Antropología
de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988.
17. One writer has suggested that this striking figure represents a prisoner
shown nude except for a belt and a rope that pulls his head back into an
unnatural position. Karl Taube has suggested that the cylinders by each
ear are drums and the entire sculpture functioned as a anthropomorphic
drum, with the holes in the legs serving as sound outlets. Whatever
their others functions, those holes surely allowed heated air to escape
during the firing process, They could also symbolize wounds analogous
to the embedded darts depicted on certain Teotihuacan human torsos
carved from stone. The missing arms may have provided the answer to
how this fascinating object was used. (Height 169 cm). Photograph by
Antonio Vizcaíno, published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa,
Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988.
18. Two young males who clearly are twins carry a chest in this unique
sculpture. Their postures (three-quarters rather than full frontal)
suggest a snapshot taken during the action but why is one stepping on
the other’s foot? Who are they? What is in the box? What are they
really doing? Twins are a rare but notable occurrence in the PreColumbian art of southern Veracruz, extending back to at least two
Early Formative period Olmec stone sculptures found at San Lorenzo.
They may represent the Hero Twins of the epic Maya and perhaps panMesoamerican foundation legend known as the Popol Vuh. (Height 66
cm).
19. This seated male sculpture is another of the unique El Zapotal pieces.
Seated figures occur elsewhere in ceramic and stone but none are as
life-like in posture or as successfully executed in the round as this
seemingly young adult male. His costume is unlike that seen in any
other Mesoamerican portrayals and his expression, even though
partially obscured by the eye rings that some scholars connect with the
Aztec Rain God Tlaloc, radiates a sense of quiet, internalized
contemplation. Is he human, perhaps a young lord, or is he a god?
(Height: 47 cm.) Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno, published in Museo
de Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988.
20. “Smiling Faces” or “Caras Sonrientes” as they are known in Spanish,
are hallmarks of the Late Classic period (AD 600-900) in central
Veracruz. Hundreds are found in private collections and museums
around the world but relatively few come from controlled archaeological
excavations. Numerous examples found associated with burials at El
Zapotal demonstrate that they were created as companions for the
dead. They typically are hollow and wider than they are thick. The
flattened heads are mirrored in the artificially deformed skulls of the
grave occupants. Most appear to be males, even those with brassierelike markings (more likely tattoos or painted designs than actually strips
of cloth) across their chests. This example also has filed teeth, a
common occurrence in real life. Endless theories have been proposed
to explain the grinning, simpleton-like countenances of the faces but
none can be proven. (Height unknown) Published on the Museo de
Antropología de Xalapa website, September 2009 www.uv.mx/max/
21. Smiling Face figures are most commonly shown with their arms
uplifted. This unusual example has articulated limbs that recall older
Teotihuacan “puppet figurines”. The purpose of function of moveable
limbs is not known. The proportions of the various body parts suggest a
boy or young child. (Height 27 cm). Photograph by Nadine Markova,
published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, edited by Beatriz
Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico, 1992
22. This woman appears to be modeling her gorgeous embroidered blouse,
called a quechquémitl in Nahuatl, and triangular skirt. The figurine lacks
a physical body and is supported by a hidden clay leg. Her hair, teeth
and eye irises are decorated with black pigment. Her elaborate
headdress appears to be a basketry foundation surmounted a longnecked, long-beaked bird, round perforated beads, and feathers. (Height
40 cm) Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno, published in Museo de
Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988.
23. This large ceremonial brazier retains remnants of red and white paint.
The diverse planes and angles of the many elements create a sense of
dynamic tension. The round brazier behind the frontal panels is a multichambered construction. (Height 41 cm). Photograph by Antonio
Vizcaíno, published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa,
Veracruz, México, 1988.
24. The hole in the top and support remnants on the back of this box
indicate that it served as a base for some vertical object now lost. The
modeled face on the front is quite similar to Maya depictions of the rain
god Chac. (Length 80 cm) Photograph by Antonio Vizcaíno, published in
Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, 1988.
25. This pyramidal-shaped brazier features a woman seated cross-armed in
a niche, perhaps a symbolic cave or shrine, surrounded by circular
elements and a profusion of rectangular plaques. She wears a small
mask or plaque over her mouth. (Height 31 cm). Photograph by Nadine
Markova, published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, edited by
Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico, 1992.
26. This sumptuously dressed warrior brings to mind Japanese Samurai
warrior ceremonial garb. His headdress is constructed of three
removable parts. His warrior status is indicated by the bundle of darts
or spears protruding from his right and a shield in his left hand. (Height
19 cm). Photograph by Nadine Markova, published in Museo de
Antropología de Xalapa, edited by Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico,
1992.
27. This kneeling man, who unfortunately now lacks his face, grasps what
may be either a ceremonial brazier or a kettle drum. He is balanced on
the balls of his feet, a position that seems to be almost impossible to
sustain for any length of time. His rich shoulder garb, made of ropes,
contrasts vividly with the simplicity of the remainder of his clothing.
(Height 74 cm) Photograph by Nadine Markova, published in Museo de
Antropología de Xalapa, edited by Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico,
1992.
28. This hollow ceramic head depicts the Lord of the Underworld in a
serious moment. Height: 16 cm, Photograph by Nadine Markova,
published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, edited by Beatriz
Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico, 1992.
29. This extensively restored figure depicts a male with an expression of
either sheer terror or total surprise on his face. He sports an elaborate
headdress, large circular ear spools and what may be the world’s oldest
known bow tie. The staff in his right hand has led some to suggest he
represents the god of merchants, called Yacatecuhtli by the Aztecs, who
was often shown carrying a walking stick. The bottle in his left hand is
decorated with a black substance, probably asphalt, and may be
analogous to Classic Teotihuacan strombus shell trumpets. (Height 37
cm) Photograph by Nadine Markova, published in Museo de
Antropología de Xalapa, edited by Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico,
1992.
30. Similar in conception to the previous piece, this sculpture shows the
use of a rear support to keep it erect. This man’s eyes show pronounced
crossing and his staff is surmounted by a disk or fan. (Height: 45 cm),
Photograph by Nadine Markova, published in Museo de Antropología de
Xalapa, edited by Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico, 1992.
31. Here we see a richly dressed male whose zoomorphic headdress
combines serpentine elements with those of a bat. His arms are slightly
flexed and his palms face forward, a posture that, combined with the
quizzical look on his face, suggests he wishes to know what is expected
of him now. Photograph by Nadine Markova, published in Museo de
Antropología de Xalapa, edited by Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico,
1992.
32. In Mesoamerican architecture stone balustrades frequently depict
serpents with chins on the ground and bodies raised up. However this
hollow ceramic example apparently served as a drain terminus from
which water or some other liquid (blood?) spouted through the
openings between the eyes. (Height 55 cm). Photograph by Nadine
Markova, published in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, edited by
Beatriz Trueblood, Xalapa, Mexico, 1992.