Chalchihuites Culture – Archaeological Site
Name:	La Quemada
Type	Mesoamerican archaeology
Location	Villanueva Municipality, Zacatecas Zacatecas Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....
Region	Mesoamerica Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
Coordinates	22°27′23"N 102°49′16"W
Culture	Chalchihuites Chalchihuites Alta Vista, or Chalchihuites, is a small Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, in the northwest of Mexico. The archaeological site of Alta Vista, at Chalchihuites, is located 137 miles to the northwest of the city of Zacatecas and 102 miles southeast of the city of...
Language
Chronology	300 to 1200 AD
Period	Mesoamerican Classical, early Postclassical
Apogee
INAH Web Page	La Quemada archaeological site

La Quemada is a Mesoamerican archeological site, also known (according to different versions) as Chicomóztoc. It is located in the Villanueva Municipality, in the state of Zacatecas

Zacatecas

Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

, about 56 kilometers south of the city of Zacatecas

Zacatecas, Zacatecas

Zacatecas is a city and municipality in Mexico and the capital of the state of Zacatecas. It is located in the north central part of the country. The city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the mid 16th century. Prior to this, the area's rich deposits in silver and other minerals were known...

 on Federal Highway 54 Zacatecas–Guadalajara

Guadalajara, Jalisco

Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...

, in Mexico.

History

Given the distance between La Quemada and the center of Mesoamerica, this archeological zone has been subject of different interpretations on the part of historians and archeologists, who have attempted to associate it with different cultures.

It is supposed that this place could be the legendary Chicomostoc, a Caxcan

Caxcan

The Caxcan were a partly nomadic indigenous people of Mexico. Under their leader, Francisco Tenamaztle, the Caxcan were allied with the Zacatecos against the Spaniards during the Mixtón Rebellion. During the rebellion, they were described as "the heart and the center of the Indian Rebellion". They...

 site, a Teotihuacán

Teotihuacán

Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...

 fortress, a Tarascan center, a fort against Chichimeca

Chichimeca

Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day Mexico and southwestern United States, and carried the same sense as the European term "barbarian"...

 intruders, a Toltec

Toltec

The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology...

 trading post, or simply consequence of independent development and a city of all the native groups established north of the Río Grande de Santiago

Río Grande de Santiago

The Río Grande de Santiago is one of the longest rivers in Mexico, measuring up long. The river begins at Lake Chapala and continues roughly north-west through the Sierra Madre Occidental, receiving the Verde, Juchipila, Bolaños, and other tributaries...

.

In 1615, Fray Juan de Torquemada

Fray Juan de Torquemada

Juan de Torquemada was a Franciscan friar, missionary and historian in Spanish colonial Mexico. He is most famous for his 1615 monumental history of the Indigenous entitled Los veinte y un libros rituales y Monarchia Indiana, commonly known as simply Monarchia Indiana...

 identified La Quemada as one of the places visited by the Aztecs during their migration from the north to the Mexico central plateau, and where older people and children were left behind. Francisco Javier Clavijero

Francisco Javier Clavijero

Francisco Javier Clavijero Echegaray , was a Novohispano Jesuit teacher, scholar and historian...

, in 1780, associated this site with Chicomoztoc, where the Aztecs remained for nine years during their voyage to Anahuac

Anahuac

Anahuac is an ancient name for a Mesoamerican, particularly Aztec, area or areas, usually identified as located within or even coterminous with the Valley of Mexico...

.
This speculation originated the belief La Quemada is the mythical place called "The Seven Caves". Archeological investigations since the 1980s determined that La Quemada developed between 300 and 1200 AD (Classical and early Postclassical periods) and that it was contemporaneous of the Chalchihuites

Altavista (Zacatecas)

Alta Vista, o Chalchihuites, is a mesoamerican archaeological site near the municipality of Chalchihuites in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, in the northwest of Mexico...

 culture, characterized from the first century of our era, by intense mining activity. La Quemada, Las Ventanas El Ixtepete, major settlements in the “Altos de Jalisco

Jalisco

Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...

”, and northern Guanajuato

Guanajuato

Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....

, formed a trade network linked to Teotihuacán

Teotihuacán

Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...

 (350-700 AD), that extended from northern Zacatecas to the Valley of Mexico.
It is possible that links established by Teotihuacán were with local rulers of ceremonial centers, of the mentioned network, or through alliances with regional intermediaries, or by small Teotihuacán merchants groups, living in these centers, that ensured the various products flow, such as minerals, salt, shells, quill

Quill

A quill pen is a writing implement made from a flight feather of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, metal-nibbed pens, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen...

s, obsidian, and peyote

Peyote

Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...

, among others.

Between 700 and 1100 AD, La Quemada did not participate as a network member, but as the dominant trade location at the regional level, it began to compete with other neighboring sites. It was during this time that the site acquired a defensive character, evidence of which is the construction, on the north flank of the site, of a wall approximately four meters high by four meters wide, as well as the elimination of two stairways in the complex with the intention of restricting internal circulation.

From the evidence of fire in several parts of the site, a violent decline of the settlement is inferred. It is this apparent destruction by fire which gives the site its name of la (ciudad) quemada, "the burnt city".

The site

La Quemada is made up of numerous different size masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

 platforms built onto the hill, these were foundations for structures built over them. On the south and southeastern sides is a high concentration of ceremonial constructions, some of which are complexes made up of sunken patio platforms and altar-pyramid, a typical Mesoamerican architectonic attribute.

On the west side is a series of platforms or terraces, apparently more residential structures than ceremonial. All architectonic elements of La Quemada were constructed with rhyolite

Rhyolite

This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...

 (volcanic effusive rock of the granite family) slabs, extracted from the hill located northeast of the Votive Pyramid.

To build the structures and join the slabs a clay and vegetal fiber mortar

Mortar (masonry)

Mortar is a workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. The blocks may be stone, brick, cinder blocks, etc. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder...

 was used, as it degrades and erodes

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

in time, it caused wall deterioration. Over the masonry walls several clay stucco layers were applied, currently only a few samples of original finishing remain.

Studies made to date, provide basis to determine that the monumental complex was constructed at different times. It is known that the structures built were constructed over previous constructions, which were covered by later constructive stages.

If the total elements of this site are considered, from the extensive roads and the numerous smaller sites linked to La Quemada, this is a singular archaeological site in the context of mesoamerican sites.

Structures

The archaeological zone is divided in three complexes: the “Ciudadela” with a wall that surrounds the north side of the site (800m long, 4m wide and 4m high); the Palace located in the central part of the hill and the Temple located in the south end.

Salón de las Columnas

Columns Hall. This 41 by 32 meter enclosure, probably reached a height of more than five meters before the fire that caused its destruction. In their interior eleven columns supported the roof. Until now its specific function is not known. Although works made in the 1950s indicate a ceremonial use possibly related to human sacrifice.

Calzada Mayor

Main Avenue. This esplanade extends about 400 meters from the plaza in front of the Columns Hall, where many smaller dimension roads initiate that cross the Malpaso Valley. In order to construct this road, as well as the majority of other roads, side walls were built of stone slabs and stone; later the area in between the walls was covered with stone slabs and a pavement made of clay and pebbles. If the proportion of this element with respect to other dimensions of the site is considered, its size is remarkable. In addition, there are vestiges to two altars at the main entrance end. Recent studies confirm the existence of more than 170 kilometers of roads that cross the valley and interconnect several other smaller archaeological sites.

Juego de Pelota

Ballgame Court. This structure, of mesoamerican features, was constructed on an enormous platform that extends from the north of the Votive Pyramid throughout the access stairway at the south slope of the court. It measures 70 by 15 meters and it displays the characteristic letter “I” shape; the side walls are as wide as those of the Columns Hall (2.70 meters) and assumed a height of between three and five meters. As is the case in almost all archaeological sites in Mexico, this site has had vandalism.

Pirámide Votiva

Votive Pyramid. This structure, more than 10 meters high, is highlighted by the angle of its slopes. During Corona Nuñez works, in 1995, slope vestiges with remains of a stairway were found, that ascended the south side of the pyramid. With time the middle and top parts crumbled to the ground, where they can be seen at the present time. Originally, the stairway reached the top of the pyramid where a room or temple constructed with perishable materials apparently existed.

Escalinata

Stairway. At about 30 meters west of the Votive Pyramid this stairway was discovered, was used as main access to the top levels of the site. It was constructed in two stages; the first, that approximately reached the middle of the height now observed, apparently it was round shape, and can be associated with shapes of now missing structures; the second, built over the former and with greater height, it reached the walkway on the second level, evidence shows ties with a two ramp stairway that ascended to the third level. At a point in time the main stairway was canceled, by defense reasons by means of the retaining wall, limiting access.

Other platforms

In the third level sector of the site, on the west side of the hill, are numerous platforms or terraces that, according to recent investigation works are residential areas; to date 25 structures constructed towards 650 AD, have been identified.

Muralla

This wall (Muralla is the protective perimeter wall) is emphasized, by its dimensions (four meters high by three meters thick) as well as by its location on edges of the cliffs surrounding the north and northeast parts of the site. Apparently this structure was constructed towards the end of the occupation of La Quemada and, perhaps, it represents one of the best indicators of the problems faced by city residents as well as their perseverance to remain there.

Ciudadela

Located at the highest part of the site,, several buildings have been identified, possibly used for ceremonial and defensive purposes.

El Cuartel

Headquarters. This structure probably was used to build houses. Reportedly, the roof caught fire and collapsed. The reference web page has photographs..

Pirámide de los Sacrificios

Sacrifices pyramid, Structure and terrace 18. It is believed that human sacrifices for the gods were conducted here. Presumably young women and children. (Photographs at the referenced web page, courtesy of Ricardo Espejel)

Site museum

Located in the archaeological zone, its architectonic design was conceived such that it integrates to the surrounding landscape and the archaeological site by the use of material characteristic of the buildings constructed in the site (stone slabs, stucco and finishing). This museum offers a panorama of the region archaeological evolution through diverse informative elements, a site scale model and descriptive videos of the main prehispanic settlements in Zacatecas: Loma San Gabriel, Chalchihuites and of course La Quemada.