Las Choapas (archaeological site)
Encyclopedia
| Olmec Culture – Archaeological Site | ||
| Name: | Las Choapas Archaeological Site | |
| Type | Mesoamerican archaeology | |
| Location | Las Choapas, Veracruz Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is... |
|
| 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... |
|
| Approx. Coordinates | 17°55′00"N 94°06′00"W | |
| Culture | Olmec Olmec The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco.... – Epi-Olmec culture Epi-Olmec culture The Epi-Olmec culture was a cultural area in the central region of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, concentrated in the Papaloapan River basin, a culture that existed during the Late Formative period, from roughly 300 BCE to roughly 250 CE. Epi-Olmec was a successor culture to the Olmec,... |
|
| Language | Unknown | |
| Chronology | ||
| Period | Mesoamerican Preclassical - Classical | |
| Apogee | Unknown | |
| INAH Web Page | Non existent | |
Las Choapas is a recently found archaeological site located within the municipality of Las Choapas, in the southeastern border of the Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
State, inside the San Miguel de Allende Ejido
Ejido
The ejido system is a process whereby the government promotes the use of communal land shared by the people of the community. This use of community land was a common practice during the time of Aztec rule in Mexico...
, bordering the municipalities of Huimanguillo, Tabasco and Ostuacán, in Chiapas.
The site covers a known extension of about 60 Hectares and its actual location is being deliberately concealed to prevent the common looting. Access to the site by land takes about four hours as there are no roads, helicopter is the preferred means of transportation when archaeologists visit the site.
The culture that occupied this area is not clearly identified; however the site lies within the Olmec nuclear zone, sort of in between La Venta
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
just 22.22 kilometres (13.8 mi) north in the neighboring state of Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
, and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
some 62 kilometres (38.5 mi) to the west, both of which are important Olmec sites, but there are many smaller sites in surrounding areas, see the Olmec heartland
Olmec heartland
The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest...
map.
Background
The prehispanic history of Veracruz is complex. It was inhabited primarily by four native cultures. The Huastecos and OtomisOtomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
occupied the north, while the Totonac
Totonac
The Totonac people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the Pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained...
s resided in the north-center. The Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
s, one of the oldest cultures in the Americas, became dominant in the southern part of Veracruz.
Remains of these past civilizations can be found in archeological sites such as Pánuco, Castillo de Teayo
Castillo de Teayo (Mesoamerican site)
Castillo de Teayo is a mesoamerican Prehispanic archeological site and Mesoamerican pyramid, located in the La Huasteca region in northern Veracruz, Mexico...
, El Zapotal, Las Higueras, Quiahuiztlán , El Tajín
El Tajín
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site and was the site of one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. The city flourished from 600 to 1200 C.E. and during this time numerous temples, palaces, Mesoamerican ballcourts and pyramids were built...
, Cempoala
Cempoala
Cempoala or Zempoala is an important Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the Úrsulo Galván Municipality, in the state of Veracruz...
, Tres Zapotes
Tres Zapotes
Tres Zapotes is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the south-central Gulf Lowlands of Mexico in the Papaloapan River plain. Tres Zapotes is sometimes referred to as the third major Olmec capital , although Tres Zapotes' Olmec phase constitutes only a portion of the site’s history, which...
and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
.
The first major civilization in territory of the current state is that of the Olmecs, whose origin is unknown. Theories vary, including one which has a group of people with Negroid features arriving to Campeche then north to Veracruz over 3,500 years ago. The Olmecs settled in the Coatzacoalcos River region and it became the center of Olmec culture. The main ceremonial center here was San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. Other major centers in the state include Tres Zapotes in the city of Veracruz and La Venta
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
in Tabasco. The culture reached its height about 2600 years ago, with its best-known artistic expression being the colossal stone heads. These ceremonial sites were the most complex of that early time period. For this reason, many anthropologists consider the Olmec civilization to be the mother culture of the many Mesoamerican cultures that followed it. By 300 BCE, this culture was eclipsed by other emerging civilizations in Mesoamerica.
Another major group was the Totonacas, who have survived to the present day. Their region, called Totonacapan
Totonacapan
Totonacapan is the name given to a region located mainly in the northern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz. This region was originally comprised around the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín and later, during the Colonial era until our times, around the city of Papantla.Though it comprises a wide...
, is centered between the Cazones River and the Papaloapan River in the north of the state. Pre-Columbian Totonacas lived from hunting fishing and agriculture, mostly of corn, beans, chili peppers and squash. This is also the native region of the vanilla bean. Clay sculptures with smiling faces are indicative of this culture. The major site is El Tajin
El Tajín
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site and was the site of one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. The city flourished from 600 to 1200 C.E. and during this time numerous temples, palaces, Mesoamerican ballcourts and pyramids were built...
, located near Papantla, but the culture reached its apogee in Cempoala (about five miles (8 km) inland from the current port of Veracruz), when it was conquered by the Aztecs. When the Spaniards arrived in 1519, the territory was still home to a population of about 250,000 people living in fifty population centers and speaking four Totonac dialects. 25,000 were living in Cempoala alone.
The Huastecas are in the far north of the Veracruz and extend into parts of Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
and Puebla. The language and agricultural techniques of these people and the Maya are similar; however, only a few buildings and ceramics remain from the early Huasteca culture. This culture also reached its peak between 1200 and 1519, when it was conquered by the Spanish.
During the 15th and very early 16th century, the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s came to dominate much of the state and dividing it into tributary provinces, of Tochtepec, Cuetlaxtlan, Cempoallan, Quauhtochco, Jalapa, Misantla, and Tlatlauhquitepec. The Aztecs were interested in the areas vegetation and crops such as cedars, fruit, cotton, cacao, corn, beans and vanilla. However, the Totonacs chafed under Aztec rule, with Aztec rulers from Axayacatl
Axayacatl
Axayacatl was the sixth Aztec Emperor, a ruler of the Postclassic Mesoamerican Aztec Empire and city of Tenochtitlan, who reigned from 1469 to 1481.He is chiefly remembered for subjugating Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's sister city, in 1473....
to Moctezuma II
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
having to send soldiers to quell rebellions. The Huastecs were subjugated more successfully by the Aztecs and relegated to the provinces of Atlan and Tochpan.
Recent findings provide that Las Choapas could well be one of the most important ancient Zoque
Zoque
The Zoque are an indigenous people of Mexico; they speak variants of the Zoque languages.This group consists of 41,609 people, according to the 2000 census...
cities.
Zoque Culture
The Zoque are an native peopleIndigenous peoples of Mexico
Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...
of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
; that speak variants of the Zoque languages
Zoque languages
The Zoque languages are languages of the Zoquean branch of the Mixe–Zoquean language family indigenous to southern Mexico.The Zoque languages are spoken in the in northern Chiapas and far eastern Chiapas around Chimalapa, and in Ayapa Tabasco altogether by around 88,000 indigenous Zoque people...
.
The culture developed mainly in the northerly sector of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
state, in the northern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
, in the state of Oaxaca, including the Selva Zoque
Selva Zoque
The Selva Zoque , which includes the Chimalapas rain forest, is an area of great ecological importance in Mexico. Most of the forest lies in the state of Oaxaca but parts are in Chiapas and Veracruz....
and as far away as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and parts of the state of Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
.Their language is also called Zoque, and has several branches and dialects. The Zoque are related to the Mixe
Mixe
The Mixe or Mije is an indigenous group inhabiting the eastern highlands of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. They speak the Mixe languages which are classified in the Mixe–Zoque family, and are more culturally conservative than other indigenous groups of the region, maintaining their language to this...
.
They are believed to be descendants of the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
who migrated to Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
and Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
. They had a good social and commercial relationship with the Mexica
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
, which contributed to the economic prosperity of their culture in Chiapas.
On 17 May 2010 archaeologists in southern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
found a dignitary’s tomb inside a pyramid that may be the oldest type of burial discovered in 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...
. The grave dates from about 2,700 years ago.
This tomb was built by the Zoque natives in Chiapa de Corzo
Chiapa de Corzo
Chiapa de Corzo may refer to:*Chiapa de Corzo - a Mesomerican archaeological site located in the Chiapas highlands, Mexico*Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas - the modern township and municipality, central Chiapas, Mexico...
, in southern Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
. It may be about 1,000 years older than the better-known pyramid tomb of the Mayan
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
ruler Pakal at the Palenque
Palenque
Palenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD...
archaeological site, also in Chiapas. Pre-Hispanic cultures built pyramids mainly as representations of the levels leading from the underworld to the sky.
The Site
Ancient Mesoamerica News Updates 2008, No. 29 (April 5, 2008), reported on a recent discovery of a monolithic large size stone carving fragment. The stone depicted a skeletal personage, associated with a dot-and-bar numeral 7.Currently available information associated with most sites found within the area (Ejido San Miguel de Allende) was initially placed chronologically to the preclassical mesoamerican period.
The site was originally wrongly reported with an association with the Maya, but as of April 4, 2008 the issue was clarified, relevant authorities confirmed that no excavation, exploration nor finding that would confirm the site as a Mayan city.
The initial belief of a Mayan city was due to the carved stone and the person depicted as well as the numeral inscriptions. These representations are not common of the Zoque region, as they are in the Maya region, where the character is known as “Vucub Came” and is a death related deity.
This, however, does not confirm the site as Mayan, as in fact there were cultural and social relations between this region and the Mayas. The region is part of what was believed to be a trade route between the south east and north-western region. This regions has Olmec and zoque cultural elements.
Vestiges found at Las Choapas suggest, from the orography and complex position can be archaeologically compared with the el zoque tradition, particularly with Malpasito, Tabasco.
A preliminary assessment of the features depicted by the monolithic sculpture can be related to other cultures, not necessarily the Maya. The main image consists of a stark skull, which was common in Mesoamerica in general. The face also has attributes such as ear decorations, and in the front an expanding scroll is depicted and emerges between nose and eyes, which can refer to the fire or breath.
At top the head, a vegetal element is depicted however it is not identified, possibly related to a city Toponymy. Also, in the back is a bar and two points, although it is not yet confirmed if it relates to numerals.
This type of carvings is not exclusive of the Maya area, because these have been found in other writing system (Epi-Olmec culture
Epi-Olmec culture
The Epi-Olmec culture was a cultural area in the central region of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, concentrated in the Papaloapan River basin, a culture that existed during the Late Formative period, from roughly 300 BCE to roughly 250 CE. Epi-Olmec was a successor culture to the Olmec,...
), which corresponds to this region of Veracruz. There are evidences of this cultural group using the point and the bar system, in monuments such as la Mojarra Stela, the Stela C from Tres Zapotes and the Tuxtla statuette, all of them in Veracruz.
The Epi-Olmec
Epi-Olmec culture
The Epi-Olmec culture was a cultural area in the central region of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, concentrated in the Papaloapan River basin, a culture that existed during the Late Formative period, from roughly 300 BCE to roughly 250 CE. Epi-Olmec was a successor culture to the Olmec,...
groups developed during the Protoclassical period, between 300BCE and roughly 250 CE. Epi-Olmecs were a successor culture to the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
, hence the prefix "epi-" or "post-". Although Epi-Olmec did not attain the far-reaching achievements of that earlier culture, it did realize, with its sophisticated calendrics
Mesoamerican Long Count calendar
The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal and base-18 calendar used by several Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is sometimes known as the Maya Long Count calendar...
and writing system
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
, a level of cultural complexity unknown to the Olmecs.
Stone carving
The stone carving is apparently interpreted (read) from right to left, since the signs and other visual elements are to the right. The main sign represents a skull, possibly described as “anthropozoomorphic”. It depicts a de-fleshed jaw and an open eye, which departs from associations with other known mesoamerican deities. The deity is perceived as such by the presence of ear decorations. It also a ‘bracket’ element in the upper head not unlike those of some Maya signs such as T1016 (God C’s head) and sign SNA.A ‘fire’ volute extends forward from the deity brow or nose. It can be compared with sign T122, although its shape is more symmetric. It could be said at this point that the motif of a ‘fire’ or ‘breath’-exhaling skull is not completely unknown within Maya iconography and writing. Some of its most common occurrences can be found as part of the Dedicatory Formula (PSS) on vessels represented by the sign T1049. However, there is not enough early classical period sculptural examples for a better comparison of the stone relief from Las Choapas.
The apparent ‘sprouting’ or ‘tufting’ vegetal motif a top of the head, perhaps reminiscent of semi-arid plants more common towards the Central Mexican plateau. It bears a certain resemblance with some early mesoamerican depictions of day-signs ‹REED› or ‹FLOWER› (see for example Xochicalco St. 1; Los Horcones St. 2). Almost touching the occipital region behind the head is an element which arguably could correspond to a bar-and-dot coefficient. If this is so, and Judging from the length of both the bar element and the relative spacing between the dot elements, the intended value could have been originally ‹EIGHT›, instead of ‹SEVEN›. Immediately behind this purported numeral, although unaligned with it or any of the other signs, another ‘scroll’ appears, only this time closely resembling the Maya sign T126.
The overall composition strongly gives the impression of being either:
1) A fully iconographic in nature, with no associations to a particular language or perhaps:
2) A particular toponym, anthroponym or theonym rendered through an ‘emblematic’ writing tradition, a trait that, despite being more common amongst central Mexican early-classical to late-postclassical civilizations, it was also readily adopted and/or emulated by some cultures that interacted with the former.
3) Less likely, it could also involve a compound where iconographic motifs were intertwined with glyphic signs (i.e. headdresses containing elements of glyphic proper names in Zapotec or Mayan traditions, etc.).
However, these are premature associations between the purported coefficient of ‹EIGHT› with the vegetal-like motif that might produce misleading calendric dates (i.e. ‹EIGHT-REED›), given that no clear reading order, alignment or indication exists between these two elements to suggest that they were intended to be read together.
Structures
The Las Choapas archaeological site has around 100 prehispanic structures, however these are superficial mounds and no exploration or excavation work is being performed, as is typical throughout the country.At the site, many unexplored mounds can be seen, one such superficial mound has the shape of what could be a ballgame court.
Other sites in Veracruz
- Castillo de TeayoCastillo de TeayoCastillo de Teayo may refer to:* Castillo de Teayo , a pre-Columbian archaeological site and Mesoamerican pyramid, in Veracruz, Mexico* Castillo de Teayo , a municipality of Veracruz state, Mexico...
- El ManatiEl ManatíEl Manatí is an archaeological site located approximately 60 km south of Coatzacoalcos, in the municipality of Hidalgotitlán 27 kilometers southeast of Minatitlan in the Mexican state of Veracruz...
- La VentaLa VentaLa Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
- San Lorenzo TenochtitlánSan Lorenzo TenochtitlánSan Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
- El TajínEl TajínEl Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site and was the site of one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. The city flourished from 600 to 1200 C.E. and during this time numerous temples, palaces, Mesoamerican ballcourts and pyramids were built...
- CempoalaCempoalaCempoala or Zempoala is an important Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the Úrsulo Galván Municipality, in the state of Veracruz...
- Tres ZapotesTres ZapotesTres Zapotes is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the south-central Gulf Lowlands of Mexico in the Papaloapan River plain. Tres Zapotes is sometimes referred to as the third major Olmec capital , although Tres Zapotes' Olmec phase constitutes only a portion of the site’s history, which...
- El ZapotalEl ZapotalEl Zapotal is a Totonac culture archaeological site, located in the region known as Mixtequilla, between the Blanco and Papaloapan rivers in the Ignacio de la llave Municipality in the Veracruz State, Mexico....
- Las Higueras
- QuiahuiztlanQuiahuiztlanQuiahuiztlan was one of the four altepetl that made up the confederation of Tlaxcala.Located on the lower slopes of a volcanic mountain on the gulf coast of Veracruz state, Mexico, it was occupied in the 16th century AD as part of the Totonac culture...
- Mesa de CacahuatencoMesa de CacahuatencoMesa de Cacahuatenco is a mesoamerican prehispanic archeological site, located in the municipality of Ixhuatlán de Madero in northern Veracruz, Mexico, south of the Vinasca River....
- El CuajiloteEl CuajiloteEl Cuajilote or Filobobos is an archeological site of the Totonac Culture, located in the Tlapacoyan municipality, Veracruz state, México.Just as in many other Mesoamerican sites, the original name is unknown and arbitrarily names are assigned, sometimes local names are used, in this case, the name...
- CuyuxquihuiCuyuxquihuiCuyuxquihui is an archaeological site located in the Tecolutla valley, in the region of the Totonac culture, about 14 miles southeast of El Tajín, two kilometers from the “Paso de Correo” town, in the Veracruz State, Mexico....
- Cascajal Block
- HuatuscoHuatuscoHuatusco is the better known name of "Huatusco de Chicuellar", a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Xalapa–Mexico City railroad...
- La Joya (archaeological site)La Joya (archaeological site)La Joya is a mesoamerican prehispanic archeological site, located in the municipality of Medellín, Veracruz in central Veracruz, Mexico, about 15 kilometers from the Veracruz City, near the confluence of the Jamapa and Cotaxtla Rivers....
- Laguna de los CerrosLaguna de los CerrosLaguna de los Cerros is a little-excavated Olmec and Classical era archaeological site, located in the vicinity of Corral Nuevo, within the municipality of Acayucan, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, in the southern foothills of the Tuxtla Mountains, some 30 kilometers south of the Catemaco.With...
External links
- Palma Alor, Augusto. Breve Historia de Las Choapas
- Las Choapas Municipality official web page
- Official Las Choapas web site by the State Government