Montana (Mesoamerican site)
Encyclopedia
Montana is a Mesoamerica
n archaeological site on the Pacific
coastal plain of southern Guatemala
. It is located in the department
of Escuintla, near Balberta
, and is one of the largest Mesoamerican archaeological sites on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala.
period, Montana replaced Balberta as the regional capital. The investigating archaeologists consider that Montana was founded as a colony by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan
in the distant Valley of Mexico
in order to supply that city with locally produced products such as cacao, cotton
and rubber
and to provide a trade route to the great highland
city of Kaminaljuyu
and to the Maya lowlands across the Sierra Madre de Chiapas
.
The establishment of the Teotihuacan colony at Montana resulted in the collapse of the important nearby site of Balberta and the new capital flourished until about AD 600, dominating the region for about 200 years. This coincides with the period of Teotihuacan contact at Kaminaljuyu. The production of local copies of Teotihuacan artifacts ceased by the close of the Early Classic, coinciding with widespread destruction in the centre of Teotihuacan and the decline of that city and indicating the end of Montana as a colony.
By the Late Classic
, the Montana polity had fragmented into several smaller polities and around AD 800 it was replaced as a regional capital by Cotzumalhuapa
.
The ruins of the city were discovered in 1982 by the archaeologist Frederick J. Bove of the Proyecto Costa Sur (South Coast Project). At the time of discovery, the site was still covered by tropical forest. Although test pits were sunk soon after the site's discovery, serious investigation of the site did not start until 1991.
The Central Platform is 7 metres (23 ft) high and measures 200 by. It is topped by a temple pyramid that measures 18 metres (59.1 ft) high, with a stairway ascending the western side.
A plaza in the northern portion of the site core is enclosed by platforms and pyramids. An artificial platform supports a second, 300 metres (984.3 ft)-long, plaza running south to the Los Chatos platform.
The Los Chatos platform measures 200 by and is a massive dual-level platform occupying the southern portion of the site core. Excavations of the platform uncovered a series of 25 floor surfaces laid on top of each other. The investigations uncovered the only complete Teotihuacan-style censer
ever recovered from a controlled excavation in the entire Pacific Coastal region of Guatemala. The censer has been dated to the period AD 350–400. The censer is of fine quality and contained four rough jade
beads, each measuring about 5 millimetre (0.196850393700787 in) across.
Mound 2 is a 3 metres (9.8 ft)-high mound lying immediately to the west of the Los Chatos platform. It is here that the Teotihuacan-style censer was recovered; it had been deposited in a pit sunk into the centre of the floor. Local looters reported that they extracted a large number of artifacts from caches and burials within the structure.
Mound 3 — lying just south of Mound 2 — consists of the remains of a residential complex containing various rooms.
Within a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi)-radius of the site core, 13 more large platforms have been recorded. Excavations at Montana have revealed evidence of contact with the great metropolis of Teotihuacan
.
Artifacts recovered from Montana include ceramic vessels and effigy censers that are local copies of Teotihuacan-style artifacts. The presence of these artifacts supports the idea that Teotihuacan colonists were physically present at the site and that they commissioned local artisans to make artifacts for their use.
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...
n archaeological site on the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
coastal plain of southern Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. It is located in the department
Departments of Guatemala
||Guatemala is divided into 22 departments :#Alta Verapaz#Baja Verapaz#Chimaltenango#Chiquimula#Petén#El Progreso#El Quiché#Escuintla#Guatemala#Huehuetenango#Izabal#Jalapa#Jutiapa#Quetzaltenango#Retalhuleu#Sacatepéquez...
of Escuintla, near Balberta
Balberta
Balberta is a major Mesoamerican archaeological site on the Pacific coastal plain of southern Guatemala, belonging to the Maya civilization. It has been dated to the Early Classic period and is the only known major site on the Guatemalan Pacific coastal plain to have exposed Early Classic...
, and is one of the largest Mesoamerican archaeological sites on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala.
History
Around AD 400, in the Early ClassicMesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
period, Montana replaced Balberta as the regional capital. The investigating archaeologists consider that Montana was founded as a colony by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
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...
in the distant Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
in order to supply that city with locally produced products such as cacao, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
and rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
and to provide a trade route to the great highland
Guatemalan Highlands
The Guatemalan Highlands is an upland region in southern Guatemala, lying between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north....
city of Kaminaljuyu
Kaminaljuyu
Kaminaljuyu is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization that was primarily occupied from 1500 BC to AD 1200. Kaminaljuyu has been described as one of the greatest of all archaeological sites in the New World by Michael Coe, although its remains today - a few mounds only - are far less...
and to the Maya lowlands across the Sierra Madre de Chiapas
Sierra Madre de Chiapas
Sierra Madre is a mountain range which runs northwest-southeast from the state of Chiapas in Mexico across Guatemala and into El Salvador and Honduras. Most of the volcanoes of Guatemala are a part of this range.A narrow coastal plain lies south the range, between the Sierra Madre and the Pacific...
.
The establishment of the Teotihuacan colony at Montana resulted in the collapse of the important nearby site of Balberta and the new capital flourished until about AD 600, dominating the region for about 200 years. This coincides with the period of Teotihuacan contact at Kaminaljuyu. The production of local copies of Teotihuacan artifacts ceased by the close of the Early Classic, coinciding with widespread destruction in the centre of Teotihuacan and the decline of that city and indicating the end of Montana as a colony.
By the Late Classic
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
, the Montana polity had fragmented into several smaller polities and around AD 800 it was replaced as a regional capital by Cotzumalhuapa
Cotzumalhuapa
Santa Lucía Cotzumalhuapa is the name of a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological zone dating mainly to the Late Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology, although it was occupied since the Middle Preclassic period and there is evidence of a major development during the Late Preclassic period...
.
The ruins of the city were discovered in 1982 by the archaeologist Frederick J. Bove of the Proyecto Costa Sur (South Coast Project). At the time of discovery, the site was still covered by tropical forest. Although test pits were sunk soon after the site's discovery, serious investigation of the site did not start until 1991.
The site
The site core covers an area of about 1 square kilometre (0.386102158592535 sq mi) and contains a number of enormous earth constructions. The extended urban area of the site covered at least 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) and possessed a high density of structures. The site core had a complex drainage system that channelled runoff rainwater through sections of ceramic pipe in order to maintain the structural integrity of the architecture. Each section of ceramic pipe measures roughly 1 metres (3.3 ft) long and between 15 and 20 cm (5.9 and 7.9 in) in diameter.The Central Platform is 7 metres (23 ft) high and measures 200 by. It is topped by a temple pyramid that measures 18 metres (59.1 ft) high, with a stairway ascending the western side.
A plaza in the northern portion of the site core is enclosed by platforms and pyramids. An artificial platform supports a second, 300 metres (984.3 ft)-long, plaza running south to the Los Chatos platform.
The Los Chatos platform measures 200 by and is a massive dual-level platform occupying the southern portion of the site core. Excavations of the platform uncovered a series of 25 floor surfaces laid on top of each other. The investigations uncovered the only complete Teotihuacan-style censer
Censer
Censers are any type of vessels made for burning incense. These vessels vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction. They may consist of simple earthenware bowls or fire pots to intricately carved silver or gold vessels, small table top objects a few centimetres tall to as many as...
ever recovered from a controlled excavation in the entire Pacific Coastal region of Guatemala. The censer has been dated to the period AD 350–400. The censer is of fine quality and contained four rough jade
Jade use in Mesoamerica
Jade use in Mesoamerica was largely influenced by the conceptualization of the material as a rare and valued commodity among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmec, the Maya, and the various groups in the Valley of Mexico. The only source from which the indigenous cultures could...
beads, each measuring about 5 millimetre (0.196850393700787 in) across.
Mound 2 is a 3 metres (9.8 ft)-high mound lying immediately to the west of the Los Chatos platform. It is here that the Teotihuacan-style censer was recovered; it had been deposited in a pit sunk into the centre of the floor. Local looters reported that they extracted a large number of artifacts from caches and burials within the structure.
Mound 3 — lying just south of Mound 2 — consists of the remains of a residential complex containing various rooms.
Within a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi)-radius of the site core, 13 more large platforms have been recorded. Excavations at Montana have revealed evidence of contact with the great metropolis of Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
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...
.
Artifacts recovered from Montana include ceramic vessels and effigy censers that are local copies of Teotihuacan-style artifacts. The presence of these artifacts supports the idea that Teotihuacan colonists were physically present at the site and that they commissioned local artisans to make artifacts for their use.