La Quemada is an important site of the Chalchihuites culture in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Northwest Mexico. Its main development spanned between AD 600 and 900.
Interest in this northern site arose since the Spanish Colonial era, but systematic investigations began only in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Mexican archaeologist Pedro Armillas excavated some areas within the monumental core of the site. Armillas research, however, did not provide conclusive data about its chronology and cultural connections.
More recently, archaeologist Ben Nelson, working with a team of archaeologists from Mexico and the US, has provided a new picture for the rise and decline of this settlement on the far north of the Mesoamerica frontier.
Origins of La Quemada
La Quemada was probably founded at around AD 500 as one of the many farming villages of the Chalchihuites culture of Northwest Mexico.
La Quemada Apogee
By AD 600 La Quemada became a major ceremonial and political center, and massive construction began. The monumental center is surrounded by a fortified wall which encloses the main buildings such as the Votive Pyramid, and the Hall of the Columns. Terraces with minor ceremonial and residential structures arranged around patios lie around the monumental core. The finding of several middens (trash deposits) suggested that here was where members of the elite lived.
An interesting feature of La Quemada that supports its central position within a regional network is a system of roads that connect La Quemada with subsidiary villages in the Malpaso valley.
Special constructions such as tzompantli (skull racks) and chac mool (human-like statues sitting on their back and holding a bowl on their chest) have led archaeologists to suggest that external conflicts along with the need to obtain captive to sacrifice was a big concern for people at La Quemada.
Decline
By AD 800 La Quemada began to decline as a regional center. The settlement was reduced to its monumental core and a defensive wall, one of the main characteristics of the site, was constructed during this time. By AD 900-1000 LA Quemada was abandoned, and only sporadic visits by local people seem to have occurred after this date. Furthermore, evidence of fire have been found in several areas of the site suggesting a violent end for La Quemada and its inhabitants. We don’t know how its inhabitants called it, but its current name, La Quemada, means “the burnt (city)”.
Interpretations
For a long time La Quemada was considered an outpost of the Toltecs, Aztecs/Mexica, or even the Teotihuacan empire, functioning as a node in the trading network between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. In this view, the existence of this peripheral center was dependent on the ebb and flows of other Mesoamerican groups, while the local population had little to do with its developments. Recently, however, archaeologists favor an historical reconstruction in which autonomous development, within the Chalchihuites culture, played a major role.
Sources
Jimenez, Peter, 2001, La Quemada, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 2, Edited by david Carrasco, Oxford University Press.pp: 103-204
Nelson, Ben, 1997, Chronology and Stratigraphy at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico, Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 24 n.1, pp: 85-109