El Teúl is a site atop of an isolated hill in the state of Zacatecas, Western Mexico, near the modern town of Teul de Gonzales Ortega.
The archaeological zone of Cerro de El Teúl covers an area of approximately 1 square kilometer and lies about 2000 above the sea level on the southern side of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The access is difficult and for this reason, all over its history it was an easily defensible site.
Artefacts recovered suggest that the site was probably occupied since the Preclassic period, at least by the 200 BC. During the Classic period, the site was probably contemporaneous with other important centers of Western Mexico and Northwest Mexico such as La Quemada and Alta Vista. However the main occupation of El Teúl occurred in the Postclassic period, when the site was an important ceremonial center of the Coxcan culture.
Site Layout
The site is built of masonry architecture which includes two pyramids, a circular altar, an I-shaped ball court, several platforms and sunken patios, as well as box and shaft tombs, a tradition typical of Western Mexico. The ball court has been only partially explored, but it seems that there were at lesat two construction phases, in the Epiclassic and Early Postclassic.
In November 2010, during the excavations carried out for the upcoming opening of the site to the public in 2012, archaeologists discovered a stone sculpture of a decapitated ball player. The cylindrical statue is almost two meters high and was located at the eastern corner of the ball court: it dates to the Early Postclassic phase. Archaeologists suppose that it was intentionally made without the head and that possibly the head of a sacrificed captive was placed at its top after a game.
Tombs
Shaft tombs are a burial typology typical of Western Mexico. They date to the Late Preclassic period and are constituted by deep and narrow pits with at its bottom a larger funerary chamber. Seven of these shaft tombs have been discovered at El Teúl. Burial offerings in the shaft tombs included hollow figurines, local and imported obsidian artefacts, shell beads and green stones as well as Teotihuacan style pottery and metal objects, especially copper and bronze artefacts.
within the sunken patio, archaeologists encountered several burials, where people were buried in a flexed position within stone boxes and accompanied by offerings. These burials date to AD 500/600, and marked a change in burial patterns from the earlier shaft tombs. Archaeologists believe that this change from shaft to box burials indicates an abandonment of cultural connections with Western Mexico, and the beginning of cultural connections with Central Mexico.
Metalworking at El Taúl
Metalworking developed in Mesoamerica only in the Postclassic period and namely from Western Mexico. Metal technology was probably introduced from South America and metal was mainly used to produce sumptuary and ritual objects.
During the summer of 2010 at El Taúl, archaeologists found the remains of an oven probably used to melt copper. The oven was deep and built with stone walls, and evidence suggests that the inhabitants of El Taúl used maize cobs as fuel.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Mesoamerica , and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Evans, Toby Susan and David Webster (eds.), 2001, Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and central America: An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing Inc., New York. Pp: 741-742
Ramirez, Gustavo, November 12, 2010, Red Mexicana de Arqueologia, El Teul Zac.: Descubre escultura de jugador de pelota, website: http://remarq.ning.com/xn/detail/3961257:Note:55307 (accessed on May 30, 2011)