El Tajin is an important pre-Columbian site in the Gulf Coast of Mexico. It developed between AD 800 and 1200.
Archaeologists had long believed that El Tajín was constructed by the Totonacs, a group that occupied the Gulf Coast of Mexico during the Postclassic period. Although we still don't know who built El Tajín, it seems now that the site has an earlier origin and it represents a good example of the passage from rural to urban society in the Gulf Coast during the Classic and Epiclassic period.
Most archaeologists now agree that El Tajín started as a ceremonial center at the end of the Classic and in the Epiclassic (AD 700-1000) and then it developed as a urban center with the construction of El Tajín Chico, until its decline in the 13th century.
Geographical Setting of El Tajín
El Tajín is located in the northern sector of the Gulf Coast region of Mexico, in north-central Veracruz. The city lies on hills top and slopes near two streams, which provided the population with potable water and fertile alluvial soil.
The site itself is limited at east and west by two chasms and it develops on top of several terraces used for residential purposes.
Architecture and Settlement Layout at El Tajín
El Tajínis divided in two main sectors: El Tajín and El Tajín Chico, which was previously considered a separate site. The largest complexes are the Central Group and the Arroyo Group where most of the monumental architecture is concentrated.
El Tajín has an unusually high number of ball courts, 17. Other important buildings are the famous Pyramid of the Niches, the Temple of the Columns, the Blue Temple, Buildings A, B, and C and the Great Xicalcoluihqui (Great Enclosure), a large wall, decorated with elegant friezes that encloses an area of about 129,000 square feet (12,000 m2) and contains three small ball courts.
Architecture at El Tajín is characterized by a typical style of mosaic decorations visible in the Temple of the Niches, and in other buildings around it. The presence of niches is the other typical element that distinguishes the architecture of El Tajín. The Temple of the Niches counts 365 niches arranged on its six levels and on all four sides. Archaeologists believe that the monument served as mausoleum for one of the most important ruler of the city, King 13 Rabbit.
Social Organization at El Tajín
El Tajín began as a center of agricultural production and later became an important trade center. The Arroyo Group, which has the largest plaza of the site is believed to have been both a gathering and commerce place.
Images from the South and North ball courts as well as from the Temple of the Columns suggest that, as other Mesoamerican sites during the Epiclassic, El Tajín suffered some sort of social instability and a high militarization as shown in the scenes of warfare on the bas-reliefs of the Temple of the Columns.
Religion at El Tajín
Several elements, such as architectural decorations and objects found all over the site suggest to archaeologists that the center of religious activity at El Tajín was concentrated on the cult of Quetzalcoatl, one of the most important god in Central Mexico during the Epiclassic and Postclassic periods.
Symbols such as halved-shells, typical of Quetzalcoatl, have been recorded in several areas of the site.
Decline of El Tajín
Although the last period of El Tajín is characterized by a disorganized building arrangement, probably a sign of social and political disruption, there is no clear sign of a violent collapse at El Tajín. Its decline in the 13th century A.D. seems to coincide with the migration of people from the Central Highland of Mexico toward the coast. However, it is probable that other internal causes played a role in the decline of this important center, such as overpopulation and landscape deterioration.
After the decline of El Tajín, no other centers reached its levels until the development of Cempoala, capital of the Totonac, in the Late Postclassic.
Sources
Burggemann, Jurken, 2001, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 2, Edited by David Carrasco, Oxford University Press.pp: 377-380
Wilkerson, S. Jeffrey K., 1987, El Tajin. A Guide for Visitors, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz.
Adams, Richard E.W., 1991, Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Third Edition, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman