The Urbanization of Tula

Osvaldo J. Sterpone* Juan Carlos Equihua Manrique**

he ancient Toltec capital, Tula, dence of how human beings trans - century expanded to 16 square kilo - grew in complexity and size from formed the landscape is to be found in meters. 2 Tthe ninth to around the thir - the vicinity of where the Rosas and Excavations undertaken during the teenth century. Urbanization began at Tula Rivers meet, in the southwestern 1997 National Institute of Anthro - Magoni Hill, continued across the Tula part of the state of Hidalgo. pology and History ( INAH ) mainte - River toward Tula Chi co and culminat - Due to their size and monumental nance program in Tula Grande record - ed with the colonization of Tula architecture, two sites are regarded as ed a sequence of strata that pose some Grande. New re search shows that these key in the formation of urban Tula. The questions on explanations previously transformations were never orderly and first was a 4-square-kilometer settle - offered to account for Tula’s growth. By lineal. This article uses stratigraphic ment founded in the seventh century analyzing the sequence of deposits of research, the examination of the layers A.D., located near the west bank of the two important buildings located on the of material found in archeological digs, Tula River and the piedmont and top of northern side of Tula Grande’s main done at Tula Grande to examine the Magoni Hill. The second, a 5- to 6- plaza, Building B or the Tlahuiz cal- city’s history. square kilometer settlement, was locat - pan tecutli Pyramid and Building 3, Tula’s urban development began ed straight across the river, on the east or the Quemado Palace, this article after the decline of Teotihuacan. 1 Evi - side, at Tula Chico, and its construc - will discuss an archaeological tradit ion tion begun in the eighth century A.D. that holds that Tula’s urban devel op - * Research archaeologist for the National Ins - Tula Chico was abandoned in the ment spread from a hilltop from west titute of Anthropology and History in the tenth century and a new civic and cer - to east. state of Hidalgo. emonial complex was built at El Tesoro But first, it is important to understand ** Assistant research archaeologist. Hill, also known as Tula Grande. At the origin of the arguments used in the Photos reprinted courtesy of the state of Hidalgo Ministry of Tourism. Reproduction authorized by the National Institute that time the urban area covered 13 opening statements of this paper. There - of Anthropology and History, Conaculta -INAH -MEX . square kilometers and by the eleventh fore I will try to outline how archaeo -

76 History

logical research has contributed to the was done to enlarge the east side plat - chimec migrants from the north. His explanation of Tula’s development. form where Building 1 or the Quet zal - excavation reports are am biguous about We owe most of what it is currently cóatl Palace was erected. The west the correlations between stratigraphic known about Tula Grande to Jorge R. platform was leveled off to make way and ceramic analysis, such as the rela - Acosta, 3 who unearthed and restored for the construction of Buil ding 3 or tionship between the Coyotlatelco or the main buildings located at El Tesoro Quemado Palace. The Coate pantli, a Tula-Mazapa ceramic complexes and Hill. Acosta developed a stratigraphic wall surrounding the north and east the description of the three periods of sequence for Tula Grande based on the sides of the Tlahuiz calpan tecutli Pyra - architectural development of Building excavations of Buildings B, C and 3. mid, was also constructed at this time. B. After reviewing stratigraphic events He describes three main stages of con - Using ceramic sherds found at sev - and ceramic des criptions, the reader is struction for Building B. The first eral excavation sites in Tula Grande, left to analyze both sets of data to reach stage, during Period I, started with the Acost a concludes that they represent his or her own conclusions about how erection of a five-tiered rectangular two different cultural stages; the black- they relate to each other. plat form that had two adjoining low on-orange complex corresponding to that In the 1980s, the study of ceramics platforms to the east and west. During of Tula’s invaders, the Chi chi mecs, and as an indicator of urban development this period, the building was covered the Tula-Mazapa complex, corre s pon d - and cultural change in Tula was under - with smooth rectangular slabs of vol - ing to the city’s builders. Sherds from taken by the INAH and the University of canic rock. By Period II the building the Coyotlatelco complex are group ed Missouri Tula Archaeological Project. had been resurfaced with carved slabs in the early stages of Tula’s development. Dr. Robert Cobean’s analysis produced and the adjoining platforms had been Acosta was interested in ceramics only a comprehensive ceramic classification en larged. During Period III the build - insofar as they would provide archae - to place sherd types in chronological ing facias were resurfaced again using ological confirmation of ethnohistorical order. 4 He describes four ceramic com - smooth slabs, and extensive adobe work accounts of Tula’s destruction by Chi - plexes for Tula:

TULA

Sixty-five kilometers north of Mexico nomadic tribes from the north, the Chi - their military and economic influence, City in the state of Hidalgo is the arche - chimecs. The Toltecs’ is the oldest docu - the Toltecs also spread this belief. Cen- ological site of what was one of ancient mented empire in the northeastern part turies later, then, the Mexicas, or Aztecs, Mexico’s most important cities, Tula. of Mesoamerica. still believed the legend, and their lead - Although as this article argues, construc - One of Mesoamerica’s most wide - ers considered that the conquis tador Her - tion dates back as early as the seventh or spread religious beliefs, the legend of the nán Cortés might be his des cendent eighth centuries, migrants from central cultural hero, the supposedly white- coming to fulfil the prophesy. Mexico, the Toltecs, probably made it skinned and bearded Quetzalcóatl, cen - The Tula archeological site of today their capital in the tenth century A.D. and ters around Tula. Although the stories includes what was the main ceremonial it eventually grew to between 30,000 vary depending on where they are told, center, with remains of magnificent pa l - and 40,000 inhabitants, covering nearly the broad outline is that he ruled in Tula aces, painted with brightly colored fres - 16 square kilometers. From there, their until being tricked into committing incest coes, ball courts and several pyramids. influence spread throughout Meso ame r - with his sister and fleeing in shame to (Source: Yolotl González Torres, Dic cio- ica, including parts of the Maya areas to the West, where, after swearing to return, nario de la mitología y religión de Meso - the south, until the city was destroyed by he threw himself onto a bonfire. Like américa (Mexico City: Larousse, 1999).

77 Voices of Mexico • 52

1.- El Coatepantli 2.- Building B 3.- Building 3, Quemado Palace 4.- Ball Court 2 5.- Building C 6.- Tzompantli 7.- Main Altar 8.- Ball Court 1 9.- Northern Vestibule 10.- Northern Plazoleta

The remains of Tula’s main pyramid in the city’s ceremonial plaza. Tula Grande’s main buildings.

Prado phase complex Acosta’s description of Building B strati - impluvia in its center that would have A.D. 700-800 gr aphy, was not taken into considera tion been under a hole in the roof, or com - Corral phase complex to explain its urban development. The pluvium, that would have allowed light A.D. 800-900 1997 Archaeological Main tenance into the building. 7 Six small rooms were Terminal Corral phase complex Prog ram provided evidence to evaluate built adjacent to the north wall; then A.D. 900-950 Acos ta’s work and the outline of Tula’s the halls and rooms were en closed on the Tollan phase complex chronological development. Archaeo lo - north, west and south by three elongated A.D. 950-1150/1200 gical stratigraphic excava tions 5 were narrow colonnaded rooms or vestibules. conducted in Building 3 and the North The drainage systems of Halls 1, 2 Thus, field research carried out on a Plazoleta to repair the drainage system and 3 were explored by stratigraphic ex - regional scale and in the vicinity of the located in the sunken patios of Rooms cavation. Halls 1 and 2 drain north and confluence of the Tula and Rosas Rivers 1, 2 and 3. excavations were conducted from the allowed them to define settlement sizes Building 3, known as the Quemado impluvia to a main drainage collector; and composition from A.D. 700 until Palace, was constructed by the Toltecs room 3’s impluvium drains west. The A.D. 1150/1200, over 300 years of cultur - during Period III , at the same time as entire system was cleaned and the final al transformations that led to the con - the Coatepantli and the Quetzalcóatl section rebuilt. The drainage system was struction of the legendary city. Palace, a colonnade that Acosta discov - originally built using square slabs of vol - Acosta’s work at Tula Grande dis - ered on top of the adobe platform to canic rock, the same material used to covered Corral phase ceramics. INAH and the east of Pyramid B. 6 The Quemado face Building B and bench decorative University of Missouri field surveys in Palace rests atop a large platform that reliefs, to form a square conduit to drain this locality did not find traces of land - encloses the northern side of the main rain water collected in the impluvia. scape transformations related to that plaza of Tula Grande. It is rectangular, During the excavation process sev - phase, however. Therefore, Tula Gran - subdivided into three large rooms or halls, eral stratigraphic units and feature in - de’s archaeological evidence, in cluding each of which has a sunken patio or terfaces were found and their deposi -

78 History

Period I Period II Period III

Acosta’s three-period stratigraphic secuence. tional order are a record of events that 4. Under the stone floor was a hori - been looted and that the system used predate Acosta’s periods of architectur - zontal feature interface of a white stuc - during Building-3 times had been in al development described for Building coed, slanted 86 cm talus wall that runs operation since the construction of the B’s west side. The depositional sequen ce north-south. This talus lies on a basalt first building lying underneath it. was found to be more complex than stone wall. Acosta’s descriptions account for. After removing the strata of surfaces in use THE VESTIBULE today archeologists found: ENTRANCE CORRIDOR AND THE NORTHERN PLAZOLETA TO TULA GRANDE ’S MAIN PLAZA 1. Two large excavations were conduct - BUILDING 3, H ALL 1 The corridor entrance located between ed on the Northern Vestibule and one Buildings B and 3 was explored. Exca - on the Northern Plazoleta. Most inter - 1. A 1.1-meter wide horizontal feature vations revealed a stuccoed floor paving esting were the deposits found during interface adobe wall running east-west the way, facing the east side of Building explorations within the Northern Ves - the whole width of the interior, parallel 3’s wall, and a horizontal feature inter - tibule on the northern side of Hall 2. to and 1.31 meter from the northern face of a basalt stone wall located off the Here we found a 3.50-meter talus and bench and wall of Hall 1. This wall center of the corridor that runs north- cornice platform with two levels. Its fa - formed the northern limit of a building south the whole length of Building B. cade was built with small basalt stones erected before Building 3. Evidence Acosta’s 1956 archaeological report 8 and finished with a thin layer of lime shows that it is divided in two, with an describes an adobe wall here forming plaster. This platform was covered by a inner enclosed room to the south and the outer facade of Building B. The reticular system of basalt wall founda - an outer open space to the north. wall collapsed after a heavy rain storm tion and fill, for the architectural devel - 2. Two superimposed stucco floors and the whole facade decorated with opment of the Vestibule and Northern on either side of the adobe wall, repre - horizontal vermeil lines on red, blue, Plazoleta. The facade’s plaster finish senting the original construction and at yellow ocher, pink ocher, white and showed signs of not having received prop - least one remodeling of the building black bands was lost. er maintenance before being buried. prior to Building 3. The stucco floor on 2. At the Northern Plazoleta, 15 the northern side was severely damaged meters to the north of this last explo - by water from the roof. This represents BUILDING 3, H ALL 2 ration, excavations revealed a 6.60- a time when the building received no meter-deep stratigraphic sequence before maintenance and was abandoned. Excavations conducted in Hall 2’s reaching the hardpan. Two types of stra - 3. After removing an adobe under- Building 3 uncovered two stucco floors ta were found: vertical strata of chalk flooring layer in the center part of Hall similar to the ones found in Hall 1. In adobes laid to form the reticular wall 2’s impluvium, a pink-orange, stuccoed exploring the drains we found that foundation of the Nort hern Pla z oleta, volcanic rock slab floor was found. large sections of the drain canal had and six stuccoed floors that paved dif -

79 Voices of Mexico • 52

co. Tula Grande was remodeled but not definitively abandoned as was Tula Chico. A great deal of construction began after the two-level Corral platform was aban - doned, and ceramics still being analyzed show that this major development oc - curred during the Terminal Co rral phase. The construction under Building 3 and the bas-reliefs and smooth stones facing Building B belong to that same period interface. Research is still being carried out at Tula, and we will have to evaluate our findings based on new stratigraphic data.

NOTES Tula’s famous atlantes, statue-columns almost 5-meters high. ferent stages of use of the open area Building 3 and the adobe fa cade that 1 Richard A. Diehl “Tollan y la caída de Teoti - be tween Building 3 and ball court once covered most of Building B, togeth - huacan,” El auge y la caída del Clásico en el México central , Joseph B. Mountjoy, Donald L. number 1. er with the adjoining adobe platform to Brockington, eds. (Mexico City: UNAM , 1987), Preliminary analysis of sherds recov - the east and Building 1 on its summit pp. 129-143. ered in this location identified attrib - belong to the same period interface. 2 Alba Guadalupe Mastache F. and Robert H. utes from Prado A.D. 700 to Tollan A.D. The three superimposed facades under Cobean, “Tula,” Mesoamérica y el centro de 1150-1200 ceramic types. 9 the adobe deposits of Building B were México, una antología , Jesús Monjarás-Ruiz and Emma Pérez Rocha, comps. (Mexico City: Several conclusions can be drawn never in view during Building 3’s exis - INAH , 1985), pp. 273-307. from the archaeological evidence pre - tence. They belonged to the same peri - sented above. The most obvious is that od interface as the construction under 3 Jorge R. Acosta, Archaeological Report from 1940 to 1964 Field Season (México: Archivo del further research needs to be done in Building 3, and the ceramic types are Consejo de Arqueología- INAH , inédito). and around Tula to evaluate its urban and related to the Late Corral phase. cultural development. 3. We have tentatively placed the 4 Robert H. Cobean, La cerámica de Tula, Hi - So far our research has shown that: construction of the two-level platform dalgo , Colección Científica del INAH , no. 215 (Mexico City: INAH , 1990). 1. Strata and interfaces found during under the Northern Vestibule during the 1997 fieldwork season in Tula the Early Corral phase. Ball court num - 5 Edward Harris, Principles of Archaeological Grande showed a continuous process of ber 1 was also constructed at this time. Stratigraphy (London: Academic Press, 1992). building and remodeling from the Corral The fifth stuccoed floor found in North - 6 Jorge R. Acosta, op. cit. 1947-48, pp. 6-8. phases and perhaps earlier, with at least ern Plazoleta correlates with the plaza one major episode of the abandonment floor that extends north of the Co rral 7 Blanca Luz Paredes Gudiño, Unidades habita - of the urban area or its deliberately being platform. The remains of an adobe build - cionales en Tula, Hidalgo , Colección Científica given no maintenance. This was the case ing and another stuccoed floor are still del INAH , no. 210 (Mexico City: INAH , 1990). for the construction under Building 3 under this. We have not been able to 8 ”Interpretación de algunos de los datos and the two-stepped platforms located determine the date of their deposition. obtenidos en Tula relativos a la época tolteca,” under the Northern Vestibule. Contrary to common belief about Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos 14, second part (Mexico City), 1956-1967, 2. Acosta’s interpretation of Buildings’ Tula’s urban development, we found that pp. 75-110. B and 3 stratigraphy is not very accu rate. large civic buildings were in use at Tula According to the stratigraphic record, Grande at the same time as in Tula Chi - 9 Cobean, op. cit.

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