Guerrero's Archaeological

Guerrero’s Archaeological Patrimony and Cultural Potential Gerardo Gutiérrez* l e i t n o M e i s l E y b s o t o h P Teopantecuanitlan Cuetlajuchitlan iven a random combination of factors including difficult topography, a lack Gof paved highways and certain social strife, until very recently, archaeological re - search in Guerrero was minimal. Despite the efforts of a dozen or so Mexican and foreign archaeologists who fought day to day to sal - vage and disseminate the state’s rich archaeo - logical patrimony, the lack of exploration is evi - Xochipala dent. This turns the archaeology of Guerrero into a big black box: all kinds of unproven idea s fit. Thus, the cultures that inhabited Guerrero Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán and Nayarit have have been classified as peripheral, marginal, non - begun to leave Guerrero out of this regional urban, pre-state, etc. But, actually, the state’s classification because they consider it different archaeological remains show patterns of de - from what is called the West. Unfortunately, velopment similar to the rest of Mesoamerica important museums continue to promote this and in the same time period, which means the y idea: for example, the National Anthropology are not backward, or marginal or peripheral. Museum’s Room of Western Cultures exhibits In 1948, the Mexican Anthropological So - an important collection of archaeological ob - ciety classified the state of Guerrero as part of jects from Guerrero, together with shaft tombs the cultural region called the Mexican West. from the states of Colima and Jalisco, and cave Although this erroneous notion can still be art from the northern state of Baja California! found in the literature, specialists working in This arrangement would not be particularly pro b - lematic if it were not for the fact that Gue - rrero’s archaeological material shows evidence * Archaeologist and ethno-historian. Researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Social Anthro po - of autonomous development and a close rela - logy ( CIESAS ). tionship with the traditions of Central Mexico 70 and Oaxaca, that is, two of the most important a cursory description of their geographical-eco - cultural nuclei of Mesoamerica. lo gical context. The state today is roughly al - Guerrero has no archaeological site open to mond-shaped, with a long east-west axis and a the public comparable to Chichén-Itzá or Monte short north-south one. In general terms we can Albán not because the state has no monumen - say there are three parallel strips on the east- tal archaeological zones, but because they have west axis: each strip represents a unique eco - not been explored or opened to the public. Thus, logical area that gives the state special charac - the wealth of Guerrero must be evaluated based teristics. Travelers can observe these strips or on its potential, which is vast. Just as an exam - ecological floors when they move along the ple, we can mention some of the sites that have Mexico-Acapulco highway: once they have left been excavated and that interested travelers behind the Morelos Valley, they begin a con - may visit. I will also mention some sites that, tinual descent until they arrive at the bottom of although they have not been explored, may be the Balsas River depression, one of the coun - visited thanks to their proximity to highways and try’s most important hydrological basins where urban areas and to their having basic tourist the tumultuous river runs. The Balsas depres - services. sion has a very hot, dry climate, where rain is scarce and the only permanent source of mois - ture is the river itself. Its vegetation is a low THE ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT deciduous jungle, with an abundance of short trees and cacti adapted to the arid terrain. When We cannot understand the development of the traveler crosses the river, he/she can see pre-Hispanic Guerrero cultures without at least that a gradual ascent begins. This leads to the Teopantecuanitlan is the most important pre-classical site found until now in Guerrero. 71 peaks of the Southern Sierra Madre, the second THE ARCHAIC PERIOD (8000-1800 B.C.) ecological strip, characterized by a temperate to cold climate, with a predominance of holm oak It is still not possible to establish when the first and pine forests. The terrain here is both precip - settlers came to the state. But we can estimate itous and beautiful, with enormous mountains that bands of hunters and gatherers had estab - and crags crisscrossed by deep ravines. Conti nuing lished temporary camps in the region before on his/her way, the traveler will begin to descend agriculture and ceramics production were intro - again until he/she arrives at the warm, sunny Pa - duced, 4,000 years before Christ. Cave art, togeth - cific coast, traditionally divided between the Costa er with triangular flint projectile tips, found in Chica (“Little Coast”), from Acapulco to the south - ancient camps in the Huamuxtitlan Valley, pro - east, and the Costa Grande (“Big Coast”), from vide information about these cultures. Perhaps Acapulco to the northwest. The vegetation along the most impressive example of ancient art in the the coast is that of a medium, sub-evergreen jun - state is found at Piedra Pinta, Totomixtlahuaca, gle, but it has been almost completely cut back an archaeological site located in a rock forma tion to make way for large pastures for cattle grazing. on the south side of the Omitlán River, which These strips or ecological floors display an enor - has more than 100 geometric designs carved in mous diversity of animal and vegetable life, use - the rock. None of these designs have stylistic ful to Man, which is why from very early times parallels with later Mesoamerican iconography. trade among their inhabitants played a primor dial Near Totomix tla huaca is the Cueva del Diablo role for Guerrero’s cultural development. (Devil’s Cave) in Ocoapa, which amazingly pre - Cuetlajuchitlan testifies to the high degree of urbanization Guerrero’s pre-classical cultures achieved. 72 Xochipala’s architecture is characterized by decorative “screws” and the false Mayan vault. serves pre-ceramic cave painting with designs si m - Miguel Amuco, another stone slab also carved in ilar to those of Piedra Pinta. What is interesting the Olmec style can be seen. The Cuetlaju chitlan about this cave is that over the first drawings, archaeological site is an example of a society that new figures are painted in the pre-Hispanic Ol - existed toward the end of the pre-classical peri - mec style. This would seem to indicate that Olmec od. The Highway of the Sun (from Mexico to customs wer e imposing themselves on local art Acapulco) passes underneath it, near the Morelos in Guerrero. Pass check-point. Cuetlaju chitlan is a very well preserved site which testifies to the high degree of urbanization the Guerrero cultures achieved PRE -C LASSICAL PERIOD (1800 B.C.- A.D.300) in the pre-classical period, mainly because of the existence of an incipient rectangular pattern in Many portable objects and mural paintings, plus their streets. monumental architecture with styles similar to During this period, powerful, wealthy politi - Olmec remains from the Gulf of Mexico Coast, cal entities developed in the region’s main val - the Tehuantepec Isthmus and the Chiapas and leys: the Balsas Chilpancingo Basin; Muchitlan, Gua temala Pacific Coast, have been found in Tlapa and Huamuxtitlan. Similar political enti - Guerrero. Baby-faced figurines have been found ties emerged along the foot of the southern slope in Chilpancingo and Tlapa, and a jade plaque of the Southern Sierra Madre mountain range, depicting a man with Olmec features was found on the Small and the Large Coasts. We can infer in Olinalá. Pre-classical clay figures can also be that these early political entities formed their seen at the local museum in Azoyú. Magnificent economic niches as intermediaries in the system pre-classical cave art is found in the Juxtlahuaca, of exchange of goods between the Pacific Coast Oxtotitlan caves and, of course, in the Cueva del and Central Mexico. Diablo in Ocoapa. Teopantecuanitlan is the most important pre- classical site found until now in Guerrero; it shares THE CLASSICAL AND EPICLASSICAL PERIODS many stylistic traits with sites in Central Mexico (A.D. 300- 1100) and the Morelos Valley, like Chalcat zingo. Teo - pantecuanitlan confirms that Guerrero societies Teotihuacan-style objects, plentiful throughout reached a level of complexity that anthropolo - the state, can be used as chronological markers. gists call a chiefdom by the year 1000 B.C. In San The Malinaltepec mask is perhaps the most beau - 73 tiful Teotihuacan object found in Guerrero. For THE POST -C LASSICAL PERIOD (A.D. 1100-1522) this period, there is also iconography in monu - mental sculpture, like that at Piedra Labrada, This period is represented by the reemergence of Ometepec, Yu kivi, Metlatonoc, Texmelincan and political entities that managed to concentrate Huitzapula, the last two situated in the munici - power and reorganize the area politically. The exis - pality of Atliztac. Teotihuacan incense burners tence of metal-working and two kinds of ceram - have also been found at several sites in the Tlapa ics used for exchange, Yestla-Naranjo and Azte - Valley, particularly in Contlalco and Mezcala. ca III, are used as chronological markers for the In addition to classical-period pieces, several post-classical period. stone sculptures seem to mark the transition to The end of this period is characterized by the the epiclassical period ( A.D. 700-1000) linked domination and incorporation of local lords into to the iconography of Xochicalco and even Tula. the Aztec Empire. A large number of pictorial doc - This is the case of some slabs in Texmelincan.

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