La Quemada

The archeological zone of La Quemada is located 56 kilometers to the south of the city of Zacatecas, on Federal Highway 70 Zacatecas-Guadalajara, Mexico.

Description of the archeological zone

La Quemada is composed of numerous platforms of masonry of different dimensions which are terraced into the hill and functioned as foundations for the higher structures. On the south and southeast sides of this elevation are found a high concentration of buildings of a ceremonial nature, several of which are complexes of sunken-yard and altar-pyramid platforms, a typical Mesoamerican architectural attribute.

On the west side there are multiple platforms or terraces that, in appearance, correspond to residential structures more than ceremonial ones. All the architectural elements of La Quemada are constructed with slabs of rheolite, extracted from the hill that is observed towards the northeast of the Votive Pyramid.

To join the slabs, a mortar composed of clay and vegetable fiber was used that with the passage of time erodes, which causes deterioration of the walls. To this masonry were applied several layers of mud and a polished whitewash; today only small sections of the original finish are observed.

The studies carried out until now make it possible to determine that the monumental whole that is preserved was constructed in different epochs. We know that in the core of masonry of the archeological zone there exist previous buildings, covered by the padding of subsequent constructive stages.

If one considers the totality of the elements, from the extensive roads and the numerous smaller rooms joined by them to La Quemada, this is a singular archeological zone in the mosaic of Mesoamerican sites.

History

Given the distance between La Quemada and the center of Mesoamerica, this archeological zone has been the object of different interpretations on the part of historians and archeologists, who have attempted to associate it with different cultures.

It is supposed that this place could be the legendary Chicomostoc, a Caxcan site, a Teotihuacán enclave, a Tarascan center, a bastion against Chichimeca intruders, a Toltec trading post, or simply the product of an independent development and capital of all the indigenous groups established to the north of the Río Grande de Santiago.

In 1615, Brother Juan de Torquemada identified La Quemada with one of the places visited by the Aztecs during their migration to the basin of Mexico, where they left old people and children. Francisco Javier Clavijero, in 1780, associated this place with Chicomostoc, where the Aztecs stayed for nine years during their voyage to Anahuac. This speculation gave way to the popular tradition that identifies La Quemada with the mythical place called "The Seven Caves". The archeological works carried out in this zone since the 1980s determined that La Quemada developed between 300 and 1200 AD (the Classical and Early Postclassical periods) and that it was contemporaneous with the Chalchihuites culture, characterized since the first centuries of our era by an intense mining activity. La Quemada, Las Ventanas, El Ixtepete, several major settlements in the Heights of Jalisco, and the northern center of Guanajuato would have formed a net of exchange linked to Teotihuacán (350-700 AD), that extended from the north of Zacatecas to the basin of Mexico.

It is possible that the established links to the Teotihuacán people were made with the elite locals of the ceremonial centers of the mentioned net, or through the alliance of several local intermediaries, or because small groups of Teotihuacán merchants, living in these centers, were those who insured the flow of the diverse resources and products, like minerals, salt, shells, quills, obsidian, and peyote, among others.

Between 700 and 1100 AD, La Quemada had not yet participated in this net, but as the dominant place of exchange at the regional level, it began to compete with other neighboring sites. It was during this time that the site acquired a defensive character, evidence of which is the construction, on the north flank of the place, of a wall approximately four meters in height by four meters in breadth, as well as the termination of two flights of steps inside the same monument with the intention of restricting the circulation.

By the traces of fire that have been found in several parts of the site, a violent decline of the settlement is inferred. It is this apparent destruction by fire which gives the site its name of "la (ciudad) quemada", "the burnt city".

References

* Originally translated from the corresponding Spanish-language Wikipedia article, La Quemada.
* Jímenez, Peter. Miniguía de La Quemada. INAH. México.