Archaeology by Prau123 – Page 113 – Main Forum

An extremely important 1-ton sculpture, sometimes referred to by archaeologists as an “Earth Monster” or Monument 9, was repatriated to Mexico from a private collection in Colorado in May 2023, according to an announcement from Mexico’s Consul General in New York. The monument features the head of a front-facing creature with a gaping mouth: a supernatural being that represented the living, animate earth to an ancient culture in Central America and Mexico.

This sculpture was reportedly found at the base of a hill at Chalcatzingo, an archaeological site some 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Mexico City, and dates to roughly 600 B.C. Chalcatzingo is closely related to Olmec culture, one of the earliest in ancient Mesoamerica.

I am an archaeologist specializing in Mesoamerica: an area that encompassed present-day southern Mexico, parts of Costa Rica and all of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. I have visited Chalcatzingo many times while researching the development of this rich cultural region.

A woman in a bright blue suit and a man in a black suit stand in front of a large poster with a stone statue on it. — Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, left, is shown a photograph of Monument 9 before it was returned to Mexico. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, left, is shown a photograph of Monument 9 before it was returned to Mexico. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Many scholars regard the Olmec as the “mother culture” of ancient Mesoamerica, a civilization where particular types of monumental architecture, sculpture and gods originated. Among the later Maya, for example, the gods of wind, rain and corn – or more precisely, maize – are clearly derived from the earlier Olmec culture.

The Olmec heartland was in what are now the Mexican states of Tabasco and southern Veracruz, along the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Much of their influence was based on economic wealth from corn.

Of Olmec art that has survived the centuries, their carved heads are particularly striking and well known. By 1000 B.C., Olmec sculptors at San Lorenzo, Mexico, had fashioned no fewer than 10 colossal heads, all over 6 feet high. Archaeologists believe these are individualized portraits of rulers, each with their own specific headdress: depictions of specific people, which is quite rare in New World art.

A jade figurine of a head, with eyes that appear to be closing. — A jade head created during the Olmec civilization, now housed at Mexico City’s National Anthropology Museum. DeAgostini/Getty Images

A jade head created during the Olmec civilization, now housed at Mexico City’s National Anthropology Museum. DeAgostini/Getty Images

The Olmecs were also masters in the carving of jade. I was involved in locating the original Olmec and Maya jadeite sources in highland eastern Guatemala, found in stone outcrops often located about 6,000 feet above sea level.

Artisans beginning around 900 B.C. carved life-size jade masks that almost look like molded plastic, but which must have been the result of a laborious process to grind and polish this extremely hard, dense stone.

Sacred system

All Olmec sculpture was created for a purpose, whether it be religious or political. In the case of Monument 9, it clearly pertains to the Earth, which in Mesoamerica was considered a sacred, living being.

The Olmecs existed at a time when maize agriculture had first developed, which stabilized and increased their economy – a transformative shift in the development of Mesoamerican civilization.

During this period, they developed an elaborate religious system that emphasized the sacredness of corn and rain, including a maize god. Quite frequently, this deity is depicted with an ear of corn emerging out of the center of his cleft head. In other cases, the head is sharply turned back, invoking growing corn. This form appears in Teopantecuantitlán, an archaeological site in highland Mexico, where there is a masonry court with four images of the Olmec maize god.

As a tall grass, corn needs a great deal of water to survive the summer, making rain all-important. Trying to please the rain god in return for rain was a vital part of Olmec religion.

A grey cup with a figure etched onto it, set against a dark background. — A cup showing the Olmec maize god as growing corn. Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

A cup showing the Olmec maize god as growing corn. Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

The Olmec spread similar practices and beliefs across ancient Mexico and Guatemala, probably in part to engage other peoples more directly with their economic trade network. Rather than an empire of domination, the Olmec were a culture focused on agricultural abundance and wealth.

Sacred mountains were of extreme importance as well, as can be seen at Chalcatzingo and at a hill called Cerro El Manatí, located very close to the site at San Lorenzo. At this hill, there is a perennial spring with sweet freshwater that fills a pool below at the base. In this pool, the Olmec offered a huge amount of valued material, including rubber balls for ritual sport, as well as many jadeite axes. According to two scholars of Mesoamerica, Ponciano Ortiz and María del Carmen Rodríguez, this is the first clear example of a sacred mountain of abundance, which persists in Mesoamerican belief and ritual to this day.

Earth Monster’s home

Far to the west of the Olmec heartland, in the Mexican state of Morelos, is Cerro Chalcatzingo, the site where the Earth Monster monument originated. Here, the Olmec focus on the mountain as a provider of wealth and sustenance, portrayed in several sculptures as a cave.

Even before Olmec times, the idea of fertile caves was shown as a four-lobed motif resembling a flower – an important symbol that continued even into the 16th century with the Aztec.

The most famous Olmec bedrock carving at Chalcatzingo is called Monument 1 and features a woman in profile – probably a goddess – seated within the cave. This carving is directly above where rainwater pours down from the top of the mountain. Below are what archaeologists call “cupules”: cuplike holes carved in bedrock directly below to receive this water, and collected by priests and pilgrims. On the opposite side of the hill is another rock carving featuring the same cave in profile, facing Monument 1.

A low stone pyramid-like structure set against a craggy hill and blue sky. — An Olmec structure at the archaeological site in Chalcatzingo. Ihiroalfonso/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

An Olmec structure at the archaeological site in Chalcatzingo. Ihiroalfonso/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Sadly, Monument 9, which was recently returned to Mexico, was looted from the site, so its original context is unknown. In archaeology, it is important to understand not only when an object was made and who created it, but where it was placed. Nonetheless, Monument 9 portrays the same cave as two other sculptures at the site, which are carved directly into the rock surface of the mountain.

Monument 9 is significant, as it denotes the central Earth Monster cave, and unlike the other two Olmec carvings, it is face-on rather than rendered in profile. It probably was placed against a mound with its open mouth leading to a chamber inside, symbolizing a portal to the underworld.

That this highly sacred object is back in Mexico is of utmost importance for Indigenous Mexicans. To its creators, Monument 9 likely represented the source of life and abundance, as well as sacred rituals associated with them – ideas and practices that pervaded subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations.

Ojos del Salado

While its surface area is puny by comparison, covering around 100 meters (328 feet) in diameter, Ojos del Salado sits 6,390 meters (20,965 feet) above sea level – that’s almost eight times the height of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The area surrounding the lake makes up part of a vast volcanic structure in the High Andes that is also home to the world’s highest volcano.

Reaching heights of 6,879 meters (22,569 feet) in places, the dormant Ojos del Salado volcano was active during the Pleistocene and Holocene when lava flow created mounds and depressions, some of which eventually filled with water and formed lakes.

Lake Titicaca

While the famous Lake Titicaca is knocked off the top spot as the highest elevated, it is still an impressive and complex geological feature that is also home to many native communities. Stretching for a distance of 190 kilometers (129 miles), the lake receives water from more than 25 rivers, with two-fifths of the entire basin coming from one single river: the Ramis.

With a depth between 140 and 180 meters (460 and 600 feet), the lake is also home to 41 individual islands, some of which are densely populated. Roughly 4,000 people inhabit these islands, with the Uro tribe, who predate the Incan civilization, having preserved much of their traditional way of life.

The largest of the lake’s islands is Isla del Sol which stretches across 14.3 square kilometers (5.5 square miles). Taking its name from the Temple of the Sun, believed to be where the founders of the Inca dynasty were sent by the sun god, the island is home to many ancient structures including the two-story, 15- by 13-meter (50- by 43-foot) Inca’s Palace.

Uros floating island near Puno city, Peru

The Uros islands floating in Lake Titicaca.

Image credit: saiko3p / Shutterstock.com

Other impressively high lakes

The majority of these elevated lakes are formed from volcano craters and sit in the Himalayas in Asia and in South America, home to two of the world’s tallest mountain ranges. Along with Lake Titicaca and Ojos del Salado, South America is also home to Chile’s Lake Licancabur. The world’s ninth-highest lake, Lake Licancabur possesses high levels of ultra-radiation that creates an environment similar to the surface of Mars.

Chile’s second-highest lake, at an altitude of 6,206 meters (20,361 feet), sits atop the Nevado de Tres Cruces volcano which last erupted 28,000 years ago. The area is famous for its scuba diving expeditions deep into the lake’s waters.

The Himalayas' highest lake was once found a few miles north of Mount Everest at an elevation of 6,368 meters (20,892 feet). Recent satellite imagery suggests, however, that what was once the second-highest lake in the world has now dried up and is considered extinct.

Despite their extreme conditions, many of the world’s highest lakes, including Ojos del Salado, are popular tourist destinations, with local communities encouraging hiking and sightseeing. It is, however, always important to seek advice from experienced local guides and be aware of the different features’ geological quirks.

An archaeological research expedition has uncovered evidence of a legendary subterranean labyrinth under the ruins of Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico, believed by the ancient Zapotecs to be an entrance to the underworld they called Lyobaa.

In 1674, a priest named Francisco de Burgoa published his account of visiting the ruins of the Zapotec city of Mitla in what is now Oaxaca in southern Mexico. He described a vast underground temple with four interconnected chambers, the last of which featured a stone door leading into a deep cavern. The Zapotec believed this to be the entrance to the underworld known as Lyobaa ("place of rest"). Burgoa claimed that Spanish missionaries who explored the ruins sealed all entrances to the temple, and local lore has long held that the entrance lies under the main altar of a Catholic church built over the ruins.

An international team of archaeologists recently announced that they found evidence for this fabled underground labyrinth under the ruins—right where the legends said it should be—after conducting scans of the site using ground penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and seismic noise tomography (SNT). The team also found evidence of an earlier construction stage of a palace located in another part of the site.

Mitla is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Oaxaca Valley. It was an important religious center, serving as a sacred burial site—hence its name, which derives from Mictlan ("place of the dead" or "underworld"). The unique structures at Mitla feature impressively intricate mosaics and geometric designs on all the tombs, panels, friezes, and walls, made with small polished stone pieces fitted together without using mortar.

Title page of Father Burgoa’s <em>Geographica Descripción </em>(1674). — Enlarge / Title page of Father Burgoa’s *Geographica Descripción* (1674).

ARX Project

Spanish soldiers and Christian missionaries began arriving in the valley in the 1520s, and several mentioned the ruins of Mitla in their accounts. Naturally, they interpreted the underground temple as a site for an "evil spirit" and its "demoniacal servants." Burgoa's writing is the most descriptive, detailing how the Zapotec high priest used the palace of the living and the dead. He marveled at the mosaics and skilled construction of the site. And he specifically mentioned four chambers above the ground and four chambers below the ground.

Per Burgoa, the first underground chamber served as a chapel; the second was where the high priests were buried; the third was where the kings were buried, along with their luxurious worldly goods; and the fourth featured a door at the rear which purportedly led to "a dark and gruesome room." A stone slab covered the entrance. "Through this door they threw the bodies of the victims of the great lords and chieftains who had fallen in battle," Burgoa wrote. It seems that certain "zealous prelates" decided to explore the underground structures, carrying lighted torches and using ropes as guides to ensure they didn't get lost. They encountered "putrefaction," foul odors, and "poisonous reptiles," among other horrors.

Once back above ground, the explorers walled up what they considered to be a "back door to hell." An archbishop ordered Mitla destroyed in 1553, and the stone blocks and other rubble were used to build various Spanish Catholic churches, most notably the Church of San Pablo, built right on top of part of the ruins. Several modern explorers subsequently found their way to the ruins at Mitla between 1834 and 1960. Various small underground chambers were discovered during those and later excavations, but nothing that matched Bergoa's description of a vast labyrinthine network of large connected chambers. Still, the legend persisted.

Archaeologists Uncovered Mythical Labyrinth Under Ancient Church

Artist’s rendering of a labyrinth

Evidence of an underground maze beneath the ancient ruins of Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico, has been unearthed by archaeologists. Previously thought to be a legend, this labyrinth is believed to be the gateway to the Zapotec underworld, Lyobaa, or “place of rest.” The ancient people of Zapotec considered it to be a sacred place.

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Archaeology [Sticky] Archaeology by Prau123

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Maya civilizations are household names – but it’s the Olmecs who are the ‘mother culture’ of ancient Mesoamerica

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Earth Monster’s home

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The most elevated lake is almost double the height of Lake Titicaca.

Ojos del Salado

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Other impressively high lakes

Archaeologists may have found ruins of fabled entrance to Zapotec underworld

Spanish missionaries deemed Lyobaa to be a "back door to hell" and sealed all entrances.

Archaeologists Uncovered Mythical Labyrinth Under Ancient Church

Archaeology [Sticky] Archaeology by Prau123

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Don’t let yourself be misled. Understand issues with help from experts Elaborate art

Sacred system

Earth Monster’s home

Ojos del Salado

Lake Titicaca

Other impressively high lakes