Tamtoc, Tamtok or Tamohí (Téenek for "place of the water clouds") is an archaeological site of the Huastec culture, located in the municipality of Tamuín in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, in what is known today as the Huasteca region. Since 2000 it has been improved and recovered by a team of professionals, with the archaeologist Estela Martínez Mora in charge of the studies at the site.
Originally it was estimated that the flowering of this site took place between AD 900 and 1100, that is, during the Mesoamerican Postclassic Period, however recent findings - particularly Monument 32 - have led archaeologists to think that the flowering could have occurred in 600 BC during the Preclassic.
With an area of about 210 hectares, Tamtoc was one of the most important Huastecan urban centers of the last pre-Hispanic period due to its dimensions and characteristics. Its development lasted a few centuries before the Spanish arrived, until its sudden abandonment in the 16th century. It is located on the northeast bank of the Tampaón River, part of the Pánuco River system.
One of the characteristics that distinguishes Tamtoc is the remarkable feminine presence. To date, 90% of the burials discovered have been women. In addition, women are depicted in most of the clay and ceramic figurines found here and are thought to have held a high rank in the social divisions of the community.
The area has been known since the late 1800s to have pre-Columbian vestiges. It was explored in the late 1930s by Joaquín Meade, and with greater intensity in the 1960s and was finally opened to the public on May 11, 2006 by the then-governor of San Luis Potosí, Marcelo de los Santos Fraga.
Geography
The ancient city of Tamtoc settled on the Tamuín plain, in the meander of the Tampaón River. The geographical environment favored the production and collection of food that ensured the subsistence of numerous settlements settled around it. The Tampaón River, an important source of food, was the axis of merchandise exchange and social interaction with other regions.
The people of Tamtoc hunted and collected various products in the nearby mountain ranges. The Sierra de Tanchipa was also a sandstone quarry that served the artists as raw material to carve sculptures of rulers, priestesses and various public stelae that showed relevant events, memory of social and symbolic order. From the Cerro del Murcielago, green stone or tinguaíta was extracted that was transformed into corporal ornaments and utilitarian objects.
The plains and mountains that make up the landscape of Tamtoc were the scene of its historical evolution, guaranteed its economic sustenance and played a relevant role in the ritual and ideological aspect; Highlights in the topographic relief were indicators of astronomical phenomena and important references that influenced the design of the city itself.
History
Local history
Tamtoc is considered the pre-Hispanic capital of the Huasteca for its regional, military and commercial importance. Until now, at least three periods of occupation have been identified: the oldest occurred around 600 BC, which corresponds to the time of the emergence of the city. The second occupation took place between 600 AD and 900 AD, it is distinguished by the arrival of a cultural trend without antecedents in the region that was in charge of redesigning the urban aspect of Tamtoc, strongly marking the regional leadership of the city. The last period happened between 900 and 1350 AD, it was characterized by an important population increase and an intense constructive activity that accounts for an increasingly powerful and complex society. At the end of this period, for reasons still unknown, the site lost regional hegemony and was abandoned.
Temporality
Tamtoc flourished in a very ancient time. While the Priestess was being carved, in Greece they were in the Peloponnese Wars, Rome did not exist, the Olmecs were at their peak, Egypt was in its late period, Babylon had already been abandoned and the Incas had not yet reached Peru.
Archaeological Site
More than seventy structures have been discovered at the archaeological site, which have been recorded on drawings and maps. In the perimeter open to visitors there are thirty of them. There is a central square that probably functioned as a civic or administrative center, built in the last moments of the city. The main structures with:
East Structure or El Tizate, which has an altitude of 36 m.
East Structure or Paso Bayo, has an altitude of 21 m, and is considered a religious structure.
The Corcovado, a circular structure, considered a commercial and political point.