El Tajin, Pre-Hispanic City

• Official name: El Tajín, Pre-Hispanic City
• Location: Veracruz, Mexico
• Type: Cultural
• Year of inscription: 1992

El Tajín is a pre-Hispanic archeological site located in the Veracruz region of southern Mexico. Named in honor of the Totonac rain god, El Tajín was one of the largest and most culturally significant cities in Classical-era Mesoamerica. The city flourished from 800 to 1200 Common Era (CE). During that time, a variety of temples, palaces, pyramids, and ballcourts were constructed. Chief among the city’s architectural wonders is the Pyramid of the Niches, a towering temple that originally contained precisely 365 separate niches. After El Tajín fell in the early thirteenth century, the city remained unknown to Europeans until the rediscovery of the Pyramid of Niches in 1785. In recognition of its cultural significance and architectural importance, El Tajín was named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site list in 1992.

The heart of El Tajín was spread out over approximately 146 acres (60 hectares) in what is now the northern portion of Veracruz, Mexico. The city was divided into two distinct halves, with the older section in the south and Tajín Chico, the newer section, in the north. The older section of El Tajín was built according to the cardinal compass points. It includes many rectangular platforms and is home to the Pyramid of the Niches. More elevated than the older section of the city, Tajín Chico is built at a sixty-degree angle to its southern counterpart. The architecture in Tajín Chico is typical of the Classic Veracruz style and features many decorative relief carvings. Structures in Tajín Chico also feature concrete slab roofs and other advanced construction techniques.

El Tajín faces a number of human activity-related challenges in regard to its preservation. Emissions from nearby power stations and oil drilling platforms causes acid rain that gradually erodes the carved reliefs on many of the city’s buildings. The popular annual Cumbre Tajín festival held at the site also poses some risk. Although ostensibly a Totonac identity festival, the yearly event is largely a celebration of modern culture and music that often draws more than 100,000 visitors to the area. Such large crowds are seen by some as a threat to the preservation of El Tajín. That being said, the site is protected by the Mexican Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic, and Historical Zones and is overseen by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

History

Considered one of the most significant pre-Hispanic cities of its kind, El Tajín was a major Mesoamerican trade center that flourished roughly between 800 and 1200 CE. The rise of El Tajín was likely tied to the fertile land found in the region, which was particularly well-suited for the cultivation of crops like maize, tobacco, cacao, and vanilla. The city’s emergence was also likely related to the fall of Teotihuacan around 650 CE. Once the largest Mesoamerican city, the eventual collapse of Teotihuacan led to the advent of several small city-states, El Tajín among them.

Surviving evidence suggests that settlement of El Tajín began in the first century. Archeologists have developed differing theories as to who is responsible for the city’s initial construction. While some experts point to the Totonac or the Xapaneca, others believe that the Huastec may have been El Tajín’s original builders. In any event, the city evolved into a large urban complex by about 100 CE and gradually expanded over the course of several distinct building phases that continued up until the twelfth century. El Tajín’s growth was fueled in significant part by its location along trade routes that ran through what is now known as Veracruz.

The most well-known landmark in El Tajín is the Pyramid of the Niches. Built in the eighth century, this remarkable temple structure features 365 symmetrically arranged square niches and has six separate platforms. Standing more than 65 feet tall, each of the pyramid’s sides measure more than 85 feet wide. A long decorative stairway leads to a small structure situated on the top platform. A smaller pyramid is found inside the larger outer pyramid. In terms of its purpose, the Pyramid of the Niches clearly had some relation to the solar year, with each of the 365 niches representing a day. Originally, there were also six platform-altars on the main stairway, with additional niches that represented the eighteen months of the solar calendar.

Another notable feature of El Tajín is the city’s Tajín Chico section. Built during the ninth and tenth centuries, Tajín Chico likely served as a residential area for local aristocrats. The most recently constructed building, a three-level platform structure on the northwest hill, originally featured a six-column colonnade on its eastern façade. The building’s surviving columns depict scenes from the life of 13 Rabbit, El Tajín’s last ruler.

El Tajín is particularly well-known for its ballcourts. There are at least seventeen different ballcourts located around the complex, more than are found in most other contemporary Mesoamerican cities. This suggests that El Tajín may have hosted sporting festivals similar to the Olympics in Ancient Greece. Evidence also shows that the city may have been a repository for rubber used to make the black balls typically used in the classic Mesoamerican ballgame. El Tajín’s south ballcourt is of special note because of its famous relief sculpture depicting human sacrifice and other traditional rituals.

In the early seventh century, El Tajín launched an effort to conquer the smaller settlements in the surrounding area with the aim of dominating the entire region. For a time, this campaign brought the city great wealth and power. El Tajín’s supremacy continued until the city was destroyed by fire sometime in the early thirteenth century. Most historians believe this devastating fire was set by the Chichimeca during an invasion attempt. In the wake of El Tajín’s fall, the Totonac built a small settlement nearby Papantla and left their former city abandoned. Although locals were aware of its existence, the ruins of El Tajín remained hidden from outsiders for hundreds of years until Spanish colonial official Diego Ruiz rediscovered the city in 1875. Although largely consumed by the jungle by that point, extensive archeological excavations undertaken in the twentieth century uncovered a large portion of the once-great city. Since that time, El Tajín has become a popular tourist destination. It was officially designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. Although much of the site has been excavated, in the twenty-first century, some parts remained unexplored.

Significance

El Tajín was designated a World Heritage Site because of its great significance to Mesoamerican archeology. As one of the most well-preserved and extensively excavated pre-Hispanic cities dating back to the Epiclassic and early Post Classic period—an era spanning from the fall of Teotihuacan to the emergence of the Aztec Empire—it offers invaluable insight into Mesoamerican socioeconomic and artistic development during this time. In addition, El Tajín’s distinct and remarkably detailed architecture is unique among other surviving Mesoamerican ruins in the region. For example, the urban layout of El Tajín is based on the shape of the Xicalcoliuhqui, the schematic representation of marine shell cross sections. As a result, the site is especially worthy of official protection.

Sites being considered for designation as UNESCO World Heritage Sites are required to meet at least one of ten established selection criteria. El Tajín met two of those criteria. Criterion iii states that a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site must “bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared.” El Tajín is a critical source of information about Epiclassic and Post Classic Mesoamerica and is considered the most vital remaining example of a city dating to that period on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. El Tajín’s well-preserved art and architecture also make the site historically significant because of the immense amount of information it offers about Mesoamerican society, rituals, and daily life.

Criterion iv states that a proposed site must “be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.” With a layout inspired by the form of the Xicalcoliuhqui and a design that utilizes the various levels of the natural terrain to differentiate access to different areas, El Tajín represents a significant achievement in architecture and building.

El Tajín also meets UNESCO’s conditions for integrity and authenticity. All the monuments and other structures that have so far been uncovered at El Tajín are remarkably well-preserved, as is much of the surrounding landscape. However, there are still some threats to the site’s survival. These are primarily related to development pressure and the impact of the annual Cumbre Tajín festival. In terms of authenticity, the site was undisturbed for five hundred years before archeological investigations began, and only very minor reconstructions or other alterations have taken place since that time.

Bibliography

Cartwright, Mark. “El Tajin.” World History Encyclopedia, 27 Jan. 2015, www.worldhistory.org/El‗Tajin. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“El Tajin, Pre-Hispanic City.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/list/631. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“El Tajín: The Hidden Jewel of Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.” Latin America & Caribbean Geographic, 10 Oct. 2024, lacgeo.com/tajin-pre-hispanic-city-mexico. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“El Tajín.” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/el-tajin. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Experience El Tajin.” Mexperience, www.mexperience.com/travel/pyramids/el-tajin. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Milligan, Mark. “El Tajín.” Heritage Daily, 12 July 2020, www.heritagedaily.com/2020/07/el-tajin/134179. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Minster, Christopher. “The Architecture of El Tajin.” ThoughtCo., 15 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/the-architecture-of-el-tajin-3963694. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Minster, Christopher. “Pyramid of the Niches at El Tajin.” ThoughtCo., 5 Nov. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/el-tajin-pyramid-of-the-niches-3571867. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Roller, Sarah. “El Tajin.” History Hit, 24 Nov. 2020, www.historyhit.com/locations/el-tajin. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.