| Tecuexe – Purépecha – Archaeological Site | ||
| Name: | El Opeño archaeological site | |
| Type | Archaeology | |
| Location | Jacona, Michoacán Mexico |
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| Region | Mesoamérica (México) | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Culture | Chichimeca – Tecuexe – P'urhépecha | |
| Language | Uto-Aztecan language – P'urhépecha language | |
| Chronology | 1300 – 200 BCE | |
| Period | Preclassical | |
| Apogee | ||
| INAH Web Page | Non existent | |
El Opeño is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Jacona, in the Michoacan state, México. It is home to a prehispanic site, mainly known from the ceramic material found in the funerary complexes of the site, which have been dated to the late preclassical mesoamerican period. The importance of this site in mesoamerican archaeology is due to its antiquity and the ample diffusion of its style, contemporary to other native culture developments such as the Capacha culture and earlier of the Chupicuaro. El Opeño tombs are the oldest in Mesoamerica. Have been dated to around 1600 BCE, hence they predate de Olmec culture development, with main centers in the Gulf of Mexico coast and flourished some centuries later.
El Opeño discoveries became a milestone that questions the Olmec culture, as the founders or precursors of all mesoamerican cultures.[1]
At the same time, the lack of validated information becomes evident, as well as the need of serious studies of Cem Ānáhuac history, name of the territories known to the Mexica civilization before the Mexico spaniards invasion and conquest.
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It is not clear if the name El Opeño, has some meaning or what is the original name of this site.
In relation to the name of the city it is located, Jacona or Xucunan, there are several versions.
According to the municipalities’ encyclopedia of, Jacona is a chichimeca origin word which means "place of vegetables". Another meaning comes from Xucunan, "place of flowers and vegetables".[2]
Another version notes that Jacona (Xucunan) is a word from the Tecuexe, one of the Great Chichimeca civilization, whose language is Uto-Aztecan languages.[3]
In relation to this site inhabitants or their culture, there is no clear information, available text mentions several cultures, among other the Chichimeca, a subgroup of the chichimecas, the Tecuexe, Purépecha[4] and another contemporary culture, the Capacha culture.
What is apparently clear, is that regardless of assigned name by scientists and scholars, the broad ancient Mexico region or Cem Anahuac, had many cultures and subcultures scattered in time and space, it is very likely that all had a common origin, the Nahuatl language and its derivations, and the many found similar archaeological evidence could corroborate this, regardless of the assigned name.
Cem Anahuac is a composed náhuatl name, consisting of the words "cem" (totally) and "Ānáhuac", in turn a composed word from "atl" (water) and "nahuac", a location prefix that means "surrounded ". The name can then literally be translated as "land completely surrounded by water ", or "[the] whole of [what is] beside the waters". The expression refers to the conscious continental territory that the Aztec knew, surrounded by two large oceans, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans[5]
The ancient inhabitants of the highlands plateau in central Mexico - "Cem Ānáhuac", used the term "ānahuacah" to refer to the "Cem Ānáhuac" inhabitants. And to distinguish the different Nations inhabiting the greater Cem Anahuac referred to them as 'maya ānahuacah', 'ānahuacah zapotecah', 'anahuacah mexicah' and so on.[5]
The P'urhépecha, normally spelled Purépecha in Spanish and in English and sometimes referred to as Tarascans, are an indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of the Mexican state of Michoacán, principally in the area of the cities of Uruapan and Pátzcuaro. There is an ongoing discussion about which term should be considered as the correct one.[6]
It is believed that the Tecuexe derived from the dispersion of Zacateco groups from La Quemada. Like the Zacatecos, the Tecuexe were a tribe belonging to the Chichimeca nation. It is known that they settled next to rivers which they used to their advantage to grow beans and corn. They were also expert artisans, carpenters and musicians. Toribio de Benavente Motolinia wrote "in any place… all know to work a stone, to make a house simple, to twist a cord and a rope, and the other subtle offices that do not require instruments or much art." The Tecuexe were known for their fierceness and cruelty towards their enemy. They were known to be so brave, it is said, that once, when the Mexica (Aztecs) came from Chicomostoc, Zacatecas to take control of Xolotl, (and course on to the lagoon where they found an eagle devouring a serpent) they attacked the settlers of Acatic, Teocaltiche, Mitic, Teocaltitán and Xalostotitlán, but in Tepatitlán, when they encountered the Tecuexe, having heard of their legendary cruelty, the Mexica avoided facing them.
Capacha is an archaeological complex of Colima, the west of Mesoamerica. The Capacha Culture was the first with complex traits that developed in the region, approximately between the years 2000 and 1200 BC. It was studied and discovered by Elizabeth Trusdell-Kelly, American archaeologist who made excavations in the area of Colima in the year 1939. The similarities between the pieces of this Culture and contemporary ceramics Ecuador region indicate that there were some very early relationship between west of Mesoamerica and the Andean Cultures.
Capacha was contemporary to other important Mesoamerica cultural developments such as El Opeño, Michoacán, and the first Tlatilco phase, in the Mexico Valley. The geographical extent of the Capacha pottery covers the entire coast of the Pacific Ocean, between the Mexican States of Sinaloa, in the North, and Guerrero, in the South. Especially important are the burials uncovered by Gordon f. Ekholm in Guasave, Sinaloa.
Archaeological evidence found in this site, correspond to the Preclassical horizon (1300 -200 BCE), settlements evidence in this area. Jacona is one of the oldest towns of Michoacán and one of the first settlements dominated and tributary of the tarascan kingdom.[2]
The current Jacona city (originally Xacona, derivated from Xucunan) was founded in 1555 by Augustinian Friars, Jacona, placing it at about 16 kilometres from the old pre-Hispanic town which was called then "Pueblo Viejo " or "Jacona Vieja"[2]
Xacona was established in a chichimeca (tecuexe) region, bordering the purépecha Kingdom (incorrectly called "tarascan"). This explains why other neighboring places have Purépecha names. The main hill facing Jacona, for example, is called Curutarán.[2]
Curutarán is a purépecha word, formed by the words: "ku", put together; "rhu", projection, tip; "tarha" play ball; and "an" gods. It means: "Point where the gods come together to play ball". This ball game was not a common game, but the "celestial ball game".[2]
El Opeño consists of a funeral complex that is usually included in the Shaft tomb tradition, that spread throughout much of the west of Mesoamerica, on the territory of the current states of Jalisco Colima, Nayarit and Michoacán.[7] Burials at El Opeño, as in all where shaft burial materials have been found, are distinguished by their exceptional quality within the Mesoamerica framework. No other Mesoamerican people built this type of tradition of funerary monuments before their flourishing or after their decline. These are vertical tombs (or nearly vertical) excavated in the Tepetate or Tuff which is part of the subsoil of the region. Access to the underground burial chambers had different means, for example in Nayarit, it is common for tombs to have a very deep shaft, although in El Opeño had ladders.[8]
In El Opeño twelve tombs were discovered, all of which show signs of architectural planning in the funerary complex. Also, the complex as a whole is organized into an overall plan.[8]
These tombs can be considered the oldest antecedent of shaft tombs, which include this site archaeological material. The site architecture, as mentioned earlier, has very particular characteristics that were not included in the later necropolis of Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit. The funeral architecture with similar or divergent characteristics was practiced by the peoples who lived in a wide continental region and at different times, in prehispanic times. This region extends from western Mesoamerica down to northern Peru, along the Pacific Ocean coast.[8]
The geographical continuity and chronology of these practices requires deeper analysis to better understand the links between these peoples.[9]
Neither remains nor evidence of the builders of the tombs have been found around the site. Hence they have been represented as a people who was in the transition towards agricultural sedentary, that characterized mesoamerican urban societies of the Mid-Preclassical. However, analysis of archaeological materials, both human bone remains and offerings, found in the tombs, indicates that the tomb builders were members of a clearly sedentary people with a high social stratification as reflected in the differences of the offering goods.