Cacaxtla

The origins of the Olmeca-Xicalanca are not known with certainty, but they are assumed to come from the Gulf coast region, and were perhaps Maya settlers who arrived in this part of central Mexico around 400 CE.

This historian described Cacaxtla as the principal settlement of the “Olmeca”, although what we today refer to as the Olmec culture ended ~400 BCE, that is, almost 800 years earlier.

The first work to be done in the area consisted on clearing the original tunnel opened by the maintenance workers, Archeologist Diana Lopez-Sotomayor, later appointed project manager, recalled her first view of the life-sized characters depicted in the murals as an overwhelming experience.

The centre of the city of Cacaxtla was the 200-metre-long, 25-metre-high Gran Basamento – a natural platform offering a fine defensive position and commanding views over the surrounding terrain.

Because Cacaxtla's main basamento was not excavated until the 1980s, many of the original coloured wall decorations have been preserved and can be appreciated in situ by visitors to the site.

Of particular interest is the fact that most of the murals seem to combine the symbology of Mexican altiplano cultures with influences from the Maya, making Cacaxtla unique in this regard.

It presents a narrative scene nearly 26 meters (80 feet) long about the fearful armed fight between two clearly differentiated ethnic groups.

The winning group has grayish-brown skin, a big nose, and no cranial deformation; they are armed with round shields, obsidian knives, dart launchers (atlatls), and spears.

On a blue background, two characters appear: a jaguar-man who pours water into a Tlaloc pot and a Maya with a snail, from which emerges a little red-haired man—probably representing the sun.

[1] Cacaxtla conserves the oldest mural painting featuring a human figure and symbols from other cultures (Teotihuacan, Maya, Mixtec and Totonac).