El Tajín

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"Tajin" redirects here. For the Mexican seasoning containing chili peppers, lime, and salt,
see Tajín (seasoning). For the village in Iran, see Tajin, Iran. For dish, see Tajine.

El Tajín

Location within Mesoamerica

Location Veracruz, Mexico

Region Veracruz
Coordinates 20°26′53.01″N97°22′41.67″W

History

Periods Early Classic to Late Postclassic

Cultures Classic Veracruz

Site notes

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Official name El Tajin, Pre-Hispanic City

Criteria Cultural: iii, iv

Reference 631

Inscription 1992 (16th Session)

Area 240 ha
El Tajín in the context of other Classic era sites

El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and

most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture,
El Tajín flourished from 600 to 1200 C.E. and during this time numerous temples,
palaces, ballcourts, and pyramids were built.[1] From the time the city fell, in 1230, to 1785, no
European seems to have known of its existence, until a government inspector chanced upon
the Pyramid of the Niches.[2]
El Tajín was named a World Heritage site in 1992, due to its cultural importance and its
architecture.[3] This architecture includes the use of decorative niches and cement in forms
unknown in the rest of Mesoamerica.[4] Its best-known monument is the Pyramid of the Niches,
but other important monuments include the Arroyo Group, the North and South Ballcourts and
the palaces of Tajín Chico.[5]In total there have been 20 ballcourts discovered at this site, (the
last 3 being discovered in March 2013). [6] Since the 1970s, El Tajin has been the most
important archeological site in Veracruz for tourists,[7] attracting 386,406 visitors in 2017.[8]
It is also the site of the annual Cumbre Tajin Festival, which occurs each March featuring
indigenous and foreign cultural events as well as concerts by popular musicians. [9]

Location[edit]
The site is located in Mexico in the highlands of the municipality of Papantla in modern-
day Veracruz, not far from the city of Poza Rica, which lies northwest of the port and city
of Veracruz. The city is set in the low rolling mountains that lead from the Sierra Madre
Oriental to the Gulf coast near the Tecolutla River.[10] In ancient times, this city was located in
the northeast corner of what is called Mesoamerica, [11] and controlled an area from between
the Cazones and Tecolutla Rivers to the modern state of Puebla.[12] The main city is defined by
two streams which merge to form the Tlahuanapa Arroyo, a tributary of the Tecolutla River.
[11]
 These two streams provided the population’s potable water. Most of the buildings are at the
southern end, where the land is relatively flat and the two streams converge. The site extends
to the northwest where terraces where constructed to place more buildings, mostly for the city’s
elite. However the city also had communities located on the hills east and west of the main city,
with mostly lower-class dwellings.[10]Total site extends for 1,056 hectares (4.08 sq mi).[13]
The area is rainforest, with a hot wet climate of the Senegal type. Average temperature for the
year is 35 °C with hurricanes possible from June to October. It is also affected by a weather
phenomenon called “nortes.” These are cold fronts with winds that come from the north and
down the Tamaulipas and Veracruz coasts.[13] The site has no major settlements located next to
it. Surrounding it are tobacco fields, banana plantations, apiaries and vanilla groves. The
closest settlement of any real size is Papantla. [5]

History of the city

Chronology studies at Tajín and nearby sites show that the area has been occupied at least
since 5600 B.C. and show how nomadic hunters and gatherers eventually became sedentary
farmers, building more complex societies prior to the rise of the city of El Tajin. [15] The pace of
this societal progression became more rapid with the rise of the neighboring Olmec civilization
around 1150 B.C., although the Olmecs were never here in great numbers. [16] It is unclear who
built the city. Some argue in favor of the Totonacs and the Xapaneca; however, there is a
significant amount of evidence that the area was populated by the Huastec at the time the
settlement was founded. In the 1st century CE[15][17]Monumental construction started soon after
and by 600 CE, El Tajín was a city.[5][18] The rapid rise of Tajin was due to its strategic position
along the old Mesoamerican trade routes. It controlled the flow of commodities, both exports
such as vanilla and imports from other locations in what is now Mexico and Central America.
From the early centuries, objects from Teotihuacan are abundant.[18]
From 600 to 1200 C.E., El Tajín was a prosperous city that eventually controlled much of what
is now modern Veracruz state. The city-state was highly centralized, [1] with the city itself having
more than fifty ethnicities living there. [19] Most of the population lived in the hills surrounding the
main city,[12] and the city obtained most of its foodstuffs from
the Tecolutla, Nautla and Cazones areas. These fields not only produced staples such as corn
and beans but luxury items such as cacao. One of the panels at the Pyramid of the Niches
shows a ceremony being held at a cacao tree.[1] The religion was based on the movements of
the planets, the stars and the Sun and Moon, [13] with the Mesoamerican
ballgame and pulque having extremely important parts. This led to the building of many
pyramids with temples and seventeen ballcourts, more than any other Mesoamerican site.
[5]
 The city began to have extensive influence starting around this time, [11] which can be best
seen at the neighboring site of Yohualichan, whose buildings show the kinds of niches that
define El Tajin.[10] Evidence of the city’s influence can be seen along the Veracruz Gulf coast to
the Maya region and into the high plateau of central Mexico.[3]
At the end of the Classic period, El Tajín survived the widespread social collapse, migrations
and destructions that forced the abandonment of many population centers at the end of this
period.[11] El Tajín reached its peak after the fall of Teotihuacan, and conserved many cultural
traits inherited from that civilization. [3][18] It reached its apogee in the Epi-Classic (900-1100 C.E.)
before suffering destruction and the encroachment of the jungle. [11]
El Tajín prospered until the early years of the 13th century, when it was destroyed by fire,
presumably started by an invading force believed to be the Chichimecas.[6] The Totonacs
established the nearby settlement of Papantla after the fall of El Tajín. El Tajín was left to the
jungle and remained covered and silent for over 500 years.[20] While the city had been
completely covered by jungle from its demise until the 19th century, it is unlikely that
knowledge of the place was completely lost to the native peoples. Archeological evidence
shows that a village existed here at the time the Spanish arrived and the area has always been
considered sacred by the Totonacs. However, there are no records by any Europeans about
the place prior to the late 18th century.[2]