El Tajín I

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The Great Pumpkin

Arturo Pascual Soto was one of the first scholars to systematically distinguish the presence of several "workshops" at the site, each with its own particular artistic styling. In his chronology of the art at El Tajín, this colossal pumpkin occurs toward the earliest dating, so this is one of the site's oldest monumental sculptures. It stands at around three feet tall.

El Tajín Site Museum


Nichos Sculpture 4

Now missing the face, this figure represents a priest with a lavishly plumed headdress. In his right hand he holds a tall fan with a ring of plumes, and in the left hand he holds a ritual pouch, very likely of the kind used to carry sacred copal incense in other regions of Mesoamerica.

El Tajín Site Museum


Nichos Sculpture 7

This fragmentary scene appears to be taking place within a ball court, between two parallel structures demarcating the sides of the field. On the left side is a curious figure that might be the dog-headed deity Xolotl, known for his association with the ball game. On the right are two figures, one seated atop the right building and the other standing within the court playing field. Toward the center and on the floor is the ball, with a blurred skull relief, the skull facing a decapitated ball player whose blood spews into serpent streams. The motif is too similar to the reliefs at the ball court at the Maya site of Chichén Itzá to be coincidental.

El Tajín Site Museum


Fish-Men and Xolotl Relief Panel

This horizontal relief was likely the margin to a larger panel. This fragment shows well the swirly, wavy clouds and volutes that Tajín artisans strove for in their expression. It creates a literally lofty effect for the art. What is also interesting about this relief is the combination of human and fish facial elements, to make a bizarre composite that practically runs into the borders of the frame. The dog-headed deity Xolotl appears here, likely to emphasize the transformation between human and animal forms.

El Tajín Site Museum


Carved Pillar

Tajín architecture is elaborately carved with scenes in low-relief of ceremonial or mythical episodes, as if every image were telling a story. Originating in northwestern regions such as La Quemada, columned buildings began to appear across Mexico during the Epi-Classic Period, and Tajín decorated many of its columns with 360-degree narrative scenes, one per column section. This fascinating section features a procession of decorated officials, and the one in center is sharing a scepter with what appears to be a small, virile dog - perhaps recalling the dog-headed Xolotl featured on this page.

El Tajín Site Museum


Stone Hacha and Palm

Tajín architecture and sculpture are heavily focused on mythical aspects of the famous ball game, including a wealth of stone replicas of game equipment. Many ancient Mesoamerican cultures made "hacha" or 'hatchet' sculptures that seem to have marked scoring objects in the ball court. The eagle marker at left features irises carved from shell. At right is a stone replica of a wooden "palm" that hung from a player's waist-cloth. The standing figure holds a mace amidst a background of swirling clouds.

Xalapa Museum of Anthropology


Panel 1

Many of the scenes depicted in Tajín sculpture are apparently mythical or at least feature mythic imagery. In this enigmatic scene a decorated figure climbs the tiered outline of a mountain, upon whose peak sits a mysterious figure with a small animal companion. The radiant tree rising from the peak is likely the World Tree common in Mesoamerican myth, the great tree that links the worlds of the heavens, earth, and underworld. An earth monster with gaping jaws dwells beneath.

Xalapa Museum of Anthropology


Panel 3

The main figure in this relief sculpture is a deity with a prominent volute and ringed goggles around the eye and large upper fangs from the mouth, recalling the rain god Tlaloc. What is noteworthy of this image is how it stands atop a great serpent, which many Mesoamerican myths commonly understood as the earth's surface. It reinforces the spiritual connection between rain and earth.

Xalapa Museum of Anthropology