El Tajín II - On Location at the Site

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Pyramid of the Niches

Although Tajín is a Totonac word for "lightning," that this epi-Classic/early Post-Classic site pre-dated the Totonac arrival into the region. The site's major occupation took place probably between 800 and 1200 CE. While Tajín was a distinct civilization and culture, the city features an impressive number of stylistic similarities to the great city of Teotihuacan. This monumental building, the Pyramid of the Niches, is the most famous structure of El Tajín, and it does seem to have some Teotihuacan influence. What is especially interesting of this great building is the number of niches it may have originally possessed, almost certainly 365, like the days of the year.

El Tajín


Plaza del Arroyo Structure

The Plaza del Arroyo is named for the stream flowing near this low-set part of the site. It stands almost separately from the great ceremonial center, toward the southern periphery of the main site. The structures are also stylistically more simple than the more elaborately constructed and decorated edifices in the ceremonial center. This four-building complex may have had a distinct ritual significance, or it may have even framed a rectangular market plaza. The structure here is from the west side of the plaza.

El Tajín


Tajín Deity B

While the Tajín deities are in most cases very similar to other Mesoamerican deities like the Rain and Wind Gods, El Tajín does have certain figures that are rather unique. The figure here is from the upper margin to one of the panels in the southern major ballcourt. It appears to be comprised of two human figures fused together at the face to produce one composite face looking toward us. Based on the distended mouthpiece, this could be a particular aspect of the Wind God, or its fusion of two human figures might imply something of the Tajín concept of the First Duality.

El Tajín


North Ball Court

El Tajín apparently had a special passion for the ball game or its symbolic significances. If we may include other pairs of low-set parallel structures, there are at least 17 "ballcourts" at this site, though many of them are far too short to actually play in. Instead, their significance as portals to the spiritual realms may have been more intended for some of the smaller fields, including this rather squat court, one of the two major courts of the ceremonial center.

El Tajín


Northeast Panel of the North Court

El Tajín's artistic style is often characterized by the long, swirly cloud volutes that fill much of the border space. Both the North and South ballcourts have elaborate reliefs carved at major points of each interior wall - one at each corner and in the center, so that each of these two courts has six major relief panels total. Sara Ladrón de Guevara has pointed out some of the correspondences in the arrangement of these panels between the two major courts. I like this relief from the North court. The sitting human is gazing upward and to his right, and before him is a pair of winding serpents, twisting around each other like a caduceus.

El Tajín


Southwest Panel of the South Court

The South court's reliefs are richly elaborate and leaking with iconography. The rather complex scene here involves an eagle with spread wings over a human lying on his back, perhaps as a sacrifice because of his folded and crossed arms. On both sides stand a ritual performer, each one holding a musical instrument. The eagle has been interpreted as a solar figure in this case, or it might be the spirit of the sacrifice rising from the body, similar to the Aztec beliefs about the souls of sacrifices become eagles.

El Tajín


South Central Panel of the South Court

This enigmatic scene is one of the most famous relief carvings from Tajín. The central structure in this South ballcourt panel appears to be a bath house, and a small figure with a fish headdress sits in its waters. The person at right is drawing blood from his genitals, and the blood droplets are spraying toward the figure in the bath. Directly above the roofed structure is another human figure, holding a sigmoid staff that might represent a bolt of lightning. A number of plants rise from the left side of the bath house. Also notice the paired crescent volutes toward the left; these "reptile eyes" are a very common element in Tajín iconography.

El Tajín


Death Deity

The death deity's head faces in right profile. It is emerging from a pot set in a watery field, and streams of smoke seem to be rising along with the skeletal body from the pot. It also seems to have a fine headdress of feathers or leaves. Several of these death figures appear at the peripheries of the major panel scenes at the ballcourt, perhaps as spirits invoked to preside over the rituals described in the panel scenes.

El Tajín


Tajín Chico Structure C

Set off by an elevated mound and restrictive access, Tajín Chico was a district peripheral to the main ceremonial center. This area likely housed some of the city's elite, given its seclusive distance from the rest of the site. The geometric designs on the structures in Tajín Chico are almost exclusive to these buildings when compared to the rest of the site. What you can see on the sides of this building, Tajín Chico Structure C, are the grecated spirals known in Nahuatl as xicalcoliuhqui, an element common to many Mesoamerican styles.

El Tajín


The Tajín God Plaza

One of the best panoramas of the ancient site comes from standing upon the small platform in the center of the Tajín God Plaza. Several of the city's most important buildings surround this plaza. I start this camera sweep facing east. To the northeast are a pair of twin temples: remnants of surviving paint indicate that one was originally red and the other blue, as if together they represented an aspect of the cosmic Duality. (The Yaqui of Sonora decorate in red and blue for similar purposes.)
At west is Building 15, distinct for its two prominent, flaring shrines atop. At the base of its stairs is a standing sculpture representing the god Tajín, overlooking the plaza. To the south of the temple's platform is the famous South Ball Court, described above. Another important ball court is immediately south from the plaza itself, and it has the iconic capital "I" layout familiar in Mesoamerica.

El Tajín