Los arqueólogos que trabajan en un sitio en el sur de Tamaulipas, México, conocido como El Naranjo, han descubierto tumbas y ruinas del período Clásico de Mesoamérica (250 dC a 900 dC). Los restos incluyen plataformas circulares de piedra, entierros humanos y adornos preciosos que revelan más sobre las tradiciones y prácticas funerarias del pueblo huasteco. Se cree que las grandes plataformas se construyeron para proteger los lugares de descanso eterno de personas importantes, y se cree que los objetos ornamentales encontrados con los restos se crearon con gran cuidado y habilidad. Este último descubrimiento puede revelar más información sobre la historia y el desarrollo de la civilización huasteca a lo largo del tiempo.

The INAH locates a human settlement of more than a millennium in works of the Mante-Ocampo-Tula highway. ( INAH)

While digging at a site in southern Tamaulipas known as El Naranjo, the scientists unearthed tombs and ruins that date back to Mesoamerica’s spectacular Classic period (250 AD to 900 AD). This included a pair of huge circular stone platforms or bases, and more than a dozen human burials, which revealed new details about the funerary practices of the people who lived in ancient times in Tamaulipas’s Huasteca region.

The tombs and ruins found at El Naranjo, which is located in a valley to the east of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains, are believed to have been left behind by the Huastec people. Data obtained from the excavation site has determined that the platforms (or foundations) and tombs date to the latter part of the Classical Era, or to 600 to 900 AD, when the Huastecs were poised to ascend to a cultural peak.

In a press release issued by INAH , Esteban Avalos Beltran, the coordinator of the latest excavations, said that the members of his team were excited and delighted by what they found at El Naranjo. He revealed that the pair of large circular platforms were made from limestone and basalt masonry. The two platforms have been tagged Mound 1 and Mound 4, with the former being 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter and the latter 65 feet (20 meters) in diameter.

Human remains excavated from Mound 4 at the El Naranjo site in northern Mexico. ( INAH)

The platforms were discovered and explored first. Their purpose was apparently to protect the eternal resting places of certain important individuals, as the archaeologists found out when they unearthed human remains inside the foundation interiors.

Inside Mound 4 they unearthed the bones of three adults, who were buried together as a group. Before they were entombed, they were adorned in precisely designed shell and green quartz earrings, some of which were made in the shapes of flowers.

A flower shaped ornament created by carving shell adorns these human remains.  ( INAH)

The other tombs found in the circular foundations were all individual burials. In most instances the deceased were buried sitting up.

An especially remarkable burial was found inside Mound 1. An adult male was encased inside a smaller limestone mound, indicating he must have been a person of great status. This one matched a tomb found at the Tamtoc site south of Tamaulipas in the adjacent state of San Luis Potosi, showing that this funerary practice was not just a localized phenomenon.

The archaeologists used ceramics found at the site of the tombs in El Naranjo to date it to the late Classic Period. They were impressed by the skill displayed by the people who built the huge and impressive stone foundations, and also by the high level of craftsmanship exhibited by the people who carved the shell and quartz ornaments, which were clearly made with great loving care.

A green quartz gemstone in the mouth of one of the deceased. ( INAH)

Digging Down to the Roots of Mexico’s Ancient Huastec Culture

The Mesoamerican Classic period is when many complex and sophisticated societies developed and flourished in what is now Mexico and northern Central America. The latest discovery was made on grounds occupied by the Huastec people , who arrived in the area of southern Tamaulipas sometime between 1,500 and 900 BC, according to experts who’ve analyzed the archaeological record. This distant cousin of the Maya branched out from their original settlements in the far northeastern corner of modern-day Mexico and headed southward, ultimately occupying an expansive area of land down the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and further inland.

Sadly the Huastec people lost their freedom and independence in 1450, when their lands were conquered by the Aztec Empire . Things got even worse just a few decades later, when the Spanish arrived and either killed or enslaved the Huastecs who remained in the area.