Epi-Classic Cultural Dynamics in the Mezquital Valley

Septentrional Sphere

Since the late ’80s, Peter Jiménez correlated a series of archaeological features and materials common to an extended area in northeastern Mesoamerica, redefining the "Septentrional Sphere" first proposed by Charles Kelley (1974) (Jiménez, 1989; 1992; 2001; Jiménez and Darling, 1992; 2000). In his own words: "The presence of this sphere is significant, as it articulates the Chalchihuites area with other neighboring areas and with the Lerma-Santiago corridor" (Jiménez, 1989:9).

The overlapping of this sphere with regions to the south has been inferred at least since the Early Classic (Jiménez, 1989:36), when a connection already existed between the incised postfire and the red on bay types from Chalchihuites, Juchipila, Malpaso and Guanajuato (Braniff, 1972; Jiménez, 1989:10-11; 1995:40; Jiménez and Darling, 2000:160). Such ceramic connection continued for several centuries, and was clearly observed through the Epi-Classic, involving several other regions.

According to Jiménez, towards the late Classic and during the Epi-Classic (ca. A.D. 650-850), the articulation of human groups inhabiting the central and southern portion of the modern State of Zacatecas, the Highlands/Atemajac Valley in Jalisco and northern Guanajuato was evident, among other things, due to the generalized distribution of several diagnostic materials such as the pseudo-cloisonné pottery (Kelley, 1974; Jiménez, 1989:20, 35; 1995:56; Jiménez and Darling, 1992:14; 2000:164, 175), and the Figurine Type I (Jiménez, 1989:14-16, 35; 1995:47, 56; Jiménez and Darling, 1992:14; 2000:165-166, 175).⁹³  The sites where these elements are present, the architectural scheme of the plaza-altar-pyramid complex, and the locally manufactured wares that show coincidences with one another and suggest a generic relationship, integrate the Septentrional Sphere (Jiménez, 1989; 1992; 1995; Jiménez and Darling, 1992; 2000) (Figure 20).

Jiménez and Darling (2000) have outlined two subspheres in the southern portion of the Septentrional Sphere Highlands/Juchipila and Valle de San Luis Polychrome (Jiménez and Darling, ibid., fig. 10, 13) (Figure 20), the latter one characterized by the homonymous ceramic.

The Valle de San Luis Polychrome type is a diagnostic of Tunal Grande during its San Luis phase (ca. A.D. 600-900) (Crespo, 1976:37-38; Braniff, 1992:17-18), while its distribution involves mainly Aguascalientes, the southeastern edge of Zacatecas, northeastern Jalisco (Los Altos), northern Guanajuato and southern San Luis Potosí (Crespo, 1976:37-38; Brown, 1985:224; Braniff, 1992:17-18, 69; Crespo, 1998:329), though it is of an intrusive nature in the Malpaso Valley (Jiménez and Darling, 2000:164, 180, note 13), the Río Verde Basin, central Guanajuato and southwestern Querétaro (Braniff, 1992:17-18, 69; Crespo, 1991b:192, 1998:329). In the territory of Hidalgo, there are no sherds that we know of.⁹⁴

This diagnostic type is usually found jointly with Raised White, resist-decorated vessels and occasionally with Cloisonné (Brown, 1985:224; Braniff, 2000:40). The presence of Raised White in El Tunal, together with the intrusion of Valle de San Luis Polychrome in sites from central Guanajuato and southwestern Querétaro, confirms the overlap of the Bajío Sphere with the Septentrional Sphere, but moreover, it insinuates the connection of both eastwards, with the Huastecan territory (Jiménez, 2001:6).⁹⁵

In a recent work, Beatriz Braniff refers to a clear cultural frontier that separated El Tunal Grande and El Bajío from the northeastern territories, including the Sierra Gorda from Querétaro, the valley of the Río Verde in San Luis Potosí, and the sierras of Tamaulipas (2000:36). It is true that the regions we have just mentioned show greater affinities with the Gulf Coast (Michelet, 1989:185; Herrera and Quiroz, 1991), but there are also elements that link them with the Septentrional Sphere and the Bajío Sphere. It is remarkable, for instance, the occurrence of Zaquil Black in sites from El Tunal (Braniff, 1972:276; 1992:17; Crespo, 1976:56; Jiménez, 2001:6) and San Diego Fine Orange (Crespo, idem), ceramics that are diagnostic of Period IV in the region of Pánuco (Ekholm). Like Crespo specified: "Both types are from the Late Classic, and represent the tradition developed in the Potosinian Plateau, based on ceramic patterns from the Gulf basin" (idem). Consistent with this, some Valle de San Juan sherds have been recovered in Buena Vista Huaxcamá (Braniff, 1972:276; 1992:17) and in Río Verde, during its Phase B (A.D. 700-900) (Michelet, 1984 in Crespo, 1998:329). Pipes present both in Río Verde and Villa de Reyes show similarities, and Braniff notes that some clay and stone pipes from San Luis Potosí resemble those of the Caddo region. Precisely, the connection with this area of the American Southeast has been detected via northern Tamaulipas and the Huasteca (Porter, ibid.:192, 227; Du Solier et al., ibid.:26-29; Armillas, 1999 [1964]:34). The connection between Tunal Grande and Río Verde has already been outlined (Braniff, 1992:43-44; Michelet, 1995:218, note 48), as also the bonds between this latter region and the Huasteca (Ochoa, [1979] 1984:33).⁹⁶  From Southwest Querétaro, there is a report of a fragment of a "clay sculpture from the Gulf", with a presumed provenience from El Cerrito (Crespo, 1991b:192, fig. 13), a site that also has led to the recovery of "Black Incised Postfire pottery from Río Verde" (Crespo, idem). Zaquil Black has even been found in El Mezquital (Fournier, 1995, chart 9).⁹⁷

As to the Valle de San Luis subsphere, Beatriz Braniff considers that the closest links between southern San Luis Potosí and the Bajío were held with the west (Braniff, 2000:36, 41). As an example of this, she outlines that some ceramic types recovered in Villa de Reyes are reminiscent of the Chametla Early Polychrome from Sinaloa, that the figurines are also similar to those of the west coast, and that at La Gloria and Peralta, Guanajuato, there are some architectural features from a Teuchitlán tradition (Braniff, ibid.:40-41). This association may have taken place via the Highlands-Juchipila subsphere, which in its eastern edge overlaps with the Valle de San Luis subsphere (Figure 20), and whose connections with the west have been widely explored (Jiménez and Darling, 2000:167-171, fig. 10-13). Maybe this is the reason why a form so typical of the orange-cherry ceramic group from the Jalisco highlands, as the stepped rim is, was found in the valley of San Luis Potosí (during the San Luis phase), and in the region of Río Verde, "widening the interrelation of the diagnostic forms from the north-central-west to the eastern areas of Mesoamerica." (Ramos and López, 1999:255).

The Septentrional Sphere overlaps with the Bajío Sphere via its two subspheres. The one from the Juchipila highlands extends slightly out of the borders of the Septentrional Sphere towards the east, to reach Cerrito de Rayas and including also La Gavia, in Guanajuato. Both of these sites are important because they show the engagement of both subspheres after the resist-decorated ceramics and Valle de San Luis Polychrome, but in addition, they represent an area that links the distributive limits of Garita, Cantinas and Black on Orange (Moguel and Sánchez, 1988:230; Ramos et al., 1988:315; Ramos and López, 1999:258; Jiménez and Darling, 2000:180, note 13; Jiménez, 2001:6). Towards its southeastern edge, the Septentrional Sphere also incorporates the sites of El Cóporo, La Gloria and El Cobre, in Guanajuato, which constitute the northeastern border of the Bajío Sphere (Jiménez and Darling, 1992:17). There is a coexistence, in all three sites, of Figurines Type I, the pseudo cloisonné and the resist ceramics, with Raised White, incised types, incised postfire types (sgraffito) and red on bay (Jiménez, 1992:189-190, note 8: Jiménez and Darling, 1992:14-15, 18; Braniff, 2000:40).

A long while ago, Charles Kelley outlined the similarities between a number of Red on Bay ceramic types from Durango and Zacatecas, and the Coyotlatelco type defined by Tozzer (1921) for the Basin of México (Kelley, 1960:570; see also Braniff, 1972:284-285; Jiménez, 1989:34-36; Mastache and Cobean, 1989:55). From the Central Plateau, this connection is generally assumed as sequential in nature, considering the Coyotlatelco type as a derivation of a process of evolution that tended to advance geographically, as opposed to the assumption that both styles were interrelated. On one side, this is due to the pretended sudden emergence of the Coyotlatelco type in the Basin of México when the Teotihuacán system was declining; and on the other, to the initial chronological placement of the "northern" types, that indicated they were earlier. Following the recent adjustments in the chronologies of both these areas, it presently appears to be more adequate to assume that the similarity between the Suchil or Gualterio Red on Cream types from Chalchihuites, and the Coyotlatelco type from the Basin, reflect their partial contemporaneity (Jiménez, 1989:34-35; personal communication, 2002), that Coyotlatelco is a local expression of a pan-regional phenomenon (Solar, in preparation), and that some important answer in regard to this phenomenon must be sought in the region in-between (Jiménez, idem; Jiménez and Darling, 1992:2), precisely in the overlapping of the spheres that, like the one from the Bajío, have integrated the septentrional network of the plateau.

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Endnotes

93. In his original proposal, Jiménez defines, for the distribution of the Figurine Type I, a time frame of ca. A.D. 650-850/900, based on its presence in stratigraphic contexts from the site of Alta Vista, during the homonymous phase (ca. A.D. 750-850) (Jiménez, 1989:16, 35; 1995:47, note 16). Later, the annotation of Beatriz Graniff on the coexistence of this figurine with Thin Orange in El Cóporo, Guanajuato, led Jiménez to reconsider the chronology towards the Middle Classic (Jiménez, 1992; Jiménez and Darling, 1992). However, Braniff later accepted that in her context the Valle de San Luis Polychrome type was also present, and this, jointly with the recovery of new samples of Figurine Type I at the Sayula Basin in Epi-Classic contexts, or its association with figurines of the Cerrito de García type and ceramics of the Ixtépete-El Grillo complex from Juanacatlán, Jalisco, has reverted her chronology back to the initial position (Jiménez and Darling, 2000:170, note 10). The apparent presence of ’Thin Orange’ in the layer corresponding to El Cóporo, does not necessarily threaten a late classical temporality for Figurine Type I, because even though this pottery has been considered as a sign of links with Teotihuacán, those who have studied it have come to accept that in said city, the consume was increased during the final phase (Rattray, 1981:64-65). It is generally said that Thin Orange ceased to exist around the fall of Teotihuacán (Rattray, ibid.:67), but evidences of its possible presence in the Basin have also been exposed up to the Coyotlatelco period (Good, 1972, in Cobean, 1982:66). On the other hand, the complex Prado de Tula (ca. A.D. 700-800) includes one ceramic type "very similar to Thin Orange […], even in the texture and color of the paste", suggesting that even when shapes may differ, it could be a local imitation (Cobean, 1982:65). This is consistent with the data regarding the type of clay with which Thin Orange was manufactured, also found in a strip located at the center of the State of Querétaro, and at the northwest of Hidalgo (Lambert, 1978 in Rattray, ibid.:67). Perhaps it would be advisable to ask oneself whether some sherds identified at sites north of the Central Mesa (including El Cóporo), like the Thin Orange produced in Puebla and used in the Basin through the Classic, are not in fact varieties produced with clays from these nearby deposits. Should this be the case, the correlative utility of this ceramic in the region should be reevaluated.

94. Valle de San Luis Polychrome has been reported in Buenavista, San Luis Potosí (Braniff, 1992:17-18, 69), Peñasco, San Luis Potosí (Braniff, 1992:69); Río Verde (Michelet, 1984, in Crespo, 1998:329); Villa de Reyes (Crespo, 1976:37-38; Braniff, 1992:17-18); La Quemada (Jiménez and Darling 2000:164, 180, note 13); El Cerrito, Zacatecas (Brown, 1985:224; Braniff, 1992:69); Peñón Blanco, Zacatecas (Braniff, 1992:69); Aguascalientes (Braniff, 1992:17-18); Chinampas, Jalisco (Braniff, 1992:69); Cuarenta, Jalisco (Brown, 1985:224; Braniff, 1992:69); El Cóporo, Guanajuato (Middle Cóporo Phase, associated with local materials and Cloisonné) (Brown, 1985:224; Braniff, 1992:69); Cerrito de Rayas, Guanajuato (Ramos et al., 1988:313); Agua Espinoza and Tierra Blanca, Guanajuato (Brown, 1985:224; Braniff, 1972:283), La Gavia, Guanajuato (Jiménez and Darling, 2000, note 13); La Magdalena, Guanajuato (Brown, 1985:224); Tlacote, Guanajuato (Crespo, 1991a:123); El Cerrito, Querétaro (Crespo, 1991b:192, fig. 13).

95. Tunal Grande may also have been an intermediary region between the farming communities and the nomadic groups of the northern deserts (Braniff, 2000:36). To Braniff, "The interrelations between the Mesoamerican groups and the hunter-collector groups from the north-central region may be corroborated through some lithic artifacts shared in the region known as Tunal Grande, which is in Mesoamerica, and the extended regions north of San Luis Potosí and southern Coahuila" (1994:135, see also Crespo and Viramontes, 1999, for the north-central region). These lithic artifacts include the well-known "Coahuila scrapers", present, like in El Tunal, in Guanajuato (Rodríguez, in Crespo and Viramontes, 1999:113), in Zimapán (Sánchez et al., 1995:143, 154, fig. 17) and in Cerro de las Burras, east of the Mezquital Valley (Polgar Salcedo, personal communication, 2000).

96. "[…] based on the ceramic similarities from the final portion of period IV and early period V, perhaps they could be correlated with the Río Verde pottery, an area that might have been a passageway for a number of Mesoamerican elements, not only towards northern México, but maybe also towards the Tamaulipas sierras. Some sites within this area, which are not definitely Huastecan, show architecture with indistinctly circular and rectangular shapes, pottery similar to Buenavista’s, the Zaquil black and incised types, ball games and burials with yokes, among other elements" (Ochoa, [1979] 1984:33).

97. References have also been made regarding a connection between Río Verde and the Sierra Gorda (Herrera and Quiroz 1991:299; Michelet, 1995:215), and of course between the latter one and the Huasteca (Herrera and Quiroz, ibid.:287, 297, 299). Even though the traits ascribable to the Sierra present in southern Querétaro and western Hidalgo are scarce, it is worth remembering that along its spurs, Xajay Incised Postfire has been recovered (Mejía and Herrera, personal communication, 2001), and Mezquital has yielded fragments of a figurine very similar to another one exhibited in the National Museum, with a provenience from Sierra Gorda. It has been assumed that the cinnabar that decorates several figurines from El Mezquital comes from deposits located in the Sierra, but this is not definite, as cinnabar also exists in other regions, like for example in the vicinities of Acámbaro (Cárdenas, 1997, map 2).

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