Northeastern Yucatán Project:
Archaeological Survey in the Northeastern Corner of Yucatán, México

The Site of Chauaca or El Cafetal

Probably, the original name of this site was Chohuac-há, which means "Abundant Water." Other names that refer to the same place are Chauaca, Chuaca and Xuaca.

The archaeological site is located approximately 14 km southwest of El Cuyo, and to get there, one must take the Colonia Yucatán–El Cuyo road; taking the direction of the latter, and one kilometer before reaching Moctezuma, there is a detour to the west with a paved and narrow road known as la costera (coastal drive). Two kilometers ahead, and from the road itself, at the entrance of the old ranch of El Cafetal, 1 kilometer away to the south, it appears–although it is not easily seen due to the distance–the great 12-meter-high structure that is a part of the main core of the site. The person in charge of the ranch is Sr. Manuel Pech and he lives in the modern town of Moctezuma.

According to historic documents, when Montejo the Adelantado was pursuing his conquest, the settlement was located north of a fresh water lagoon, at an approximate distance of one league (the equivalence of a league in modern terms is rather relative; although many modern peasants use it as the equivalent of approximately four kilometers, in conquest times it was taken for the distance one could cover on foot during one hour), and partially separated by the vegetation of a wet savanna. The lagoon was a water source throughout the year.

Chohuac-há, according to the historical-geographical accounts of the government of Yucatán, was located in the province of Chikinchel ("Western Grove") and constituted its major capital. Most likely, the Spanish heard about this town and region before entering the peninsula; thus they were forced to surround the coast to reach Conil and once in this port, they began their journey off the littoral. Therefore, the name of Chikinchel persisted since the XVIth century, being presently widely used to designate one of the polities present in the peninsula at the time of the Spanish contact, with Chauaca as its capital. The people of Chohuac-há were at war with towns such as Sinsimato and Dzonotaké, which assumedly were a part of Chikinchel. Chikinchel does not seem to have been a pre-hispanic polity, but rather a reference of the Ecab region to describe a geographical setting: the western grove.

The Relaciones de la Villa de Valladolid states that in the year 1542, Francisco de Montejo arrived to Tecoh. The nephew with sixty soldiers under his command headed to Izconti, located in the province of Cupules, where the people of Chikinchel sent a party to greet Montejo, to show their good will and their hopes for a peaceful relationship. From Izconti, Montejo traveled to Chohuac-há, perhaps because his uncle had already told him about the splendor of this site, and considering this was a good place to populate, he founded the first Villa de Valladolid in 1543, west of the lagoon, with the Maya village established north of this water source (Garza, op. cit.:29, Rel. de Valladolid). Thus, when the sun rose in the Villa de Valladolid, one could also see it rising on the lagoon (Ibid.:83, Rel. de Dzonot).

The situation of Cohuac-há has been extensively discussed in many of the Relaciones written in 1579. In general, they place it north of a fresh water lagoon. In recent archaeological survey works, the Maya site that seems to be closer to this description is El Cafetal (Kepecs, 1999), as it represents the greatest monumental vestige in the adjoining area and is located northeast of the savanna and lagoon known in ancient times as Chauaca; at its southeast lies another savanna that bears the name of Lake Xuaca, an area that Ralph Roys surveyed without having spotted, apparently, any evidence of a major Maya settlement. Roys inferred, when he noted the name of "Lake Xuaca" on modern maps, that probably somewhere in the surroundings the legendary Chauaca could be located, as clearly, there was some kind of connection regarding their names. Upon his arrival to the Xuaca lake, Roys probably explored first the north side adjacent to the savanna, where he found nothing; now we know that should he have surveyed the area around 500 meters northwards, he would have encountered the first visible group of regular size structures that define the settlement of El Colorado, located in the lands of the homonymous modern ranch. Following El Colorado, there are larger groups of structures that define courts at intervals of 500 meters to 1 kilometer; these probably were the sites of Don Bon, Moctezuma, and Km. 11, the latter being the one with the larger buildings. The site of Santa María is located south of the savanna.

Approximately 1 kilometer north of the Ali lagoon is El Cafetal, an archaeological site that exceeds in monumentality all other sites mentioned in this area and has a lagoon at the southwest with water all the year round; 800 meters south of El Cafetal are the ruins of San Ramón. Perhaps El Cafetal and San Ramón formed the ancient Chauaca?, or perhaps the group of small sites north of the Xuaca lake?; a somewhat more daring idea would be to suggest that all these sites altogether encompassed the settlement of Chauaca, and perhaps this is the reason why the Spanish refer that in 1528 it took them quite a time to arrive to the chieftain’s home, after encountering the first houses of that place. In any case, it seems clear that El Cafetal is Chohuac-há’s main core, as it is the one that stands closer to the water source of the lagoon, and exhibits monumental buildings of great volume.

The site’s plaza is composed, in its northern side, by a platform that covers an area of approximately 60 x 70 meters and is 6 meters high, which serves as basement for a pyramid structure in the northern side, so that the total construction has an altitude of approximately 12 meters (Photo 8); to the southwest corner and at the natural ground level there is a small sascabera. The west side of the plaza is limited by a pyramid-shaped structure approximately 8 or 9 meters high (Photo 9). The south is composed by a platform that hardly exceeds the 2 meters in height, and which supports at least three low constructions. The eastern part is delimited by a platform 6 meters high and is the smallest structure of the plaza. To the east and southeast of this complex, monumental constructions in the form of high platforms are visible. The lagoon that served as fresh water supply to the people of Chohuac-há is found towards the southeast, some 300 meters from the main core of the site (Photo 7).

Among the collapse and lootings that this site has suffered, remains of stucco floors and wall cut stones may be seen, together with the lintels and jambs that once formed the rooms. Today, all this is threatened by the clearings carried out with the heavy machinery that is used to create pasture lands, and the lagoon has served as a source of food for the bovine cattle, with the creation of a corral located north.

According to the testimonies of the ancient inhabitants of the surroundings, it is said that in the zone of El Cafetal, before the area was cleared, there was an abundance of mamey, ramón and prune trees; and this recalls the Relación de Valladolid when it mentions that "…this is a plain land fit to be plowed; there is a great abundance of game and fruit trees of all kinds…" (Garza, op. cit.:32). In addition, it is said that there were mountains with copal trees, or incense.

Chohuac-há was the nearest place to the marshlands of the Lagartos River, wherefrom they obtained quality fish and salt, together with other sea products; El Cuyo might well have been a port in Chohuac-há to trade with other regions and to carry out other coastal activities such as fishing, for example. Also, in the savanna lagoons, different species of mojarras could be caught; and they probably also caught ducks, wild boars, deer, jaleb, quails, etc., together with the obtention of flamingo feathers which nested in the estuary, and sea mollusks that were traded in the gulf coast and the Caribbean Sea, in addition to the very valuable copal, apparently present in large quantities.

By 1544, the Villa de Valladolid, which had been settled in Chohuac-há for over one year, was relocated near the Maya settlement of Cupul de Sací, where it is presently found. This change of settlement took place, according to the settlers, because the lands of the first location were too humid, and during the rainy season the soil turned extremely muddy, making it difficult to move around, while in times of droughts the savannas exhaled unhealthy gases, in a way that many Spanish would get ill, while some of them even died (this was also the case with the natives). Once Chauaca was abandoned, the friars used to burn down the house of the natives that stayed there with the purpose of making them come closer to the doctrinary capital, so that many died and others ran to the hills (Ibid.:32-33, Rel. de Valladolid).

By 1579, the town included two hundred married Indians that were in a position to pay tributes, in addition to the old aged and the service staff who were also a part of the town. The town tributed thirteen and a half mantas, eighteen hens and eighteen pounds of wax. Only one farm had been founded, which produced indigo (Ibid.:249-250, Rel. de Chauaca). Possibly this farm was located in the modern town of Moctezuma, as ancient masonry constructions which are now a part of the ranch of El Cafetal are visible. At one time, the Moctezuma area was used by the Ancona family to grow henequen; at a different time, it was a rubber central with an owner whose last name was Baduy; coffee was also grown, and finally, and up to this day, it is used for cattle raising.

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