Terminal Classic West Mexico

Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima Contiguous states on Pacific coast between Guerrero and Gulf of California Pieces looted from shaft-and-chamber tombs up to 6 m in depth  underground chambers connected by tunnels  date to Late Preclassic and Classic (AD ).

Nayarit

Nayarit Ixtlan del Río  lively figures and groups in red with painting in black, white, and yellow  men and women in naturalistic poses warriors posing with clubs temples with thatched roofs two-storied houses and village scenes ball courts with game in progress

Ixtlan del Río

Standing Woman The spout is through a hole in her head that also allowed gasses to escape during the firing process. The short legs and heavy arched feet are massive in size and support an equally strong body, which is bent slightly forward at the waist. It is typical of the Nayarit style that the arms are small and short.

Three Figures The large hollow figures are closely related to the somewhat earlier figures of Colima and have the same type of patiently burnished surfaces and the use of negative black decoration. The small heads and tiny arms of the figures are typical features of Nayarit figures.

Standing Man & Woman The male wears a conical hat that is held in place by a chinstrap. His jewelry consists of multiple nose rings and earrings, a multiple strand necklace, a crescent shaped pectoral, and an armlet with white painted studs. He holds a fan in his right hand. The female wears a headband decorated with three round ornaments, multiple nose rings and earrings. Again, as on the male, she wears a multiple strand necklace and a pectoral. The skirt displays a repeated geometric design. She is holding a bowl at her left shoulder.

Vessel flute Vessel flute Nayarit culture 200 B.C.–A.D. 300

Jalisco

Jalisco Archaeology Researchers have found presence of complex, circular monumental architecture referred to as guachimontones, as well as in the remains of mining operations and possible agricultural fields.

Architecture The simplest examples consist of four platforms in the form of rectangles (or more clearly in some examples, a section of a ring) arrayed around a low circular altar.

Architecture, con’d The most complex examples are dramatically larger, sitting atop a circular platform that serves as a patio, and the central circular altar has become a circular, stepped structure. Examples of each extreme in a site context can be found at the Earth Measure site.

Teuchitlan Tradition, site of Guachimonton

Guachimonton site

Guachimonton Guachimonton is the nickname given to the circular architecture of the Teuchitlan Tradition, the name given to the largest of the circles at this site, and the name given to this site. It is the largest and most complex site with this architecture, and is located in the center of the Tequila valleys, in the very greatest concentration of public and residential architecture in the region. The previous map depicts the central collection of public architecture, but smaller circles and residential architecture are continuously and closely distributed over a large area beyond this.

Effigy ceramics from Tequilla Valley

Pottery Figures These two sculptures belong to a group commonly called 'sheep-faced' figures, after their pointed noses and ears and elongated heads. The ears are adorned by earplugs. The slip that covers the figures is a glossy red and the details of clothing and ornament are painted in white. Here the woman is wearing earplugs and a necklace, and a typical wrap skirt. The drummer wears the same ornaments and a mantle over one shoulder, characteristic of male figurines.

Peñol de Tepopote This site is located above the La Venta Corridor, a pass linking the Tequila valleys with the Atemajac valley to the east. Along with the Southwestern Tepopote Complex, it sits around meters above the floor of the pass and is surrounded by sheer rock faces and artificially constructed walls and terraces.

Penol de Tepopote

Penol de Tepopote

Colima

Colima Pot-bellied, hairless dogs  represent breed fattened for food  shown sleeping, playing, growling, etc. birds, hunchbacks, warriors, and other naturalistic representations  occasional pornography (rare in Mexican art)

Dancing Dogs

Pottery Dog This hollow figure represents a dog, the most commonly portrayed animal in the art of Colima. Dogs were believed to assist the dead in their journey to the Underworld. During the sixteenth century, the dog was also a central figure in the myths of creation, according to sources which themselves referred to Colima's ancient inhabitants. The type of dog depicted here is a hairless breed, which was eaten at feasts. The same breed is found in Ecuador and on the coast of Peru and may have been introduced from there to West Mexico.

Supported Vessel Vessel with Crested Atlantean Figures West Mexico, Colima, Comala style (200 BC-AD 300)

Interpretations Earlier school of art saw art as simply an expressive style, with no religious meaning Realism of art may be deceptive  dogs frequently had important mortuary significance Peter Furst  worked with Huichol Indians of Nayarit almost certainly the descendants of the people who built the shaft tombs found that religious practitioners are always shamans and that hallucinogenic plants are very important warrior figures are shown in typical fighting stance of shaman two-story houses are interpreted as dwellings of living and dead believes shaft-tomb art "conforms slosely to characteristically shamanistic initiatory, funerary, and death-and-rebirth beliefs and rituals"

La campana

La campana The archaeological site now covers 134 hectares, extended between the river of Colima and the Pereira stream. La Campana has an administrative ceremonial center, important nucleus of many monumental buildings: rectangular platforms of superimposed bodies, pyramids with stairways acting as bases for enormous enclosures and upper patios, besides other types of constructions. There are avenues with great amount of petroglyphs in various patios and plazas where one can observe structures of diverse dimensions.

La campana

Tombs Various tunnel tombs were found with different domestic and ceremonial objects as offerings destined to accompany the dead during their voyages across the underworld. The most important of these (tomb number 7) has a dome where different human fragments were buried, a corridor with a staircase and important offerings such as a dog and a sculpted clay mask, amongst others. The site shows evidence of the development of pre- Hispanic architecture; the subsoil presents an architectonic complexity similar to the structures above.

La campana burial

Pottery dog from La Campana

El Chanal

El Chanal In 1945 the site was explored by archaeologist Vladimiro Rosado Ojeda, who discovered a pyramid with the remains of a stairway and steps sculpted in bas-relief. The motifs had 36 tablets —nine per step— representing gods such as Tlaloc and Ehecatl. El Chanal had unions of craftsmen who knew the use of metallurgy. The presence of metal, associated with the existence of led-like (plumbate) pots, the use of obsidian, the making of clay sculptures in the form of Xantiles and of Xipe Totec seem to indicate that El Chanal was inhabited by a group related, in some way, with Tula.

El Chanal

Cotzumalhuapa Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa and Bilbao  located on Pacific coast of Guatemala and close relations with Gulf Coast  stela depicting ballplayers making sacrifices of human hearts ballgames played between humans and supernatural beings players wear hachas, yokes, and palmas  Style is in between that of Gulf Coast and Maya day signs resemble those of south Mexican calendar numeration by circles is also south Mexican style composition, with ball player below and sun deity above, recalls some Piedras Negras stelae  may have been ethnically Pipil (Nahuat speakers from Central Mexico)

Chronology of Cotzumalhuapa May be related to spread of Chontal Maya from Gulf Coast in the Terminal Classic Parsons suggests "Middle" Classic (ca. AD )  interprets them as Teotihuacan intrusion  divides reliefs into two groups Narrative Group ( ) Portrait Group ( )