High Mountain Archaeology in the Volcanoes of Mexico: a Comparative Overview from the Andes

CERUTI, MARÍA CONSTANZA

Whitehorse

Simposio; III International Glacial Archaeology Symposium; 2012

Department of Tourism and Culture in Yukon

The worship of sacred mountains was a vital part of the religious life in ancient Latin America. Mountaintop shrines on high snowcapped peaks were in use during the fifteenth and sixteenth century AD, under the rule of the Aztecs in Mexico, as well as in connection to the Inca expansion over the Andes. While the Incas sent children and young women as messengers to the mountain spirits on the highest Andean summits, the Aztecs priests offered their own blood in self-sacrificial ceremonies atop the highest volcanoes in Mesoamerica. Evidences of self-sacrificial ceremonies and offerings from the Postclassic Period were preserved high on the slopes of Popocatepetl (5.465 m), Iztaccihuatl (5.230 m) and Toluca (4690 m), the sacred volcanoes in the Mexican valley. Aztec priests also offered sacrifices at a major temple on the heights of mount Tlaloc (4.125 m), an elevation named after the Aztec deity of the Rain. The sacrificial rituals, described in detail by chronicler Fray Diego Durán, involved the presentation of sumptuary offerings and children, whose tears were believed to have the power to call the rain. These ceremonial sites have been carefully studied by Mexican high-altitude archaeologists Arturo Montero García, Victor Arribalzaga and their collaborators. Mythology and syncretism shed light on the prevailing importance of sacred mountains to the contemporary Nahua religion. The slopes of the volcanoes are still visited by modern ritual experts, known as graniceros, who manipulate the weather, calling the rain-loaded clouds and sending away the hail. The relative accessibility of the Mexican volcanoes and the nature of the ancient rituals performed on their heights allow for significant comparisons with the mountaintop shrines of the Inca civilization. Similarities and differences can also be observed in relation to the praxis of high altitude archaeology in Mesoamerica and the Andes. For the purpose of this research, the author has personally climbed to the main peak of volcano Toluca and to the glaciered summits of mount Iztaccihuatl, which host the highest archaeological site in the continent´s northern hemisphere. She has also explored the Aztec temple atop mount Tlaloc in the company of her colleagues, Montero García and Arribalzaga. She has visited museums and archaeological sites throughout the Mexican plateau and has undertaken ethnohistorical and ethnographic studies on the topic of mountain worship in Mesoamerica, Central America and the Andes.