El firmamento y los hombres: arte rupestre en Momax

The Temple Hill (Cerro de los Teocalli) at Momax is characterized by an exceptional conjunction of elements; in a site with ceremonial architecture, a spacious rocky floor covered with engravings is complemented by an astronomical marker: the latter being an instrument for observing the firmament an...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Hers, Marie-Areti, Flores Gutiérrez, Daniel
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:México
Institution:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repository:Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas
Language:Spanish
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.atenea.esteticas.unam.mx:article/2819
Online Access:https://www.analesiie.unam.mx/index.php/analesiie/article/view/2819
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Northern Mesoamerica
ancient astronomy
pecked cross-circles
Chalchihuites rock art
Huichol cosmovision
Mesoamérica Septentrional
astronomía antigua
marcadores astronómicos
arte rupestre Chalchihuites
cosmovisión wixárika
Description
Summary:The Temple Hill (Cerro de los Teocalli) at Momax is characterized by an exceptional conjunction of elements; in a site with ceremonial architecture, a spacious rocky floor covered with engravings is complemented by an astronomical marker: the latter being an instrument for observing the firmament and the former a cosmogram. The authors have thus approached the study of this site from the viewpoints of their respective specialties in the study of northern Mesoamerica: archeoas-tronomy on the one hand, and the rock art of the Chalchihuites culture on the other. The article thus takes in the Teotihuacan heritage of around 600 CE in the context of the claimed alignment of astronomical markers, the Chalchihuites worldview at the time of the greatest expansion of that culture (600-900 CE), and the heritage still alive today among the Wixárika population of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Finally, the study of the rock carvings also reveals a period of vandalism that can be related to the troubled history of the Chalchihuites culture, in particular the abandonment of a large part of its territory towards the end of the ninth century.