El Sabinito
 | |
| Location | Soto la Marina Municipality, Tamaulipas, Mexico |
|---|---|
| Region | Sierra de Tamaulipas |
| Coordinates | 23°37′40″N 98°22′6.4″W / 23.62778°N 98.368444°W |
| History | |
| Founded | 200 CE |
| Abandoned | 1300 CE |
| Periods | Classic to Post-Classic |
| Cultures | Huastec |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | 1987 |
El Sabinito is a Pre-Columbian ruin associated with the Huastec civilization. Located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, El Sabinito is approximately 25 kilometers southwest and 96 kilometers east of the modern-day cities Soto la Marina and Ciudad Victoria. Alongside the Balcon de Montezuma, El Sabinito marks the northernmost boundary of Mesoamerican civilization.
History and description
El Sabinito was discovered in 1987 by Aureliano Medina in a region of Tamaulipas characterized by its virgin, tropical jungles and suffocating humidity.[1] Today, this region lies within the municipality of Soto la Marina and north of the Sierra de Tamaulipas.
Compared to other Huastec ruins in Tamaulipas such as the Balcon de Montezuma and the Pyramid of Tammapul, El Sabinito was the most urbanized and culturally significant.[2] The Huastecs of Tamaulipas originally belonged to the Mayan culture, but migrated northward to the present-day state around 1300 BCE. Upon their arrival, the immigrant Huastecs made a concerted effort to preserve their Mayan identity. They resisted assimilation for approximately one thousand years, until they finally began to appropriate aspects of their nomadic neighbors' cultures. While archaeological remains indicate that human activity around the Soto la Marina River sprung up as early as 10,000 BCE,[3] the Huastecs' construction and inhabitance of El Sabinito only began in 200 CE. El Sabinito showed signs of decline around 1000 CE, and the last signs of life in the settlement vanished from 1300 CE onward.[4]
El Sabinito was a town of more than 600 foundations.[5] Based on the discovery of 500 residential structures out of those foundations, Mexican archaeologists approximate that El Sabinito had a population of over 2,500 inhabitants at its peak.[6]
Due to its placement atop the tallest of a group of irregular hills and the presence of a number of formidable terraces and embankments, El Sabinito may have functioned as a strategic point of observation which could monitor the movement of enemy nomadic tribes. As such, the makeup El Sabinito suggests that it may have served as a military and political stronghold as well as a cultural and residential hub.[5]
Architecture
All of the buildings within El Sabinito are very well preserved. As mentioned above, excavations of the site performed by INAH resulted in the finding of more than 600 foundations built on terraces, corridors, and plazas arranged symmetrically in a manner that demonstrates a fairly advanced knowledge of architecture.[5]
The area of El Sabinto can be divided into two parts, based on its two major plazas.
Plaza 1
The first plaza is most notably marked by its northernmost and the sizable edifices which flank it, the largest within El Sabinito.[7] Outstanding among these constructions is the circular, eight-meter-high pyramid, with slabs of limestone jutting out of its sides like the arms of a windmill. This particularly conical style of pyramid has been noted to generally correlate with worshiping the god Ehecatl.[8] Opposite this pyramid is a ceremonial altar measuring 2 meters wide by 6 meters long with unevenness at the ends
Plaza 2
Two large circular twin buildings that start from the hillside stand out, linked together by a wall with a staircase to reach a ceremonial plaza, which is also accessed by means of terraces staggered by other buildings that surround it.
See also
References
- ^ "Zona arqueológica El Sabinito, Tamaulipas". México Desconocido (in Spanish). 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
- ^ "Municipio de Soto la Marina, Tam". www.sotolamarina.gob.mx. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
- ^ "Zona Arqueológica El Sabinito". www.inah.gob.mx. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
- ^ Mena Cruz, Alberto. "El Sabinito". Mexicana.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c A. Ramirez Castilla, Gustavo (September 2004). "From Semi-Desert to Jungle The Ancient Peoples of Tamaholipa" (PDF). Voices of Mexico. 68: 98 – via National Autonomous University of Mexico.
- ^ "El Sabinito". Secretaría de Cultura/Sistema de Información Cultural (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-16.
- ^ https://mexicana.cultura.gob.mx/en/repositorio/detalle?id=_suri:MEDIATECAGUIA:TransObject:5bc501667a8a0222efe6898b&word=El%20Sabinito,&r=0&t=65
- ^ "Ehecatl". Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-04-16.