"Where
The Hummingbirds Were"
By Mildred Boyd
April 2002 Guadalajara-Lakeside Volume 18, Number 8
Archaeologically
speaking, Western Mexico has long been the neglected stepchild. Along
the East coast and throughout the Central Highlands pre-Columbian sites
have been exhaustively excavated, intensively studied and extensively
restored as tourist attractions. Yet one of the most intriguing sites
of all lies within a day’s drive of Lakeside.
Tzintzuntzan, which means “The Place
Where the Hummingbirds Are” was the administrative, cultural and
religious center of a far larger and older empire then the Aztecs ever
held. The Purepecha, whom the Spanish called the Tarasca, held sway
over all of what is now Michoacan, most of Jalisco and extended an undetermined
distance up the Pacific coast. (Ironically, Tarasca actually means “in-laws”
or “relatives” and the name was scornfully applied to the
Spanish themselves because they habitually raped Purepechan women.)
These were the only people in Meso-America
to withstand the military might of their warlike neighbors. It wasn’t
that the Aztecs didn’t try. Numerous raids and at least three major
invasions, the latest led by Axayacotl in 1478, were all thrown back
in humiliating defeat.
Although the site seems to have been occupied
as early as 500 AD, the Purepecha dominance dates from around 1100.
When Cristobal de Olid arrived in 1522, fresh from the conquest of the
Aztecs, he found a city of 40,000 on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro. This
was the royal family, the nobility, priests and bureaucrats who ably
administered their far-flung territory and 1,500,000 people.
Only the ruling class were true Purepecha,
and where they came from is still a mystery. Their language bears no
relation to those of their neighbors and linguists have theorized origins
as diverse as the Zuni in the north and the Quechua of Peru. Their metallurgy
was the most advanced in Mexico. With gold, silver and copper they produced
axes, bells, tweezers, needles and ornaments of unique design and superior
workmanship. Their potters produced objects of unusual from and brilliant
color, especially those, such as the hollow-handled stirrup vessels,
designed as grave goods. Their lapidary work was equally outstanding.
This technology again faintly echoes that
of the far away Incas, as does their religion. Although they paid homage
to a huge pantheon of deities, one was paramount. This was Curicaueri,
the fire god, whom they believed to be the progenitor of their race,
much as Viracocha reputedly fathered the Inca.
But, if South
America was truly the home of the Purepecha, we have no hint of how
or why they wandered so far. They left no written records and the only
Spanish document, the Relacion de Michoacan, compiled about 1539 by
Franciscan monks, concerns itself mainly with recent events.
Why have this people and their superior
culture been so long neglected?
Possibly because their downfall lacked
the high drama of siege and conquest even before Olid arrived, they
knew of the destruction of Tenochtitlan and many of them, including
their King, had already fallen victim to the most lethal, albeit unintentional,
weapon in the Spanish arsenal. Aztec messengers, seeking aid for their
beleaguered homeland, had brought smallpox to Tzintzuntzan with devastating
results. Demoralized by
fear and disease, the Purepechan Empire expired with a whimper, not
a bang. Their new King, Tangoxoan, was allowed to retain his title,
but not much else.
Today, little remains to show such an
empire existed. Tzintsuntzan, a few miles north of the city of Patzcuaro,
is now a small village that few tourists ever visit. Even the humming
birds which gave its names are gone, hunted out of existence long ago
for the colorful plumage so prized by pre-Columbian artist for their
exquisite feather mosaics.
On a hillside above the village stands
their only architectural monument, a ceremonial center built over the
remains of earlier temples. An enormous man-made plateau, roughly 850
by 1450 feet, rubble filled and covered with tamped earth, has steps
along one side leading up to five identical temple platforms called
yacatas. In shape they resemble an inverted capital ‘T’ surmounted
by a circle and have been compared to the Women’s Liberation symbol.
Each arm is 32 feet high, 50 feet long
and 20 feet wide at the base, rising in a series of regular steps to
walkways only six feet wide. The circular portions, similarly stepped,
are presumed to have supported temples which no longer exist. The shape,
judging by structures found elsewhere, suggested that they were dedicated
to the wind god. It seems unlikely, however, that a people who, like
the ancient Greeks, were so anxious to propitiate all comers that they
sometimes dedicated temples “To the Unknown God” would so
ignore their own putative creator, Curicaueri.
Nearby ruins encircling a roofed patio
were first believe to be the royal palace. Evidence from tombs discovered
under the floor makes it seem more likely this was the high priests’
residence. Little else remains identifiable; hardly surprising since
the Franciscans appear to have regarded the supply of well-dressed stones
as a handy quarry for building their church and monastery.
Stones may
be lacking but there is no shortage of bones. Not only have numerous
burials been excavated on the central platform and all around the yacatas,
but archaeologists have discovered a cache of human skeletal remains
on a nearby hillside. This charnel pit, nearly 70 by 100 feet and over
eight feet deep could be the mass grave for those who died in the smallpox
epidemic or for sacrificial victims. No one knows for sure.
Those VIPs meriting burial within the
sacred precinct were accompanied by all their worldly goods; pipes and
weapons, jewels and ornaments, pottery vessels containing food and drink.
Sometimes a friend or servant was sacrificed to keep them company in
the after-world.
There are plenty of Tarascans living on
the shores of Lake Patzcuaro, still speaking their enigmatic language.
Unfortunately, they know little or nothing of their own past. Further
excavation and study will undoubtedly unlock some of the puzzles. The
rest must remain forever lost in the shadows of time.
Sic transit Gloria mundi!