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IZAPA: CULTURAL HEARTH OF THE OLMECS?

VINCENT H. MALMSTROM
Dartmouth College

Located near the edge of the Pacific coastal plain in the far southeastern
corner of Chiapas, Mexico, is the large pre-Columbian ceremonial center
known as Izapa.  Situated on the terrace of a small stream tributary to
the Rio Suchiate, the border river between Mexico and Guatemala, the site
consists of more than 130 mounds sprawled over several hectares of lush
tropical lowland at the base of the volcano Tacaná, the second highest
mountain (4,094 meters) in Central America. Although scarcely half a dozen
of Izapa's cobble-studded mounds and pyramids have been restored to date,
it is clear that they once formed part of an elaborate, well-planned
complex of considerable magnitude and importance. Just how important this
complex may be is only now emerging.

Archeologists have tentatively assigned Izapa to the Late Formative Period
(corresponding roughly to 600-100 B.C.), primarily on the basis of
stylistic evidence (Bernal, 1969, 127). There is, nevertheless, good
reason to believe that Izapa is far older than such evidence would
suggest. Indeed, Bernal concedes that Izapa may be synchronous with the
oldest known Olmec sites at San Lorenzo and La Venta (Bernal, 1969, 173).
It has been shown, for example, that a settled, village way-of-life was in
existence in the region of Izapa possibly as early as 1500 B.C., judging
from the radiocarbon dating of finds at Ocós, on the coast of Guatemala
just forty-five kilometers away (Bernal, 1969, 127). Additional evidence,
admittedly circumstantial, has been provided recently as a result of the
author's identification of Izapa as the birthplace both of the
Mesoamerican calendrical systems and of the knowledge of magnetism among
the region's pre-Columbian cultures,

During field studies in Mexico early in 1973, the author was led to
conclude that the peculiar 260-day sacred almanac which was used
throughout Mesoamerica in pre Columbian times was based on the interval
between vertical sun positions - two astronomical fix-points which are
readily identifiable by any society living in the tropics. An interval of
such a length can only be found in the northern hemisphere along a narrow
band just south of the 15th parallel of latitude, and only in the winter
half-year. Thus, the southward transit of the vertical sun takes place at
this latitude on August 12-13, and its northward passage occurs on the
following April 30-May 1. Although earlier researchers had noted that the
southward transit of the vertical sun coincided with the hypothetical
beginning date of the Long Count system (i.e. August 13, 3113 B.C.), they
had concluded that the calendar was a Mayan creation, having been devised
at Copán, which lies precisely at this latitude in western Honduras
(Bernal, 1969, 94). However, the present author found it necessary to
reject this hypothesis for two reasons, one historical and the other
geographical. The historical objection stems from the fact that Copán was
founded too late for the calendar to have originated there, for Morley
maintained that the oldest evidence of dated monuments at that site go
back only to A.D. 465 (Morley, 1946, 59), while the sacred 260-day almanac
was clearly a product of the pre-Christian era. The geographical objection
relates to the environmental associations of the types of fauna
used as day-names in the almanac, many of which are of tropical lowland
origin.  Copán, on the other hand, is situated in the uplands at an
elevation of 600 meters where animals such as the alligator, monkey, and
iguana are not found. Indeed, although the 15th parallel of latitude
crosses the entire width of Guatemala and Honduras, it does so everywhere
in relatively high, mountainous terrain and only near the coasts of the
Pacific and the Caribbean does it traverse lowland areas. Whereas the
Caribbean lowland of Honduras is remote and virtually uninhabited, the
narrow Pacific lowland of Mexico contains the Late Formative ceremonial
center of Izapa, which meets both the historical and geographical
prerequisites perfectly.

It has long been assumed that the 260-day sacred almanac must have
predated the recognition of the true length of the tropical year, for once
the 365-day interval had been discovered there would have been little
reason to conjure up any other measure of time. On the other hand, once
the 260-day period had been sanctified in use as a religious almanac, it
would have been virtually impossible to jettison following the discovery
of the 365-day year. Thus, the two time-counts, one religious and the
other secular, would have been used concurrently from that time forward.

Early in 1974, during field studies at Izapa, the author discovered the
principle that Olmec priests appear to have used in determining the true
length of the tropical year. Although the site of Izapa, as noted above,
is oriented to the volcano Tacaná, the second highest mountain in Central
America, the author noted that the region's highest peak, the volcano
Tajumulco (4,220 meters), lies at an azimuth of 65º from the ceremonial
center. This azimuthal relationship is precisely that of the rising sun at
the summer solstice. Thus, it was possible for a priest standing atop the
main pyramid at Izapa not only to calibrate accurately the length of the
sacred 260-day almanac, but also, by counting the number of days which
elapsed between consecutive sunrises over the highest mountain in Central
America, the true length of the tropical year as well.

Using the highest mountain within sight as a solsticial marker was a
"principle" which would have been readily apparent at Izapa where the
massive cone of Tajumulco rises only 32 kilometers away. Such an idea,
however, would have been far less likely to have emerged if the mountain
in question were a considerable distance away, for the relationship of
site to sun position would not have been so apparent. It could also be
argued that such a principle would have been more readily appreciated at a
ceremonial center where a conscious measurement of time was already
underway, as would have been true had the sacred almanac been set in
motion at Izapa as hypothesized.  Yet, once such a principle had been
discovered, it is, like the sacred almanac, not likely to have been
abandoned easily. Indeed, orienting one's ceremonial center to the highest
topographic feature in sight even may have become a religious necessity,
with the sun god himself in effect dictating where the sites of his
worship should be located. In any event, the author has found that more
than forty of the oldest Mesoamerican ceremonial centers were oriented in
just such a manner, including the classic Olmec sites of San Lorenzo and
La Venta (paper in press). Because both of the latter are oriented to
mountains over 130 kilometers away, it would seem that the "principle" was
learned from some earlier center of diffusion where the relationship would
have been more obvious.

Also, because the older of these two centers has been dated back to at
least 1200 B.C., it would appear that both the sacred and secular
calendars were in use before this time.

Although many attempts have been made to establish the dates on which the
Mesoamerican time-counts began, they have been largely discredited by
scholars such as Thompson who maintained that they had no astronomical
origins (Thompson, 1960, 98). Yet, if the author's hypotheses are correct,
then two astronomical fix-points can be established against which to test
the one precise date bequeathed to us by the Mayan chronologists - and
presumably the Olmecs before them. This is the date selected as the origin
of the Long Count system, equated as August 13, 3113 B.C. by the Goodman
Martínez-Thompson correlation. Elsewhere (in press) the author explains
how he determined that the Long Count system - a fusing of both the
260-day religious almanac and the 365-day secular calendar - would appear
to have been devised in 235 B.C., a date originally suggested as early as
1930 by Teeple but likewise discounted by Thompson (Thompson, 1960, 152).
Encouraged by the knowledge that he had reached independently the same
conclusion as an earlier scholar whom Thompson had lauded for his
mathematical 'brilliance' in other connections (Thompson, 1960, 225), the
author employed a computer to 'run back' both the secular and sacred
calendars to their starting points. For the secular calendar this meant
that a day known to the Mayas as "0 Pop" should coincide with the summer
solstice, whereas for the sacred almanac a day called "1 Imix" should
coincide with August 13. As a result of this operation, the author has
shown that the secular calendar probably dates from June 21, 1323 B.C.,
and that the sacred almanac traces its origin to August 13, 1358 B.C.
Significantly, both dates are entirely in accord with the radio-carbon
determinations from the Ocós area south of Izapa and from the San Lorenzo
area of Veracruz state, which was presumably one of the first Olmec sites
into which the calendrical "principles" diffused.

Had Izapa served solely as the birthplace of Mesoamerican calendrics that
would have been reason enough to regard it as a major cultural hearth
amongst the Olmecs. However, in at least one other field of knowledge
Izapa seems to have been in the vanguard of Olmec learning as well, namely
terrestrial magnetism. For some time, researchers have believed that the
Mayas were aware of magnetism, apparently using it to align the structures
in their major ceremonial centers (Fuson, 1969, 494).  Then, in 1973, Coe
discovered a small bar of polished hematite at San Lorenzo that he assumed
may have been used as part of a compass. Found in a layer dated to
approximately 1000 B.C., this suggests that the Olmecs were aware of
magnetism about a millenium before the Chinese (Carlson, 1975, 753).
However, during field work at Izapa in January, 1975, the author
discovered evidence that the inhabitants of this site not only knew about
magnetism but that they also seem to have associated it with the homing
instinct in the sea-turtle. Such a conclusion stems from the fact that a
large sculpture of a turtle head, located about thirty meters to the
southeast of the main pyramid, has been carved from a basaltic boulder
rich in magnetic iron and executed with such precision that all the
magnetic lines of force come to focus in the turtle's snout. Although no
other magnetic stones have been found at Izapa, there are at least two
other representations of the turtle present at the site. One of these is a
sculpture near the east wall of the main pyramid which has the shape of an
upturned turtle shell and which, when filled with water during
the rainy season, may have provided a frictionless surface on which to
float a needle or sliver of lodestone. The other is a large altar in the
form of a turtle at the west end of the ceremonial ball court, in whose
north wall is embedded a carving of a bearded man standing in a boat
moving across the waves. That the Izapans were a sea-faring people and
maintained relatively regular contacts with places as far distant as
Ecuador over a long period of time has been shown by the similarities in
ceramics found in the two areas (Coe, 1966, 45; Badner, 1972, 24). That
they should have failed to observe the great migrations of east Pacific
Ridleys moving between Baja California and Ecuador or of the black turtle
which migrates between the Guatemalan coast and the Galápagos Islands
while on such voyages is quite inconceivable (Carr, 1967, 136, 216). And
that they should have been impressed by the sureness of the turtle's
navigational ability and compared this to the direction-finding property
of the lodestone would have taken no great leap of imagination. Whether
Izapa's maritime connections included trans-Pacific contacts cannot be
demonstrated at this point, though Meggers, among others, has presented
striking evidence of similarities between the Olmecs and the Shang-dynasty
Chinese (Meggers, 1975, 17). In any event, it would appear that Izapa
served as a major center of cultural innovation in Mesoamerica, whether as
a trans-Pacific bridgehead or as a hearth in its own right.

REFERENCES CITED

Badner, Milo, "Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archeology," No. 9
(Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, 1972).
Bernal, Ignacio, The 0lmec World (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1969).
Carlson, John B., "Lodestone Compass: Chinese or Ohnec Primacy?" Science,
Vol. 189 (1975), pp. 753-760.
Carr, Archie, So Excellent a Fishe (Garden City: Natural History Press, 1967).
Coe, Michael The Maya (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1966).
Fuson, Robert H., "Me Orientation of Mayan Ceremonial Centers," Annals,
Association of American Geographers, Vol. 59 (1969), pp. 494-511.
Meggers, Betty, "The Transpacific Origin of Mesoamerican Civilization: A
Preliminary Review of the Evidence and Its Theoretical Implications," American
Anthropologist, Vol. 77 (1975), pp. 1-27.
Morley, Sylvanus G., The Ancient Maya (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1946).
Thompson, J. Eric S., Maya Hieroglyphic Writing (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1960).

(This article was originally published in the PROCEEDINGS OF THE
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS, 1976, pp. 32-35.)

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