The Mesoamerican connection: the Totonacs - master architects, builders and farmers

One of the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Mexico today is the Totonacs. They are concentrated in the eastern Mexican states of Vera Cruz, Pueblo and Hidalgo, but claim to have been the occupants of the Valley of Mexico, when Teotihuacan was built. The Totonacs are unique in many ways. Their language is dissimilar to any in Mexico, but shares some words with the Creek Indians of the Southeastern United States. They traditionally did not eat any foods made with Indian corn (maize) flour, but instead ate large quantities of fruits, avocados, sweet potatoes and corn-on-the-cob.
Many foods we eat today were developed from ancestral wild plants by the Totonacs. These include mangoes, bananas, papayas, chill peppers, bell peppers and avocados, cocoa and vanilla. Until the late 19^th century they produced much of the world’s supply of vanilla flavoring. They also ate large quantities of zapotes (a tropical fruit) and sweet potatoes.

The Totonac’s claim to have been the founders of Teotihuacan is still debated by archaeologists, but there is no doubt that they occupied a larger residential quarter in this ancient city. However, their claim to have also been the builders of “El Tajin” near Poza Rica, Vera Cruz is supported by substantial evidence. The Temple of the Niches in the photo above was one of several dozen large, sophisticated structures in El Tajin. There were several of Totonac cities in the region that have not been investigated as extensively as El Tajin.

Archaeologists have determined that the El Tajin site has been inhabited by humans since at least 5600 BC. Up until the first or second century, AD, the site apparently was occupied by ancestors of the Huastec People. After that time, the area immediately around El Tajin begins to show increasing similarity to Totonac cultural traditions. After Teotihuacan experienced a revolt and burning of its public structures around 600 AD, construction of public buildings began at El Tajin. This is the strongest evidence that the Totonacs were the elite ethnic group in Teotihuacan. El Tajin was at its peak population size between around 900 AD and 1100 AD. In 1230 AD it was suddenly abandoned, very possibly due to an attack from the emerging Nahuatl cities in the Valley of Mexico that soon became the Aztec Empire.

The Totonacs were the first Mesoamerican people to build structures out of a form of concrete. Concrete construction in El Tajin has been dated to at least as early as 600 AD, but probably goes back several centuries further. Its use was primarily in temples and houses of the elite. Concrete construction had a distinct advantage in the humid, tropical regions along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Wood-destroying insects and diseases could not harm it. Its use guarantied that the structure would last for centuries. Indeed, some 1500 year old Totonac concrete houses are still partially standing.

Totonac concrete was made by mixing sand, hydrated lime, shells, a special volcanic clay and water. The water reacted chemically with the other materials to produce a hard, limestone like material when fully cured. The wet mixture was poured into wooden forms to produce solid concrete floors and walls; a technique virtually identical to modern construction. However, Totonac concrete was not quite as strong as modern concrete. Also, the Totonacs apparently did not use metal reinforcing to strengthen the slabs like we do today. Their concrete was often poured around wooden lattice reinforcement, but the wood eventually deteriorated, and thus the concrete had to be self-supporting. Concrete walls were typically finished with colorful, cement stucco.

Totonac architectural innovations were not limited to public buildings and mansions. They pioneered pre-fabricated wood framing. It is possible that the prefabrication of houses preceded advancements in concrete construction technology. The walls of Totonac houses, called chiki’s, consisted of prefabricated lattices of samplings that were raised and tied together. A mixture of clay, sand and sometimes hydrated lime was then form around the framework. The construction of these houses is described in detail by the article, “Prefabricated Houses – same name – both in Mexico and the Southeast.”

Connections between the Totonacs and North America

The Totonac word for house is chiki. The Hitchiti-Creek and Seminole word for house is chiki. One of the key indicators of an advanced indigenous culture rising in the Southeast and Mississippi River Basin was the construction of pre-fabricated houses that American archaeologists label “post-ditch construction.”

This new type of house first appeared in what is now Georgia around 750 AD, but became in general use in that area, after the founding around 900 AD of a town now named Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon, GA. The use of post ditch construction spread outward from the Creek Indian heartland. By 1050 AD most houses in the great indigenous town now known as Cahokia, IL were constructed with post-ditch techniques. It is not known if the Totonacs made direct contact with the ancestors of the Creek Indians, but the connection was immediate enough for both the word and the construction concept to be the same.

Another possible connection between the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern United States and the Totonacs is the “volodores pole.” Totonac towns and villages traditionally had timber poles erected in the centers of their plazas with woven bird nests on top. At certain festivals, four men, dressed as eagles, would climb the pole and attach ropes to themselves and the top of the pole. They then would swirl in circles around the pole until the ropes were fully extended.

Chroniclers of the Hernando de Soto Expedition (1539-1543) observed towns in what is now Georgia with timber poles in their plazas that had birds nests, woven from river cane on top. Within the nests were carved wooden eagles. No mention is made by the Spaniards, however, of men performing the pole circling ceremony.

Source: The Examiner [April 18, 2010]