Tilantongo

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Tilantongo
Ñuu Tnoo-Huahi Andehui
Iya Nacuaa Teyusi Nana.jpg
Eight Deer Jaguar Claw (Iya Nacuaa Teyusi Ñaña, 1063 - 1115), Lord of Tilantogo
Mexico topographic map-blank 2.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Location within Mexico
Location Oaxaca,  Mexico
Region Oaxaca
Coordinates 17°15′N97°17′W / 17.250°N 97.283°W / 17.250; -97.283
History
PeriodsPostclassic
Cultures Mixtec
Site notes
Discovered1960s
Archaeologists Alfonso Caso

Tilantongo was a Mixtec city-state and Postclassic political centre in the Mixteca Alta region of the modern-day state of Oaxaca, which is now visible as an archeological site near the modern town of Santiago Tilantongo. [1] [2]

Contents

Tilantongo, Temple of Heaven, from Codex Nuttall Tilantongo.jpg
Tilantongo, Temple of Heaven, from Codex Nuttall

Toponymy

Tilantongo seems to be the Nahuatl translation of the original Mixtec name. Tillantonco meaning 'at the small black place' (tlilli 'black)', -ton diminutive, -co locative). In Mixtec, this site was known as Ñuu Tnoo-Huahi Andehui meaning 'Black Town-Temple of Heaven.' [1]

History

Archeological excavations conducted by Alfonso Caso in the 1960s suggest that Tilantongo is among the oldest settlements in Oaxaca with architecture from the preclassic Monte Albán I phase. Preclassic and Classic remains were found at Monte Negro and the Postclassic settlement was located in the present day town of Tilantongo, slightly north of the Classic settlement.

The documentary record shows that Tilantongo was an important Mixtec polity in the Postclassic period. Mixtec picture codices, such as the Codex Zouche-Nuttall and Codex Bodley, tell the history of Lord 8 Deer who ruled Tilantongo in the eleventh century, and how he linked the Tilantongo dynasty with the central Mexican Toltecs. [3]

References