Tamtoc

Tamtoc was the largest Huastec city known - a capital spread over more than two hundred hectares beside the Tampaon river, occupied for well over a thousand years and still, by any measure, barely excavated. What visitors walk is a green landscape of rounded mounds, plazas, ball courts and terraces, quite unlike the sharp masonry of the Maya or the Altiplano: the Huastec built with earth and river cobble, and their pyramids were often circular or oval. The site's celebrity is a sculpture: the monolith known as the Scarified Woman - a large carved figure of a woman, headless as found, her body incised with patterns, associated with water, fertility and the moon and dated to the era when Tamtoc was a ceremonial power. She is displayed at the site museum with other finds, including remarkable evidence of hydraulic engineering and burials. The setting - cattle country, ceiba trees, herons on the river - is gentle, and the visitor count on any weekday is close to zero, which makes the scale easier to imagine.

History

The Téenek name means "place of the water clouds". At least three periods of occupation are known, around 600 BC, from 600 to 900 AD and from 900 to 1350 AD, and the city was suddenly abandoned in the 16th century; since 2000 a team led by the archaeologist Estela Martínez Mora has worked on the site (Wikipedia, Tamtoc).

What to look for

• The earth mounds - a capital's plazas and pyramids in grass.
• The Scarified Woman - the great carved monolith in the museum.
• The ball courts - Huastec versions of the Mesoamerican game.
• The river setting - the Tampaon's ceibas and herons.

When to go

November to April, in the morning - shade is scarce and the Huasteca's humidity climbs fast. Weekdays are effectively private.

Before you go

Architecture is earthen and reconstructed lightly - visitors expecting stone pyramids should adjust; the museum carries much of the visit. Signage is limited. Services are minimal; carry water.

Nearby

Tamuin's own smaller site lies nearby; Ciudad Valles is the base for the Huasteca's waterfall circuit.

Key facts