Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site)

Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site) is an archaeological site of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, located in the Chiapas highlands region of present-day Mexico. At its height during the Late Formative period, it was a regional center or capital of the area and controlled trading routes through the Grijalva river valley.

The modern township of Chiapa de Corzo, founded in Colonial times and after which the site was named, is nearby.

Site history

The site shows evidence of continual occupation since the Early Formative period (ca. 1400 BCE). The mounds and plazas at the site, however, date to approximately 700 BCE with the temple and palace constructed during the Late Formative, perhaps 400 BCE to 200 CE. Around 300 BCE, however, formal construction declined. At about the same time, Maya pottery types began to be included in elite burials, although utilitarian ceramics retained traditional patterns. This has suggested to some researchers, that the Maya culture to the east exerted influence or even control over Chiapa de Corzo, although there seems to be a waning of that Maya influence in the first centuries CE. It was during this time that the ancient platform mounds were covered with limestone and stucco.

Notable finds

The oldest Mesoamerican Long Count calendar date yet discovered, December 36 BCE, was found on Stela 2 (which is not a stela at all, but rather a misnamed, inscribed wall panel). All that survives of the original text is the day-name and the digits 7.16.3.2.13.

Chiapa de Corzo is also notable for a pottery shard containing what is likely Epi-Olmec script. Dated to as early as 300 BCE, this sherd would be the oldest instance of that writing system yet discovered.