Mexican scientists are building hypotheses about an ancient statue
In the hands of archaeologists in Mexico, a sculpture of a coyote man fell into the hands, shedding light on an ancient civilization that existed in America before the arrival of Europeans.
The Coyote Man of Tacambaro was found almost thirty years ago during drainage work in the Llanos de Canicuaro area (municipality of Tacambaro de Codallos), where in ancient times the Tarascan civilization built the city of Zintsunza (which means “place of hummingbirds” in the language of the Indian Purépecha people).
As HeritageDaily, an archeological news resource, explains, the Tarascan civilization (also known as Purepecha, after the language of its representatives) was a Mesoamerican civilization of the postclassic period (1400-1521 AD) that dominated a large part of western Mexico, occupying an area over 75 thousand square kilometers.
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have found an important sculpture of the Tarascan culture for the INAH Center in Michoacán.
This sculpture depicts a coyote man seated on a throne made of basalt 1.08 meters high and 45 cm wide. historical zones.
Archaeologists have won a three-decade lawsuit against the Coyote Man from Takambaro, an important archaeological site of the Tarascan civilization. The court ruled that the statue was “the property of the nation”.
Archaeologist José Luis Punzo says: “Images of coyotes and a dozen figures of a coyote man have been found at Zintzunzan and Ihuazio, very similar in shape to the figure from Tacambaro, but, as a rule, they were smaller in size – from 40 to 50 centimeters.”
There were many depictions of coyote spirits at the ancient settlement, although few were as tall or intricately carved as the newly discovered sculpture.
According to the archaeologist, one hypothesis is that the Coyote Man sculptures may represent a dynasty that ruled the site in pre-Hispanic times.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a statement that its experts are currently evaluating the state of the work, as a number of cracks were obtained during the work carried out by the municipality, which led to the discovery of the man-coyote. According to the institute, after the conservation is completed, it is expected that the ancient artifact “will take pride of place in the archaeological collection of the public museum of the city council.”