| Object Name: | Location of the Olmec carvings in Chalcatzingo |
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| Creation Date: | 100-200 B.C. | |
| Culture: | Olmec | |
| Site: | Chalcatzingo | |
| Material: | ||
| Repository: | ||
| Image source: | © Dr. Manuel Aguilar | |
| Dominating the flat valley floor are the remnants of three ancient igneous instrusions, a type of mountain known to geologists as an inselberg (island mountain), because it looks like an island rising above the surrounding landscape. Each "mountain" with its stark rock cliffs, stands over 300 meters above the valley floor, and serves as a landmark visible from great distances. It has a strong resemblance and could mean a mystic recreation of the Catemaco lake with its Tenaspi island, surrounded by the volcanoes of Tuxtla region (the mythical Tamoanchan, the place of Creation and Origin). In other words, the natural setting of Chalcatzingo provided to the Olmec the opportunity of finding another place of communication with the Supernatural World and the portal to the Underworld, and at the same time create another memorial sanctuary related to Tamoanchan. At the base of the cliff of the central peak, along the top edge of the talus slope, a Mexican investigator, Eulalia Guzman, discovered in 1934 a series of bas-reliefs on enormous boulders which she immediately identified as Olmec, similar to the carvings then known for La Venta. | ||
