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Pomona a Classic Maya Site

POMONA, A SITE OF THE CLASSIC MAYA

Within this overall picture is that we can locate Pomona, ancient Mayan city.

In the beginning was a small farming village a few miles west of the great river Usumacinta place where it enters the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico, there the river becomes calm and gentle meanderings trace to reach the sea. As a political entity flourished between 600 to 800 AD Today is located in the town of Tenosique, in the state of Tabasco.

The importance of this archaeological site lies in the wealth of hieroglyphic inscriptions found that not only give us a chronology of their development but also information on their leaders and their relationships with other cities of that era, such as Palenque and Piedras Negras, relationships which, incidentally, were not always peaceful.

ARCHITECTURE

The core of monumental architecture was constructed on a series of mounds of gravel of fluvial origin. It is composed of six major architectural complexes, along with residential areas covering about 175 hectares.

The area was developed and participated Pomona was named "Usumacinta province": there are several important sites have been identified whose inscriptions emblem glyph given name: Palenque, Tonina, Piedras Negras, Yaxchil'na, Bonampak, Lacanha and, of course, Pomona. Each of these formed a political entity with its own government, territory and population. This is the pattern identified for the Late Classic Period (600 to 900 AD) in the Mayan area.

In the course of his political and military history, Pomona, as narrated in the hieroglyphic texts, depended mainly on Palenque. When you start a war with Piedras Negras, was defeated.

This city, like Panjal or Chinikiha (the latter two sites among several others are yet to explore), was at the beginning of the lower Usumacinta, and obviously played an important role in political and economic terms, since it served as a door entry to high Usumacinta, and therefore a significant portion of the Peten, access point products toward the coastal plain.

In Pomona there were considerable agricultural resources, due to be in a region of alluvial deposits. The Maya developed a unique technology for better harvests in different circumstances, such as terraces, raised fields and other practices that enabled them to succeed in difficult terrain.

EXPLORATION

Of the six groups of buildings throughout the site, currently only one has been explored and consolidated. It is situated at the northern end, consisting of thirteen buildings that are distributed on three sides of a rectangular square. It is bordered by a large base quadrangular pyramid with seven bodies staggered vertical walls. Its main facade is oriented to the south, where rudeness is limited by the stairway balustrades. At the bottom and in front of this one is a circular altar, mounted on four supports it off the floor.

In the center of the plaza sits a low altar, whose characteristics are most important to have a first slope-shaped body and a second group with a board, both in lower and upper section there are wide moldings. Another notable elements of this building, and rare in this region, is to have four staircases with balustrades one per facade.

The western end of the square is bounded by five large buildings, oriented to the east. Each consists of a basement with stairs and into the upper section a temple covered with a dome.

Building 4

From this set, no doubt building 4 is the most complex of Pomona, the front has stairs with ramps leading to the top of the stepped base. There also stands the temple with stairs and ramps, and in the latter there are four monumental inscriptions which represents the Kin, the Sun In the top section were the outbursts of the temple walls were composed of two bays and three access openings covered by the system of fake Mayan vault or arch. Inside were located sculptural panels representing richly dressed characters, with hieroglyphic inscriptions.

At the other end of the square, on the east side are low platforms that limit the space. Outstanding among them was a small basement that is peculiar characteristics, composed of three whose corners are tucked in, with three edges instead of one. This type of construction is associated with earlier periods of Mayan architecture.

The south end of the square is covered, but with access stairs, as if the whole set more distant relationship with others that are located in the same direction within Pomona.

THE MUSEUM

This site has a small museum, which also show the objects recovered during exploration, a collection of pieces which offers the visitor an overview of archaeological finds in that region.

POMONA NEWS

Maler Teobert In 1898, Austrian photographer, relates that took as its point of departure for his expedition to the Mayan population Tenosique crossed after the Usumacinta and camped in the village of Pomona to go, finally Chinikiha, xupa and Palenque. In his work registers only in the general map Pomona.

A year earlier (1897), the geographer Karl Sapper had published a map of the Maya area, where he realized Pomona, but like Maler, Sapper not provide further information on the site. The same thing happens later with Oline Rickeston and Franz Blom, who only mention it in its index of archaeological sites in the Maya area.

It was in the sixties of this century when he appeared in Pomona archaeological literature by the work of Heinrich Berlin (1960) and Cesar Lizardi Ramos (1963).

At the same time, the site suffered the brunt of the looting, an undetermined number of sculptural monuments in the area were gone. Today, however, have identified two pieces of extraordinary craftsmanship: one part of the collections of Museun of Fine Arts Houston Texas, USA, and the other of which comprise the Reitberg Moseum in Zurich, Switzerland.

Among other major inputs from Berlin to help the knowledge of the site, it is interesting to mention that it was he who identified the inscriptions on the emblem glyph of Pomona.

The work of Cesar Lizardi Ramos reach greater precision as to the description of the sculptural monuments and even a brief summary of the distribution of the main buildings. It details 34 fragments with traces of inscriptions and decorative motifs, as well as a trail, six tablets, three boards, among others, located in 1960.

In 1982 he conducted the delimitation of Pomona. The exploration and consolidation took place between 1986 and 1988 with the support of state government, the municipality of Tenosique and INAH. That was how I explore the set of Pomona and was opened to the public museum, in which the pieces on display were in Tenosique since 1963, discovered in the last scan, as well as important private collection assembled by Joseph Mary Silva, made precious objects from the region around the town of Tenosique.

If you want to visit

The archaeological site is located at the west end Tenosique municipality in the state of Tabasco. From Villahermosa, on Highway 186 to Escarcega, 136 kilometers to take the road 203 e Emiliano Zapata and Tenosique. About 45 km is the turnoff to the site of Pomona, which is reached after 4 km of dirt.

The Usumacinta Canyon

The Canyon San Jose is a gap cut by the river in a line of mountains running perpendicular to the river. The walls of the canyon rise a thousand feet (333 meters) vertically for at least a mile or more across this range. It must be some sort of geological wonder. It is as though a huge damhad a gash through which the river flowed unimpeded. I have yet to learn how his could have ocurred. Did the river just find its way through cracks and crevices in antiquity or did the range push its way up though the surface after the formation of the river? If the former, was there a great lake? Most of the rock seemed volcanic. In fact, the base rock seemed volcanic from the very start ten days earlier.

In places in the canyon, the river is narrowed and the current correspondingly faster. It has it share of rapids and fresh springs coming out of cracks in the rock walls. And oddly enough, Spanish moss hanging like some bizarre Babylonian Gardens. At points the irregularities in the canyon afford a still place in the eddys out of the main current. We were able to pull up to one of the springs to fill one of the five gallon water carriers

By the way, we were almost at the end of the trip. With my digital camera out of action having gone for a swim and fresh film used up, I turned to the outdated stuff. My personal recommendation: If it's a critcal shoot, you may be disappointed with the results using all film as these photos illustrate. Unless, of course, you like the effect.


Holiday pordes find on this river, boat skills, spas, swimming pools, fishing, where we can spend catering facilities and comfortable holiday.

Tenosique Carnaval.

Nearly two tons of flour were thrown at the start of Carnival's most impressive of Tabasco. In the town of Tenosique hundreds of people of different ages are covered with layers of flour, egg and water, while anxiously awaiting the start of the carnival festivities, famous for the ritual dances of "El Pocho" and "Whitey". These customs are unique Tenosique.

Among the peculiar customs of this region is one that is distinguished by the fact that it has retained, through many years, its primitive characters, despite their elaborate ceremonies, the custom is a dance called "El Pocho" that takes place during carnival days, beginning on January 20, Feast of San Sebastian. The mythical character of this dance is unquestionable and it is considered that its origins are traced back to before the Conquest, as practiced by indigenous people as part of a religious ceremony to worship their gods. When the conquerors converted the natives to Christianity, the dance continued running, but since then the intimate relationship with the Catholic religion, although not part of worship, and this is how it retains to this day.

Pocho is a series of dances and other ceremonies performed to the beat of a melodic and melancholy music, produced by a whistle made of bamboo cane, accompanied by drums, all this symbolizes the purification of man through the struggle between good and evil. The characters of these dances are the "cojoes" (men), the "pochoveras" (maids) and "tigers." According to the plot, the upper cojoes are creatures of nature, in whom the gods have placed positive and negative traits, the evil god called Pochó want the destruction of men and sent the Tigers to remove them; pochoveras group acting ambiguously, first as a liaison between the Pochó and earthly beings, and then as a mediator between cojoes and tigers. The three groups of characters finally decide to "pick his steps", ie retrace his life of reprehensible acts, and destroy it within themselves to God Pochó. The latter is symbolized by the fact of removing their masks in the same place where the glasses, he had absorbed its negative aspects, and to go throwing in a career by several blocks, dress up the vegetables cojoes locker room. It is then a return to innocence by an act of purification.

The number of performers of this dance is variable. At the beginning of the festivities are about fifty men, mostly youths and children, but the culmination of Mardi Gras is more than a thousand cojoes, pochoveras twenty and ten tigers.

As for the ritual clothing, the use cojoes straw hat covered with flowers and long leaves and fresh cañita, two handkerchiefs tied to the head and face covered with a wooden mask, carrying a bag of hemp on his shirt, a towel or cloth on their shoulders; gloves (or socks that do the same function of covering the hands); skirt big chestnut leaves, woven into a rope tied around the waist and leggings dried banana leaves (sojol " ). The pochoveras dress hat covered with flowers, white blouse, flowered skirt, a shawl or scarf over her shoulders and collars. Finally, the Tigers have the whole body except the hair and back, muddy yellow earth ( "we drew) with round black spots applied to the mouth of a bottle cap or a small bottle, about the head and shoulders carry a ocelot or jaguar skin, and the height of the snout of the animal, a red flower. The cojoes use several accessories such as sticks, rattles (shiquis ") flour or water containers and even obscene objects

It should be mentioned that there is a character named "Captain" (formerly known as the "judge"), which is responsible for preserving the tradition and the sacred fire, and carried out all the rituals involved. To name the "master of the Pocho" the community agrees on the person who will fall next year appointment, which is always a renowned Indian, and then given a tumultuous meeting against the elected house, throwing stones at the ceiling bottles, oranges and other objects. The owner comes to the door and announced that he accepted the job. Finally, when the night people are installed in the outgoing captain's house to attend the "death of Pocho" that from that moment he fell seriously ill. This ceremony takes place as a wake, which recalls the events of the season while consuming tamales, candy, coffee and brandy, all accompanied by the rhythm of the drums all night Tuesday. At dawn the morning of Ash Wednesday, the beat of the drums is becoming slower and finally silent before the death of Pocho, so all they say goodbye until next year.

Moreover, in regard to the dance of "The Whitey" which also takes place during Carnival, it is a mixed dance of protest which probably originated in the Peten region of Guatemala for the Blacks brought as slaves to the Spanish conquerors. It is believed that could be introduced to Tenosique by the year 1890 by a character named Jose Perez.

The dance is that 10 or 12 young dancers dressed in cotton trousers and body smeared with lime mud (shosclok "), try to imitate the skin of the white masters, to ridicule, as a protest against the bad treatment they gave to the black slaves in the hard work of clearing the forest hardwoods for the Spanish exploited.

The dancers, known as "Whitey" look on his head a cylindrical plume with colored confetti and bear tattooed on his chest and back a cross that symbolizes achiote Christian religion of the whites, they are abused by a black foreman that is accompanied by their wives and that the lashes during the dance to make them work. The "Whitey" they spend complaining over representation.

These customs, unique in the region and throughout the Republic, still remain living with their burden of symbolism and tradition can be witnessed during the carnival celebrations that take place in the town of Tenosique, Tabasco.

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Welcome.

This blog is dedicated to one of the most important and beautiful towns in the state of Tabasco, Mexico.

May find a guide to this country hotels, restaurants, rivers, locations, maps, videos, etc.

Tenosique de Pino Suarez is divided by 73 ejidos, 15 villages and 11 towns.

Its area is 2098.1 km ², which corresponds to 7.55% of the state total, that puts the town in sixth place in terms of territory. It is bordered on the north by the municipality of Balance, the South by the state of Chiapas and the Republic of Guatemala, on the east by the Republic of Guatemala, and West by the municipality of Emliano Zapata and the state of Chiapas.