An exceptional collection of stucco masks is preserved in the archaeological zone of Tonin, Chiapas
Created: November 28, 2022
These faces, these portraits, look at us from the past, their gaze transports us to the royal court of the ancient and powerful Mayan kingdom. Photo: Silvia Vázquez, INAH Chiapas Center.
*** These faces look at us from the past and their gaze transports us to the royal court of the ancient and powerful Mayan kingdom of Po'o, according to archaeologist Juan Yadeun
*** In a representation it is seen how the lords of Toniná had a relationship with fantastic beings from the interior of the earth and the starry sky
BULLETIN 603
Ocosingo, Chis.- The federal Ministry of Culture, through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), announced that, in 42 years of research work in the Toniná archaeological zone, archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo has found diversity of archaeological materials, among which a large number of masks stand out, with various representations in stucco and sculptures, which give an idea of the ancient inhabitants of this city.
The researcher from the INAH Chiapas Center indicates that some of the stucco pieces were found around the structure known as the House of the Recreation of the Universe, which is to the southeast of the Sunken Plaza of the Palacio de los Caracoles, which date from around from the years 650 to 700 of our era.
Yadeun Angulo explains that these masks, most of them discovered in 2013, and since then, protected and preserved by the INAH, in the archives warehouse of the archaeological site, represent themes of the underworld, the earth and the sky, the levels where the lords of Toniná, the rulers and the people in general thought that it was distributed to the world and to the deities.
Likewise, in Toniná, the use of the human face in architecture is clearly seen: “Here the human body is part of the decoration of the buildings”, highlights the archaeologist.
More:
https://www.inah.gob.mx/boletines/una-excepcional-coleccion-de-mascaras-de-estuco-se-conserva-en-la-zona-arqueologica-de-tonina-chiapas