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Ancient Mesoamerica News Updates 2011, No. 13: Cerro de Coamiles, Nayarit - Archaeologists Uncover Retaining Wall Architecture
Yesterday, March 1, 2011, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) posted a short notice on the recent excavations at Cerro de Coamiles, close to Tuxpan, in the Mexican state of Nayarit. In the excavations the archaeologists uncovered retaining walls, showing the advance local architects had made. These architecture features at Cerro de Coamiles date from circa A.D. 900-1100 and made it possible to modify the natural topography. The note furthers refers to other recent discoveries made at this site, among them a plain stela on top of the hill which may have been used in solar observations (edited by AMaNU):

Localizan sistema prehispánico retaining walls - The archaeological site Coamiles Hill, near Tuxpan, Nayarit, specialists National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found a large pre-Hispanic walls, a monumental work shows the architectural development reached Aztatlán culture in the coastal strip of that entity, between 900 and 1350 AD The archaeologist Mauricio Garduño
Ambriz, the Nayarit INAH Center, announced the find was reported in the recent explorations Platform 4, a square of 150 m long and 46 m wide, located 72 m above the floodplain level.
During the investigation, he said, indicated the presence of four walls that run parallel, which were excavated 4 m from the front, allowing to know the characteristics of the construction system and temporary, "it works to expand the platform made during the Early Postclassic period (900-1100 AD) and Middle (1100-1350 AD). "
Mauricio Garduño, project manager of research at the site of Cerro de Coamiles stressed that this stands a wall system for quality and condition, "it's a facade composed of staggered bodies which together form a front of 2.70 meters high, and corresponds the years 900 to 1100 AD.
"The coordination and construction of this retaining wall system allowed to modify the original topography of the Cerro de Coamiles, thus condition the upper platforms where there are major temples, including an astronomical observatory and altars," said archaeologist .
The recent discovery of the wall system, said Mauricio Garduño, Coamiles confirmed that Hill was inhabited by a structurally and functionally complex society, which developed over fourteen centuries, from 100 BC to 1350 AD, with a marked division of work, a centralized power and a diversified economy supported by a high-yield agriculture, as well as the intensive exploitation of fish and shellfish in the wetlands (floodplain brackish water).
Aztatlán culture emerged during the early centuries of our era, in the northwestern coastal region of what is now the state of Nayarit, was a progressive development and population growth and territorial during the Classic period (200-900 AD), and held business contacts with groups in the highlands and the south of today's EU. Towards the Early and Middle Postclassic periods (800/900-1350 AD) reached its greatest geographical extent and cultural homogeneity within the archaeological sequence of western Mexico.
When placed on a plain bounded by San Pedro Mezquital rivers and Grande de Santiago, "the inhabitants of Coamiles had direct access to high-yield farmland and control of important water routes of communication between the coast and the Sierra Madre Occidental" Garduño said.
After overtaking that in order to determine the full extent of the retaining walls along the platform, provides a survey carried out with the use of penetrating radar, the archaeologist explained further that during scans also surveys made in the so-called North Acropolis, to corroborate that the architectural planning of this monumental was designed based on the astronomical observation of the equinoxes.
"even identified a smooth trail at the top of the hill that served as a marker solar calendrical use," he added. The INAH Center researcher Nayarit reported that from 2005 to date, the research project Coamiles Hill has conducted extensive surface surveys, so it has been determined that should cover an area of \u200b\u200b1.5 square kilometers. Garduño
archaeologist said that the ancient inhabitants of this site achieved a highly specialized craft, which was manifested in the local manufacture of pottery de uso ritual que fueron decoradas con una variada iconografía, que en algunos casos presenta afinidades estilísticas con cerámica contemporánea de Cholula, Puebla.
También, agregó, la metalurgia del bronce y del cobre fue una industria importante para estas poblaciones; el uso de artefactos de este último metal en anzuelos, agujas, cascabeles, pinzas, aros o cinceles, se generalizó entre la mayor parte de la población costera aztatlán desde 900 d.C.
Mauricio Garduño precisó que las exploraciones en el sitio se han concentrado en los sectores suroeste y noreste, donde se han identificado basamentos y montículos, zonas niveladas y terrazas; además, fue descubierto un nuevo conjunto petroglyphs, in addition to the 150 designs in the 80 reported by a mission led by the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.
Finally, the archaeologist said in collaboration with the National Coordination of Cultural Heritage Conservation and INAH Institute of Ecology, UNAM, provides for the design of a comprehensive preservation of archaeological monuments both Cerro of Coamiles, and their immediate environment, by enabling nature trails and the creation of a botanical garden. (Source INAH)