The Most Mysterious Civilization to Ever Exist | Baffle Academics on the Brink of Major Discovery

classic veracruz culture origins the entire landmass that makes up the mesoamerican region has undergone so many changes through the millennia in the region we call veracruz today on the eastern side of mexico along the gulf lies mexico's most mysterious cultures to have ever existed they gave us bizarre cities like el tajin the city of storms and the notorious sempoala where the tectonic joined the spanish the veracruz culture and architecture were unique compared to other ancient mexico sites their pottery and figurines have a distinctive look leaving people guessing they had an asian influence everything about the veracruz culture has historians baffled the art of classic veracruz is rendered with extensive and convoluted banded scrolls that can be seen both on monumental architecture and on portable art including ceramics and even carved bones at least one researcher suggested that the heads and other features formed by the scrolls are a classic veracruz form of pictographic writing a proto-maya script perhaps like many they mysteriously came and then mysteriously disappeared the diversity of geography which includes everything from tropical beaches and plains to the heights of the sierra madre mountain range has been the site of multiple different civilizations throughout history of course there's a thrilling modern region of the world with plenty of wild areas still left to explore many ages ago before people sailed over from europe and brought considerable changes to the area multiple different ancient civilizations lived here as with most original groups the people were able to settle here because of the access to plenty of fresh water and fertile land so they could plant crops and raise domesticated animals the olmec were the first to band together to create a real civilization in this area they built cities for monarchies came up with an organized religion complete with multiple gods and rituals and even invented a unique court-based sport ruins from the olmec were dated to about 1000 bce to 300 bce however despite archaeologists calling the olmec the mother culture of the others that came after them they were not really the most important in and around what is modern-day veracruz the tectonic indian culture long after the olmec and even the maya came to dwindle in numbers the tectonic indians lived in this region of mesoamerica they took over the whole area quite effectively from gulf coast to pacific ocean this was more area than the other civilizations had covered in the earlier days estimates of their population put their numbers upwards of 250 000 people at the height of their influence much of the information we have about this group of people come from their oral tradition passed down through the generation some of the stories like their claim to have built tayoti waken a great city have very little archaeological evidence to back them up there is evidence that they migrated to the veracruz coastal area and started their own cities and trade routes through the area despite what the tetonic people believe is their history the people who study those days from an outside perspective have a rather different story eventually the power of the aztecs won out and they assimilated the tectonic indians into their own culture this process probably took a while but eventually they no longer had any real power outside of the aztec civilization their primary occupation seemed to remain as agriculture weaving and production of other natural products they grew maize fruit chocolate squash cotton and gathered honey and wax with such rich resources they should have been able to become quite rich in trade however much of the benefit went to the aztec who controlled the land and people of that time unique remnants of classic veracruz life the olmec created giant basalt stone heads jade masks and many small figurines of people and animals the maya offered the world detailed stone carvings painted in vibrant colors and stucco stele surrounding towering temples and palaces many of the native populations in the part of the world near veracruz traded regularly amongst themselves this facilitated the spread of art styles cultural identities religious practices and the ever-present and highly important ball game they all played [Music] ball game gear artwork explained how important the ball game was to the olmec and maya this was an energetic and sometimes violent game that involved a large stone-walled field with hoops set up high on opposing walls the object of the game was to use your hip knee elbow or shoulder to bounce the hard rubber ball through the hoop it was probably an early precursor to soccer or as most of the world calls it football this game was not only a fun activity and a spectator sport it also had deep ties to their religion with this much importance involved in the ball game it makes sense that the classic veracruz culture would include artistic efforts that depict elements of it or facilitate in a ball game related ritual three main types of ball game related sculptures existed they were known by the native language words for a yoke palm and axe in general the yolk sculptures were made from polished stone and looked like highly stylized horseshoe shapes they had various carvings and bulges and unique patterns the palm statues were thus called because they looked either like an outstretched hand or the spread of palm leaves likewise they were covered with intricate carvings that depicted many of the popular early motifs such as snakes eagles or jaguars the axe statues were likewise made from stone that may have been basshalled or jade these narrow carved shapes frequently took on the appearance of a human or animal in profile wearing elaborate headdresses these pieces of ballgame artwork were more than just things to sit around the court or receive a surprise after winning the game instead they were integral parts of the whole experience the horseshoe shaped yolk stones would fit around a human player's waist most archaeologists agree that the actual players would not wear a big stone belt while they ran around hitting the ball instead the yolks were a representation of the types of padding or gear that the ball players wore the actual pieces would be made from leather cotton or possibly reeds and wood it's possible that the palm statues matched some design of short clubs or sticks used in the game while the evidence for this type of playing is not strong some historians believe it might have been a locally played format of the game in general however they were probably more decorative they also became quite popular trade items throughout the region after all the ball game itself was a cross culture phenomenon the early olmec maya and other indian populations in the veracruz region may have very well traded these things like football fans would trade cards or jerseys today the spanish conquistadors arrive conflict in the veracruz between the aztec and the mexican people as well as other tribal powers in the region fueled the conflict with the men from europe the tectonic immediately fell in with cortes because they believed he and his men represented a power that could help them regain their freedom and stop the aztec control in the region because cortez and the other men on board the ships from across the sea had considerably more powerful weapons and horses on their side they were able to get rid of moctezuma's forces from their old lands and reclaim them together they founded what would one day become the city of veracruz in those days of the early 1500s it was called la villa rica de la veracruz or the rich town of the true cross it probably seemed like a very odd name to the tectonic natives whether they were hungry for power or simply wanted to stay on the right side of those immensely powerful new people who appeared on their mesoamerican lands the tectonic remained at the spaniard sites throughout the wars against the aztec by 1521 it had been effectively destroyed and the tectonic had cemented their place in history even during the years when they were establishing a more fixed and permanent civilization with large cities political systems and religious practices other native groups were active in the area even within the mayan world multiple cultural groups or divisions existed that could have been called different tribes in some ways one such was the hostica indians they held a territory near what is now veracruz and other cities in the area although they seemed to have something to do with the maya they did not live with them directly this isolated group spoke a dialect of the language but had their own city-states or controlled areas elsewhere the hausteka also existed in a few regions that were then controlled by the aztec one considerable difference between the house techs and the tectonic was how they approached the conquistadors from spain instead of welcoming them to the shores and aligning their interests with these new people they fought them actively to maintain control of their territory they managed to destroy one settlement in 1520 but could not hold them off two years later when a large force of europeans marched into their region and destroyed part of their territory and many of their lives despite the ferocity of the spaniards treatment towards this and other indian groups some of their descendants survived through the years and influenced modern mexican culture for example the hostica people which includes approximately 80 000 people today offer a wealth of music and dance to the folklore of this central american country veracruz through the years such an important port city always seems to have someone fighting for it in the early years when the spanish explorers came it became obvious that they would be able to hold the area more effectively than any of the native populations that already existed around veracruz as more ships came across the atlantic ocean this location became the point of entry for all other settlers warriors and eventually african slaves who were sold to people of means in mexico at that time because of its importance and the presence of frequent ships full of riches caribbean pirates also plagued its shores the 1800s brought new wars including a mexican civil war and the country began to run out of money they owed funds to various european countries conflicts with spain france the united kingdom and the united states all affected veracruz finally mexico regained control for itself and the modern age was born all that rich history would have had quite a different path through time if so many unique and culturally important native populations did not call the veracruz area their home several facets of the combined cultures in that region have brought mexico and the world some of the most unique artifacts and historical treasures history of the mysterious mesoamerican region does not focus on relatively modern wars conquest and trade alone when you look back through the millennia to times before europeans set foot on that land you find a considerable wealth of intriguing and unique culture important cultural sites as rich as the veracruz region of mesoamerica was in artifacts and architecture most of what existed back then has probably been lost to erosion and the encroaching growth of the forests however just like the almac and mayan cities still excite archaeologists and history buffs with their massive structures and unique designs other important cultural sites exist associated with other civilizations that lived in the veracruz area thousands of years ago two of the most prominent is the city of el tajin which lies near the coast of the gulf of mexico and sempoala which existed as the capital of the teutonic native civilization for many years [Music] el tagine the city of storms one prominent location in the veracruz culture of early mesoamerican civilizations was al tajin which existed as a thriving city around the year 1000 ce some archaeological evidence indicates that people lived here as early as the year 100 ce obviously during those days el tagine existed as a much smaller and simpler collection of buildings over the next thousand years or so the people who lived in the area continuously added on and revitalized things based on their needs wealth and cultural interests unesco is deemed it a world heritage site due to its overabundance of interesting and historically significant architecture perhaps the most well-known building in the city is a massive seven-story temple due to the many openings along every side and tier historians call it the pyramid of the niches when this city was used by the tectonic people it was not called el tagine which obviously has some roots in the spanish language however it was known as the city of storms because its primary focus was on worship and honoring the rain and storm god its geographic location probably contributes to that focus as they would experience storms coming in from the gulf of mexico semi-regularly some legends remained of 12 lords associated with the stormy weather who lingered in the city after it had succumbed to ruin that earned it the more modern name of el tagine [Music] prominent building projects in el tagine although the pyramid of the niches is one of the most frequently photographed structures in the city it's not one of the earliest the agricultural riches of the surrounding land focused on maize cacao tobacco and vanilla which were all sought after by other groups and locations in the veracruz area this continuous flow of prosperity allowed the people who live there to build regularly in approximately 500 ce the small collection of step pyramid temples gained the addition of the first ball court as with all other mesoamerican civilizations of the time this ball game was very important to the culture and religion of the people who lived there although some ruins offer indications that things were built prior to that it was only for around 600 ce that allowed a temple to survive through the millennia the famous niches of the pyramid temple was built in around 800 ce and it's still standing today with much of its former glory intact this was accompanied by a raised platform to help protect the area from flooding pyramids and palaces like many other step pyramids in the mesoamerican world this temple had a large staircase all the way up one side it's bordered by straight lines of stone with unique three-dimensional graphic signs inside even the staircase has altars and niches that you would have to walk around to get to the top in total the pyramid temple holds 365 niches which coincide with the number of days in a year this seems to indicate some possible worship of the sun god as he pertains to the day night cycle this impressive structure towered over the other buildings at more than 70 feet tall before it crumbled at the top its square base measured 118 feet long on a side no specific significance seems to pertain to this measurement it probably was just a nice even number to build a massive pyramidal temple with although el tagine itself took hundreds of years to reach its final form the pyramid of the niches seems to have been built all together in a 50-year period around 1100 ce the stone for its walls came down the river on rafts from a quarry some 25 miles away all the square niches on every tier of the pyramid is just shy of two feet deep they're not windows they also don't seem to hold anything like statuary or offerings of any kind the interior of the temple contains another pyramid with red paint covering its surfaces although it looks quite unique as it is today this would have shown quite spectacularly if the niches were openings for which you could see the red inside as it stands the niches do show evidence of having black pigment in the back and it's possible that the surface of the pyramid was once red like the inner one another prominent building in el tagine was called the chico as it housed the upper classes or rulers of the area in general the more important a person was the taller their home and their platform it rested upon this one was three levels up and at the highest land level of all the other parts of the city mayan style decorations and carvings decorated its stairs columns and walls the last ruler to live at altajin had the story of his life carefully preserved here for all subjects and future visitors to see while this was not specifically a place for a king to live in it was the highest authoritative building in the city fashioned from local sandstone there's nothing especially unusual about the chico despite its place on the northeastern hill overlooking the other parts of the city tournament level ball game courts although there are no direct records of the mesoamerican ball games having structured playoffs and tournament seasons historians have figured out that people did support different teams and cheer them onto victory also the presence of a simply amazing number of all the game fields at el tagine gives an indication that there may be some sort of gathering specifically to watch many of these games in the same place the region around the big city was very well known for having a lot of rubber trees of course they needed this material to create the balls they used to play the game not only did the people build these massive courts in many locations around the city they also did so in a very careful way so that there would be plenty of natural seating for the spectators as a historical reminder of the possible fate of the winners of these sporting matches an intricate carving of a ritualistic heart removal ceremony that was probably created sometime in the 7th or 8th century ce covers one wall of the ball court even though most of the buildings were made from stone the city of al tajim caught on fire around 1100 ce and burned up large stores or trade goods people's belongings and undoubtedly killed some of the citizens who lived there unwilling or unable to rebuild the people left the city and moved elsewhere all altogether the architecture and building methods used by the people who created el tagine were quite sophisticated carving out all those hundreds of niches alone must have taken quite a long time limestone is not the hardest rock to carve but the builders would still have used stone tools at that time metal objects did start to appear around the same time but only for smaller decorative items there was no real indication of this around this early city while the buildings are impressive and whatever remains of the artwork and carving tell something about the rulers and religion practice there al tagine did not have huge amounts of historical records in the form of images or hieroglyphs this is one way that the city differed from others more integral to the mayan civilization in those early years sempoala where the tectonic joined the spanish the specific spelling of this important mesoamerican city differs slightly depending on who you speak to there's no question that it played an important role in the history of the veracruz area this powerful city is where the teutonic native group lived and defended their population from the aztecs for as long as they possibly could just five miles inland from the gulf of mexico the city itself was quite prosperous and important to the various people who lived in that region during the time one of the most important geographic features that made this such an ideal spot for a capital city was the high number of fresh water rivers that flow to the area it made the surrounding landscape very ripe for agriculture the city was far beyond anything built near the turn of the millennia by the olmec or early mayan architects and builders sembawala held approximately 80 000 to 120 000 people by the time the spanish fleet came across the ocean to their new world in fact it was the first sign of civilization that cortes and his men saw when they began to move into the interior of the region around what would become veracruz it seems obvious to imagine that the european explorers were quite surprised to see such a vast and thriving city cortez only had approximately 500 men with him which made him vastly outnumbered if he had planned to attack sempoa of course he also had horses and much better weapons than the native population still they had no interest in taking over the city this was quickly supported by the fact that the tectonics seemed quite eager to support them within the population of an average of one hundred people the capital city contains nine different precincts the downtown area of the city itself spread over approximately 30 acres but the amount of space taken up by other buildings compounds courtyards roads and houses spread quite a large way outside that area architecture and art archaeologists who came to sempoala long after the spanish showed up and still see quite a lot of evidence of its former splendor its layout matched many other important places that the teutonic lived in everything was highly organized from the very center rose relatively short walls that differentiated 12 private compounds from the public spaces these included temples and shrines mostly dedicated to the wind god palaces for royal or noble folk and open areas where people could congregate and come together to do business or worship due to the proximity of sampawala to the gulf of mexico and the relatively flat plains that led up to it the builders were intelligent enough to put important buildings up on platforms constructed from carefully fitted stone the designs of the buildings themselves mimicked aztec architecture quite closely instead of carved blocks of stone they use rounder river rock that could probably be found quite easily in any of the nearby waterways they kept blocks only for the most important buildings such as royal households and temples like many of the other buildings in the mesoamerican world throughout the centuries the ones found in the capital city were considerably decorated with pillars wide doorways stucco decorations and carvings the art that adorns the walls and cempawala seems to feature skulls quite prominently the success of sembawala as mentioned previously the access to fresh water and rich farmland made the capital city of the tetonic people quite prosperous in the region not only did they have the ability to grow many different crops due to fertile fields but they also built aqueducts or canals to carry the water from the river directly to the crop fields around the time period between 1200 and 1400 ce most crops were grown on terraced fields watered by a unique canal system they were so successful at growing maize agave beans and cotton that they held quite a bit of trade power even over the aztecs who sought to control them legend tells of a famine around the year 1450 that forced the aztecs to sell their children to the tectonic in exchange for grain individual families also had gardens near their homes these may have included everything from simple vegetables to spice plants medicinal herbs and cacao trees which gave them their favorite hot chocolate drinks agricultural historians suspect that people experimented with new types of crops at home before they'd try them on a grander scale in the fields the aztecs take over sempewalla despite their riches due to trade and agriculture the tectonic people and their capital city came under the control of the aztec after that famine was over perhaps the ones who did not have grain to eat thought it prudent to use their might to ensure that type of thing never happened again they attacked insisted on high payments of everything from cotton and maize to exotic gems and obsidian and enslaved many people who lived in the city approximately 50 years later the spanish came to the shores in the gulf of mexico and found sempewala under the rule of the aztecs the cultural leader of the tectonic people saw his opportunity and took it they aligned themselves with the conquistadors and launched an attack against the aztec and ultimately won unfortunately these alignment with the foreigners from across the ocean brought destruction upon their people anyway diseases such as malaria and smallpox spread to the population and reduced it considerably whoever survived moved away from simple wall at a city such as veracruz that were being built up by the spaniards after this time more europeans continue to come across the ocean and infiltrate mesoamerican culture or just take it over remnants of the cultural groups that lived in and around veracruz all those years ago still exist in the world today but have changed from their roots considerably due to their assimilation in the spanish culture the mysterious mesoamerican history although many parts of the history of mesoamerica and the people who populated this region for thousands of years is well known through the archaeological and historical research and records it still maintains an aura of mystery to people today so many different civilizations and divisions within them rose and fell over the years some succeeded together with deep trade agreements open commerce and banding together against enemies they shared culture art sports and religion although some of their practices seem rather barbaric and unusual to modern people they still intrigue us in ways that we do not expect many people travel to the central american region near the port city of veracruz for a chance to journey into the jungles and see the amazing stone buildings and artwork left behind by people thousands of years ago each carved stone and each brightly colored mural ignite an inside feeling of mystery and curiosity what was life really like for the early civilizations that launched many others in that part of the world although we can track some of their rises and falls others are lost to history and we can only guess about how they came to be and why they disappeared today in mexico guatemala honduras and other countries in that part of the world near the warm waters of the gulf cultural groups that still pass on their ancestors traditions and legends work alongside the descendants of the spanish conquistadors and settlers who came to the land to find it already occupied as many cultures do these people blended together to create the unique cohesive experience of life in a mesoamerica today

Channel: DTTV - Archaeology Answers

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Length: 29min 9sec (1749 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 07 2019