Izapa

Izapa, an archaeological site located on the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantépec in the Soconusco district of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. It is a regional center famous for its hundreds of Late Formative Guillen (300–50 b.c.) sculptures. The Izapan style, temporally and stylistically intermediate between the Olmec and the Maya, is distributed along the Pacific coast and in the highlands of Guatemala.

Izapa is a large ceremonial center of 1.5 square miles. Boulder-faced platforms define eight large plazas. Structures are oriented to astronomical events and the Tacaná Volcano. Distributed throughout the plazas are stone monuments, including stelae, altars, and thrones, just over fifty of which are carved.

The Izapan sculptures are important for their unique style. Stelae are decorated with low-relief narratives. Unlike later Maya sculptures of deified humans, they show scenes of ritual confrontation involving human figures with feline, serpentine, or crocodilian characteristics or of communication with serpentine deities. The art depicts rituals of sacrifice and death, water and fertility, worldview and creation, and astronomy. Such scenes are usually framed top and bottom by stylized zoomorphic beings and terrestrial bands, respectively.

Izapa has been interpreted as having been a residence for religious rulers and a pilgrimage center. The ceremonial and symbolic stone art, evidence of incense burning, and large ritual deposits of valuable materials are evidence of its importance as a religious center.

See alsoMaya, the; Mesoamerica; Olmecs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

V. Garth Norman, Izapa Sculpture, 2 vols., New World Archaeological Foundation Paper 30 (1973–1976).

Jacinto Quirarte, Izapan-Style Art: A Study of Its Form and Meaning, in Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, no. 10 (1973).

Gareth Lowe, Thomas A. Lee, Jr., and Eduardo Martínez Espinosa, Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments, New World Archaeological Foundation Paper 31 (1982).

Additional Bibliography

Barba de Piña Chan, Beatriz. Buscando raíces de mitos mayas en Izapa. Campeche: Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma del Sudeste, 1988.

Guernsey, Julia. Ritual & Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.

Malmström, Vincent Herschel. Cycles of the Sun, Mysteries of the Moon: The Calendar in Mesoamerican Civilization. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

                                      Eugenia J. Robinson