El Tajín: La Gran Xicalcoliuhqui--page 7 (of seven pages)

9th and 10th centuries



See map.

The Great Enclosure

This stone wall runs "in the shape of a squared spiral that closely resembles the step-and-fret design repeated all over the site. The wall is actually a narrow platform with a talud-tablero exterior face and niches adorning both the tableros and the taluds" (Andrew Coe 191). Much of this area of the terrace above the ceremonial center below is unexcavated.



Works consulted or quoted:
Andrew Coe. Archaeological Mexico. Emeryville, CA: Avalon Travel Publishing, 2001.
Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. Fifth Edition. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Mary Ellen Miller. The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec. Third Edition. London: Thames and Hudson, 2001.



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© 2009 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.