MEXICO CITY.- At the foot of the El Tlatoani hill, west of the municipality of Tlayacapan, in Morelos, archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) recently discovered the burial of a decapitated warrior and a pre-Hispanic oven meant for ceramic production, both associated to the Late Classic Period (350-600 AD).

The archaeologist Raul Francisco Gonzalez Quesada, from INAH in Morelos, said that the individual’s burial was found during the excavation of the lower part of the mountain, which corresponds to what used to be an urban space with at least two monuments.

“In this area we found a funerary cist with an individual accompanied by very expensive furnishings. His getup consisted of earflaps and a green stone beaded necklace, along with other artifacts made with this material and a series of pots. Among the osseous remains they identified the inferior extremities and the cervical vertebrae with traces of cuts, which indicates his decapitation”, detailed the specialist.

The experts think he may have been a warrior, since his cranium has a perforation possibly provoked by the tip of an arrow, which the individual survived, since the wound closed years after death.

“Given the qualities of his funerary attire and the location of his burial, we can deduce he was part of the elite of Tlayacapense society during his life. Said pieces are currently in restoration and under analysis”, he indicated.

Since last year, the National Institute of Anthropology and History has intervened at the top of the El Tlatoani hill in Sierra de Tepoztlan, Morelos where they have located dozens of archaeological sites. One of these sites is a temple-palace which must have been constructed during the year 600 of our era, in the beginning of the Epiclassic period.

Raul Francisco Gonzalez indicated that the hill El Tlatoani is not open to the public since it’s an investigated site; “it’s wider that what had been believed, although not as big as El Tepozteco. The research made here has the purpose of discovering who built here and who kept the temple-palace functioning, as well as knowing more about the elite and the agricultural-handicraft communities that must have participated in the keeping of this sanctuary in the high zone”.

In another explored section of the elevation, where the specialists suppose the existence of agricultural and handicraft communities, they found an oven which represents one of the few contexts of ceramic production of the pre-Hispanic epoch that have been located in the state of Morelos until now.

Finally, he added that through these investigations they will be able to determine the particulars of the culture and society of the ancient Tlayacapense in history.