It is a monumental figure perched on a throne. Known as the coyote-man of Tacámbaro, a site in the central Mexican state of Michoacán, the sculpture was discovered nearly 30 years ago but has always been kept hidden in a private collection. It will now be restored
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (Inah) have recovered an important artifact of pre-Hispanic culture, from the period of the Aztecs: it is a monumental figure with a coyote head perched on a throne. Known as the coyote-man of Tacámbaro, a site in the central Mexican state of Michoacán, the sculpture was discovered nearly 30 years ago during construction work on some buildings.
However, the artifact was always kept in a private collection until it was recovered by archaeologists through a Mexican federal law that regulates the ownership and conservation of national cultural assets.
The neighborhood of Llanos de Canícuaro in Tacámbaro, where the man-coyote was first unearthed, was the site of the Tarascan city of Tzintzuntza, which means “place of hummingbirds” in the Purépecha language.
Representations of coyote spirits were prolific in the ancient settlement, though few were as tall as the recovered sculpture. The Inah explained in a statement that its specialists are now evaluating the state of the sculpture, as a series of fractures were caused during its rough extraction thirty years ago.
On the importance of sculpture, the archaeologist José Luis Punzo stated: «We know that the last lords of Tzintzuntzan, who wrote the ‘Relacion de Michoacán’, were the so-called uacúsecha, the” race of the eagle “. there was another large city on Lake Pátzcuaro, Ihuatzio, which means “place of the coyotes”, where most of these sculptures have been placed. One hypothesis is that the sculptures of coyote-men could represent a dynasty that has ruled this place, even before the Uacúsecha story was written ».
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