Cuyuxquihui: A Postclassic Site in the Region of El Tajín

Abstract The site of Cuyuxquihui has long been considered a key Postclassic site in the immediate region of the Classic period capital of El Tajín. This report provides an outline of what we know of Cuyuxquihui and discusses the historical and cultural relationships between that site and El Tajín as evidenced in the archaeological record. The architectural style, the role of public sculpture, and the importance of the ballgame were considerably transformed at the later site when compared to the Late Classic capital. The more important transformations include changes to the ballgame cult, including the construction of a single masonry ball court at Cuyuxquihui, far from the ceremonial center, unlike the multiple masonry courts in the center of El Tajín. Nor is there evidence for the yoke/ hacha / palma portable sculpture complex at Cuyuxquihui, a complex central to ballgame ritual at El Tajín. The Cuyuxquihui site plan owes something to the later period of El Tajín in its emphasis on terracing, while the scale of Cuyuxquihui is much smaller. This essay attempts to better define these transformations as part of an emerging Postclassic elite strategy to remake the region’s political geography after the decline of El Tajín.