MexicGo Archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico by Location: Tonina

Some 14km east of Ocosingo, the Classic-period Maya site of Toniná is large and impressive, yet it sees few visitors. At its height, Toniná was a great regional power: the city defeated Palenque and captured its ruler in 699 AD, and from then until after 900 AD, when it became the last of the great Maya centres to fall victim to whatever disaster led to them all being abandoned, it was probably the greatest power in the Usumacinta basin. It’s also the place where the latest Long Count date, corresponding to 909 AD, was recorded, and like all the major Maya centres, it was abandoned not long after. At the site entrance is a good museum, with a helpful model of the site, as well as drawings of some of the relief carvings still in place in the buildings. It also displays some of the more fragile sculptures from the site, many of which are images of bound prisoners and of decapitation a bit unnerving when packed together in the gallery space.

The ruins themselves, a five-minute walk from the entrance, are virtually all one enormous building, the Acrópolis, a series of seven artificial terraces built into the hillside and incorporating dozens of temples and other buildings. This is the “house of stone” that gave the site its Tzeltal name. A flashlight is useful to explore the labyrinthine interiors and internal staircases. Of the remaining stucco reliefs, the finest is the enormous (16m x 4m) Mural de las Cuatro Eras, on the sixth platform. This amazingly well-preserved stucco codex tells the story of Maya cosmology by following the eras of the world as they were created and destroyed. The worlds are depicted as decapitated heads surrounded by flowers. A grinning, skeletal Lord of Death presents a particularly graphic image as he grasps a skinned human head. At the summit is the Templo del Espejo Humeante (Temple of the Smoking Mirror), built around 840 AD, and a great vantage point across the valley.

The name that currently the city, Tonina is known comes from a word in the Tzeltal language, taking the meaning in Spanish of The stone house or where sculptures rise in stone in honor of the time, a name that is a good description of the place.

Cultural significance Tonina is located on the border between high and low lands, which confers unique characteristics, it is strategically located at the western end of the Mayan area, in one of the higher parts of the valley of Ocosingo, which Tonina was certainly his most important asset. The acropolis of Tonina, the central staircase with its 260 steps, cutting across seven platforms and 13 temples at the top. A pyramid of 74 meters high, larger than that of the Sun in Teotihuacan, is explored by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology (INAH) on the acropolis of Tonina, Chiapas, which has an age of 700 years. The territory of power Tonina has two major building spaces: the great platform enclosed by an architectural barrier and the pyramidal structure of seven major platforms and 260 steps.

The main entrance is south of the large platform; the ritual entrance is through the court of the ballgame, structure having in their heads two monumental stairs, and access to the north will reach the sacrificial altar. At the southern end of this great platform Temple is located War, which face the north facade has five altars with discs and tracks. North another set of five repeats and alter the background the great pyramid structure of seven levels, eight palaces, 13 temples, a public square, located on the sixth platform where altars and a pavilion for dancing placed rises. The whole architectural complex was a kind of theater where myths are recreated through the particular history of Tonina.

Tonina archaeological site is accessed from the town of Ocosingo, the site is located about 10 kilometers east of the Current city of Ocosingo, 115 kilometers from Palenque and 85 kilometers from San Cristobal de las Casas (Chiapas) in Mexico. You have to go down the road that goes into the jungle to the Rancho Guadalupe, where you have to turn 1 kilometer to the west by a gap that leads to Rancho Tonina. Visitors can also reach the site by taking the collective part of the town of Ocosingo Tonina direction.

To reach Toniná from Ocosingo, take one of the frequent combis that leave from the market area look for those marked “Predio/Ruinas”. Taxis are available as well. Near the ruins, a small café sells packaged snacks, locally grown macadamia nuts and espresso, from local coffee. For a spectacular flight over the ruins contact Hospedaje Esmeralda.

Tonina, Mexico