TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO—According to a report in The Art Newspaper, archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) are investigating four large earthen mounds at the site of El Naranjo, which is located in northern Mexico. Esteban Ávalos said that the 1,000-year-old mounds were part of a Huastec settlement, and were used for both burials and daily activities. Hearths, everyday ceramics, grinding stones, and projectile points have been recovered from two of the mounds, he explained, in addition to a dozen burials. Adults who had been interred in Mound 4 were buried with earrings made of green quartz and shells. Some of these earrings had been carved in the shape of flowers. In Mound 1, which is larger than Mound 4, Ávalos and his colleagues also found several burials, including of one adult whose remains had been placed in a limestone structure. “We can see that they practiced both single-individual and multiple-type burials, and that they were buried in different positions,” he said. The mounds themselves were made of alternating layers of earth, limestone, and basalt. Their foundations are similar to earthen houses that are still being built in the region, he concluded. To read about powerful women in the world of Maya politics, go to "Jungle Realm of the Snake Queens."
