Technical Archive of the Archeology Section of the INAH Tamaulipas Center
The intentionally deformed head shape had never been seen in the region. It suggests symbolic affinities and cultural sharing between Mesoamerican regions.
The skull of a man over 40 years old, who was born, lived and died in the same place between 1600 and 1000 years ago, was found in the Balcón de Montezuma Archaeological Zone, in the north of the Huasteca de Tamaulipas. But this skull is not just another skull: it is a real puzzle.
This is because the individual from Sierra Madre Oriental presents a cranial deformation with a very rare variant: the intentional deformation gives the skull an almost cubic appearance. The practice will be unprecedented in that mountainous region.
“The type recorded for Balcón de Montezuma is tabular erect, but has a superior plane that had not been seen before in bone remains recovered in the Huasteca. Unlike other types that are common, this form is tabular superior or parallelepiped, so called by some experts due to the polyhedron appearance it causes in the skull, where the compressor plane is between the lambda on the occipital angle to the sagittal suture in the parietals, which makes the head have a more square shape, as opposed to the conical shape”, explains the physical anthropologist Jesus Ernesto Velasco Gonzalezresponsible for the analysis of human remains, at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
This particular type of deformation had already been recorded at the site of El Zapotal, in the state of Veracruz, points out the researcher, and more recently in areas of the Mayan region. However, the variants are not identical: in El Zapotal, for example, the front tends to flatten out more and project greater height, while in Balcón de Montezuma the upper profile is lower.
But there are indeed similarities. Therefore, the team sought to understand whether the practice resulted from migration or direct contact with populations from El Zapotal or other regions of southeastern Mexico.
Stable oxygen isotope studies were performed on collagen and bioapatite from bone and tooth from a second individual. The results indicate that he was also born, lived and died in the mountainous region itself: the hypothesis of direct mobility from Veracruz or areas further south was therefore ruled out.
Despite ruling out the migration explanation, the discovery maintains a strong cultural weight. Intentional cranial deformation was a common body practice throughout Mesoamerica, associated with identities, status and community belonging. Different forms were obtained through specific devices, such as boards and bandages, cofias or cunas, applied in the first years of life. The final shape of the skull conditioned the person’s appearance and was linked to the use of headdresses and adornments, reinforcing visual distinctions between groups.
On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, from Yucatan to Florida, this type of cranial modification was for a long time considered an indicator of relationships and contacts between pre-Columbian peoples. The presence of the upper tabular variant in Balcón de Montezuma suggests symbolic affinities and cultural shares with other Mesoamerican regions, even in the absence of direct population movements, during the Mesoamerican Classic period (400–900 AD).
