In the municipality of Papantla, Veracruz, Mexico and only 15 minutes from Poza Rica, is the Tajin Archaeological Zone. Of Totonaca origin, it is a Pre-Columbian zone, believed to have reached its peak between 800 and 1150 AD.
It is believed that El Tajin was the capital of the Totonaca empire in the transition to the Postclassic period, also known as the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period. It has several scloned temples and ball game courts.
“El Tajin”, in Totonac “The City of Thunder”, is located at 120 cm of altitude between the Cazones and Tecolutla rivers. It is surrounded by low jungle vegetation, which gives the city a very different attraction from the rest of the archaeological sites in the country.
El Tajin was discovered in 1785 by engineer Diego Ruiz. However, formal archaeological excavations were not carried out until 1943. The pyramids are in the middle of hills, some discovered or semi-discovered and others to be discovered.
In 1992 it was declared a World Heritage Site and it is believed that its size is 2 or 3 times larger than it is today because of the pyramids that are not exposed and are still buried among the hills.
The pyramid of the Niches is the most important of the archaeological zone. It is so called because it has 365 niches. Each niche represents a day of the year and for that reason it has been studied by researchers of the Mesoamerican cosmovision.
