MegalithFringe site
San Bartolo
DatedEst. 1200 BCE–900 CE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
San Bartolo is a locality in the municipality of Acolman, in the State of México, Mexico. The catalogue lists it as a stone monument site of unclassified type, with a typological estimate for its date of between 1200 BCE and 900 CE.
Very little is recorded about the place itself beyond its location and the origin of its name.
Read on Wikipedia1 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
San Bartolo
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): San Bartolo (Acolman)CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): San Bartolo (Acolman)CC BY-SA 4.0
The name San Bartolo refers to the patron saint of the locality, Bartolomé Apóstol (Saint Bartholomew the Apostle).
Many stelae are carved in low relief, though plain ones are found throughout the Maya region.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): San Bartolo (Acolman)CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): San Bartolo (Acolman)CC BY-SA 4.0
Monuments of this kind in Mesoamerica belong to a wider tradition of carved stone. The civilisations of Mesoamerica raised carved stone monuments, and Maya stelae are tall sculpted stone shafts, often paired with low circular stones called altars, though their actual function is uncertain. Many stelae are carved in low relief, though plain ones are found throughout the Maya region.
The sculpting of such monuments spread across the Maya area in the Classic Period (about 250 to 900 CE), and the pairing of a sculpted stela and an altar is a hallmark of Classic Maya civilisation. The Olmec colossal heads are much older. They are stone representations of heads carved from large basalt boulders and date from at least 900 BCE.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Mesoamerican stelae and carved stone
Mesoamerica's civilisations raised carved stone monuments. Maya stelae are tall sculpted stone shafts, often paired with low circular stones called altars, though their actual function is uncertain. Many stelae are carved in low relief, though plain ones are found throughout the Maya region. The sculpting of these monuments spread across the Maya area in the Classic Period (about 250 to 900 CE), and the pairing of sculpted stela and altar is a hallmark of Classic Maya civilisation. The earliest dated stela found in place in the Maya lowlands comes from Tikal in Guatemala, and during the Classic Period almost every Maya kingdom in the southern lowlands raised stelae in its ceremonial centre.
The Olmec colossal heads, much older, are stone representations of heads carved from large basalt boulders, from 1.17 to 3.4 metres high. They date from at least 900 BCE and are a distinctive feature of Olmec civilisation. All portray individuals with distinctive features of the people who still live in Tabasco and Veracruz, and the backs are often flat. The boulders came from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains in Veracruz, and given the weight of the stone, which was moved over 150 kilometres, much labour was needed.
Many Maya stelae carry inscriptions in hieroglyphs with dates in the Long Count calendar, and so can be dated to the day. This makes them among the most precisely dated monuments in the Atlas. They commemorate rulers and events, not the dead in general.
The Atlas's records in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize are mostly Maya sites with stelae, altars and carved monuments.
When visiting, look at the carved figure on the front, which is usually a ruler, and at the glyphs on the sides and back. Many stelae are now protected by roofs.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Maya stelae, Wikipedia: Olmec colossal heads, Wikipedia: Stele · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 1200 BCE–900 CEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypological estimate, not a date for this site: a other in Mesoamerica is normally dated between 1200 BCE and 900 CE (Atlas typological table).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Type
- Other / unclassifiedSource: Type
- Country
- MexicoSource: Country
Where it stands
Mexico
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 19°39′19″ N, 98°54′01″ WFor a GPS or map app: 19.65537, -98.90027
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q61247347wikidata.org
- 02Fringe claim sourceen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "San Bartolo (Acolman)" (Spanish), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (Spanish): San Bartolo (Acolman)CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q61247347CC0
- Fringe claim sourceCC BY-SA 4.0