page_title: Ixtlán del Rio (archaeological site)
section_title: Shaft Tomb Tradition
hierarchical_section_title: Ixtlán del Rio (archaeological site) / Background / Shaft Tomb Tradition
caption_attribution_description: English: Shaft tomb exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México
context_page_description: Ixtlán del Rio is an archaeological site located in the Ixtlán del Rio municipality, on the south west region of the Nayarit State, Mexico. It is also known as "Los Toriles" and contains the only vestiges of the western cultures in Nayarit.
  The presence of prehispanic vestiges in the form of petroglyphs are registered in five areas, the most important are "El Terrero", "Sayulapa" and "El Veladero", which depict sgraffiti lines and representations of abstract figures, such as spirals with rays.
  Of the traditional Shaft Tombs, five large concentration areas are identified, containing human bone remains; domestic pottery ollas, comales and cantaros ]; as well as sculpture type remains.
context_section_description: On the traditional shaft tomb tradition, five major areas of concentration were identified, containing bones; ceramics for domestic use (pots, comales and pitchers); and remains of sculptural type (human and animal figures).
  The Shaft Tomb Tradition (500 BCE - 500 CE) constitutes a peculiar feature of mesoamerican prehispanic development in México, although there are analog burials forms elsewhere in the continent. Shaft Tombs thus far discovered in the Nayarit territory, were found and excavated outside of the settlement sites of that epoch, in vertical shafts (Wells), with one or two chambers where their dead were placed together with human and animal sculptures, also with large vessels that contained funerary offerings, these reflect the development achieved by this tradition, with the particular regional characteristics found.
  The Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition or shaft tomb culture refers to a set of interlocked cultural traits found in the western Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and, to a lesser extent, Colima to the south, roughly dating to the period between 300 BCE and 400 CE, although there are disagreements on this end-date.  Nearly all of the artifacts associated with this shaft tomb tradition have been discovered by looters and are without provenance, making dating problematic.  The first major undisturbed shaft tomb associated with the tradition was not discovered but until 1993, at Huitzilapa, Jalisco.
  The shaft tomb tradition is thought to have developed around 300 BCE. Some shaft tombs predate the tradition by more than 1000 years, for example, the shaft tomb at El Opeño in Michoacán has been dated to 1500 BCE but it is linked to central, rather than western Mexico.  Like much else concerning the tradition, its origins are not well understood, although the valleys around Tequila, Jalisco, which include the archaeological sites of Huitzilapa and Teuchitlan, constitute its "undisputed core".  The tradition lasted until at least 300 CE although, as noted above, there is disagreement on the end date.
caption: Reconstruction of an excavated Shaft tomb exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, México.
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