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Cantona, (La casa del sol)〔This name interpretation is dubious. INAH suggests that the name Cantona comes from the Nahuatl Word Caltonal that means "Sun House〕 is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in Mexico. It is located in the state of Puebla, on the border with Veracruz, about an hour's drive from the city of Puebla and about an hour and a half from Xalapa, Veracruz. Limited archaeological work has been done at the site, and only about 10% of the site can be seen. (There are opinions that only 1% has been uncovered) . It was a fortified city with a high urbanization level at prehispanic times, probably founded by Olmec-Xicalanca groups towards the late Classical Period. Cantona sat astride an old trading route between the Gulf Coast and the Central Highlands and was a prominent, if isolated, Mesoamerican city between 600 and 1000 CE.〔Day, p. 73.〕 It was abandoned after AD 1050.〔Ancient Mexico and Central America pg.369〕 Its maximum apogee is placed at the epiclassical Mesoamerica period, that is, the period during which Teotihuacan ceased to be the main power center in the region and small regional states sought to gain control of the various trade routes. Cantona was one of these regional centers, and controlled Sierra Madre Oriental resources. The prehispanic settlement area occupies approximately 12 km², distributed in three units, of which the largest is at the south, with a surface of five km² surface. In Cantona 24 ballgame courts have been discovered, more than in any other mesoamerican site, as well as a series of small pyramids. The Zaragoza obsidian mine is located nearby. It has an elevated Acropolis over the rest of the city in which the main buildings of the city were built. This was used for the ruling elite and priests, and was where the temples of the most important deities where located. A spectacular mesoamerican archaeological site, the largest prehispanic city yet discovered in Mesoamerica. The site comprises a road network with over 500 cobblestone causeways, more than 3,000 individual patios, residences, 24 ball courts and an elaborate acropolis with multiple ceremonial buildings and temples. These impressive buildings were constructed with carved stones (one atop the other) without any Stucco or cement mortar. Its population is estimated at about 80, 000 inhabitants at its peak. It is believed that trade was an important activity. It certainly was built with a definite urban design and walkways connecting each and every part of the city. The "First Avenue" is 563 meters in length. Cantona was contemporary of Teotihuacan.〔 Its inhabitants were mainly agricultural farmers and traders, particularly for obsidian, obtained from Oyameles-Zaragoza mountains surrounding the city. Additionally, they may have been supplying the lowlands with a derivative of the maguey plant, pulque.〔 After Chichimec's invasions in the 11th century, Cantona was abandoned. ==Site history== Henri de Saussure claimed to have discovered Cantona in 1855 after a lengthy and prolonged search, Nicolás León, based on a Saussure publication, visited the zone in the early 1900s and explored the site, he left a full and comprehensive description of structures and surface objects at that time. Cantona is derived from the Nahuatl word Caltonal which means "House of the Sun". In 1938, Paul Gendrop mentions that Cantona occupies an area of almost 20 km long by 12 kilometers wide. As far the site architectonic elements distribution, he noted that it is formed by numerous rectangular rooms 20 to 30 meters long by 12 to 20 meters wide, delimited by thick stone walls, fairly straight and well preserved.〔 Eduardo Noguera, in 1958, after a tentative study of ceramics and constructive systems, noted that Cantona occupies only half the size of what was previously calculated by Paul Gendrop and locates it, chronologically in the preclassical horizon (200 to 100 BC), coinciding with data available then.〔 In 1980 archaeologist Diana Lopez de Molina, based on aerial photographs, made a sketch of the settlement and dug some stratigraphic wells that allowed her to propose a tentative timeline to the occupation of the area. Previous studies allow the assumption that this prehispanic city submitted was occupied from the late preclassical horizon (200 BC) to the early classic (0 to 200 AD), which makes it one of the oldest cities of the country.〔 According to investigation, Cantona would be chronologically situated between 600 and 1000 AD; its splendor coincides with the fall of the main cities of the classical horizon (it is even thought it had something to do with the Teotihuacan fall, by obstructing passage of products from the coast to the Highlands) and with the arrival of warrior people who soon seized and dominated the region.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cantona (archaeological site)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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