Editing Chacmool (section)

==Distribution==
[[File:ChacmolTlaxRegMus.JPG|thumb|300px|A Chacmool in the Regional Museum of [[Tlaxcala]]]]
Examples of chacmool sculptures have been found widely across Mesoamerica from [[Michoacán]] in [[Mexico]] down to [[El Salvador]]. The earliest examples date from the Terminal Classic period of [[Mesoamerican chronology]] (c. AD 800–900).<ref name="MillerTaube93-03,p60"/> Examples are known from the Postclassic Aztec capital of [[Tenochtitlan]], from the central Mexican city of [[Tula (Mesoamerican site)|Tula]] and from the [[Maya city]] of [[Chichen Itza]] in the [[Yucatán Peninsula]].<ref>Read and González 2000, pp. 58–59.</ref> Fourteen chacmools are known from Chichen Itza and twelve from Tula.<ref name="Miller85p7"/> The chacmool from the palace at Tula is dated to the Early Postclassic (c. AD 900–1200).<ref>Miller 1986, 1996, p. 175.</ref> Further examples are known from [[Acolman]], [[Cempoala]], [[Michoacán]], [[Querétaro]] and [[Tlaxcala]].<ref>Miller 1985, p. 7. López Austin and López Luján 2001, p. 61.</ref>

In Chichen Itza, only five of the fourteen chacmools were securely confirmed in architectural contexts, those in the [[El Castillo, Chichen Itza|Castillo]], the Chacmool Temple, the North Colonnade, the Temple of the Little Tables and the Temple of the Warriors. The rest were found interred in or near important structures.<ref name="Miller85p9"/> The five that were found in secure architectural contexts were all placed within entrance areas near a ritual seat or throne.<ref name="Miller85p11">Miller 1985, p. 11.</ref> The chacmools in Tula also had an association with thrones or raised seating platforms, either in front of the throne or at the entrance to a chamber containing a throne.<ref name="Miller85p12">Miller 1985, p. 12.</ref>

Two chacmools have been recovered that were associated with the [[Templo Mayor|Great Temple]] of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. The first was discovered in 1943, on the junction of Venustiano Carranza and Pino Suarez, about two blocks south of the temple itself. The second chacmool was excavated in the sacred precinct.<ref name="Miller85p15">Miller 1985, p. 15.</ref> This is the only fully polychrome chacmool that has been recovered anywhere;<ref name="Miller85p15"/> it had an open mouth and exposed teeth and stood in front of the temple of [[Tlaloc]], the Aztec rain god; its sculpted bowl probably received heart and blood sacrifices.<ref>Read and González 2000, p. 257.</ref> This latter sculpture is by far the older of the two.<ref name="Miller85p15"/>

Chacmools have been reported as far south as the Maya city of [[Quiriguá]], near the Guatemalan border with Honduras.<ref>Martin & Grube 2000, p. 225.</ref> The Quiriguá chacmool most likely dated to the Postclassic period and is stylistically similar to those of Tula rather than Chichen Itza.<ref name="Miller85p14"/> Two chacmools were reported from [[Tazumal]], a Maya site in western [[El Salvador]].<ref>Cobos 1994, 1998, pp. 74, 80.</ref> A chacmool was excavated at [[Las Mercedes (archaeological site, Costa Rica)|Las Mercedes]] in [[Guácimo (canton)|Guácimo]], Costa Rica.<ref name="Solano210212"/>