2.- Modified cave - a subterranean void that embodies extensive modification
with an artificial entrance. The cave has (in theory) been changed due to mining, or to
make pillars supporting the roof, arches connecting one room to another, furniture such as
benches or altars, niches for burials, sculpture, paintings, and to create doors facing
astral rise/set azimuths.
Modified caves. A distinct type of caves are illustrated on MC2. They are not
depicted with a "natural opening" or what Simons describes as "a curved
opening where the stones can be seen separately." These caves are different.
They are identified by a stepped platform "with a raised
lintel"; a place drawn in geometric form with "straight lines"; a structure
decorated with a botanical motif.
Drawing from Simons (1968)
Example of a cavern with an artificial entrance is situated above Acatzingo. This
mortuary cave lies within segmented ridges of limestone. The geological formation is
shaped like a scorpion, its slender tail extended southward. Enclosed within its pedipalps
& claws, facing eastward, the MC2 depicts a stepped platform with pictorial signs.
Simons (1968) writes, "There are footsteps which connect Tepeyacac (Tepeaca) with
people and places in the region... A line that heads northeast gets to a cave with a
raised lintel and rocks around three of its sides." Simons adds that "the
location of this site in the map (MC2) may correspond to that of Acatzingo in the Map of
Cuauhtinchan No. IV..."
Place of Seven Caves in Chiconautla hill. This is not a conventionalized
picture of a green or brown bell-shaped form. The hill is a spherical-shaped outline; a
large mound-like form that is rounded at the top, "enclosed by a border with knobby
projections suggesting the rough or stony character of the hill." Why did the MC2
map-maker draw this hill with the perspective of an oblique angle? To illustrate a
geological formation of igneous rock which takes the shape of "colhuacatepec - the
crooked hill."
A two-stepped architectural frontage shown in a banded geometric form by
right angles. Not a platform but rather a ceremonial entrance into the underground. It
represents a quadrilateral world model, the founding of ritual space. On the south flank
of this hill is a waterfall. Above it was the entrance.
Anciently named Teocuicani, El Cantor Divino. Today known as the hill
(cerro) Gordo. Legend suggests that a geologic formation on its east side was mined for
blue\green minerals - Chalchiuites. MC2 shows it with a gigantic cavern, a holy sanctuary
called Ayauhcalli, "la case de descanso y sombra de los dioses." In this famous
shrine was a green idol the size of an eight year old child.
Simons (1968) describes it as a "hill with a cave that has a raised
lintel." This stepped entrance way is adorned with marsh plants, symbolic of a reed
shrine. At its foot, four Chichimecas are facing a stylized motif.
