Posted on 01/29/2004 3:31:47 PM PST by blam
Archeologists discover evidence of ancient culture in Mexico City
06:21 PM EST Jan 29
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Archeologists announced Wednesday they have discovered an ancient Teotihuacan settlement on a hill in central Mexico City, dozens of kilometres from the pyramids where Teotihuacan - long regarded as a mother culture of central Mexico - flourished nearly 2,000 years ago.
The discovery in December of structures and tools on a hill just behind the city's landmark Chapultepec Castle suggests Teotihuacan spread and influenced Mexico City even earlier than previously thought. Teotihuacan, 50 kilometres north of Mexico City, remains largely a mystery today, and it was so even for the Aztecs, who are credited with founding Mexico City in the 1300s.
One of the largest metropolises in the world around the time of Christ, Teotihuacan had an estimated 150,000 inhabitants, and influenced art and architecture as far away as the Yucatan peninsula, but had been abandoned and crumbling for centuries by the time of the Aztecs.
The artifacts may push the date of Mexico City's founding back to the classic Teotihuacan period of between AD 300 and 600.
Scattered settlements and relics dating to the time before the Aztecs have been found previously on the outskirts of modern Mexico City, but few have been found so close to the island that formed the centre of the Aztec city.
Relics found in the 20-square-metre excavation include six pairs of ceramic urns of Teotihuacan style. The purpose of the urns is under investigation, but archeologists suspect they may have been used to hold the remains of children sacrificed to the god of rain.
Also found were ceramic domestic tools, a bone needle and a figurine presumed to be used in rituals.
In another six-square-metre dig, officials uncovered remnants of a stone wall and floor dating from the same period.
"This is a very important discovery, one that is just beginning," said Maria de la Luz Moreno Cabrera, the archeologist leading the investigation. "It is very exciting to find such a site . . . it helps to show the real historical importance of this area."
These are the first remains to be found in Chapultepec park, which served as a retreat for rulers from Aztec kings to Emperor Maximillian.
Built in 1784 as a residence for the Spanish viceroys, the castle likely destroyed original evidence and artifacts of the ancient civilization, some of which may have survived on the surrounding hillside.
The new site's excavation began as early as 1998, when the National Historical Museum undertook a complete restoration of the castle. Traces of pre-Hispanic vestiges were discovered underneath the castle's structure and in the surrounding hill.
New excavations on the southern and western flanks of the hill are now being proposed.
So Patrick Stewart's ancestor was a native American!! But seriously, native American is just as much a misnomer as indian, and is, in fact, a forced, overnight coinage. IMHO, names like indian for American indians are in no way derogatory (albeit originally inaccurate), lend color to the language, and reflect the history of American English. They need not be forcibly expunged.
Yup, me too...but, they have been well studied and would not qualify for another grant.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.
And their art is as crude as their practices.
Can't use 'dozens' in the metric system. Rules violation--reactionary. Grounds for deportation from France.
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