Ancient Pyramid Discovered in Mexico

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Ancient Pyramid Discovered in Mexico

 

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 6, 6:33 PM ET

 

MEXICO CITY - Archeologists announced on Wednesday they have

discovered a massive 6th-century Indian pyramid beneath a

centuries-old Catholic religious site.

 

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Built on a hillside by the mysterious Teotihuacan culture, the pyramid

was abandoned almost 1,000 years before Christians began re-enacting

the Crucifixion there in the 1800s.

 

"When they first saw us digging there, the local people just couldn't

believe there was a pyramid," said archaeologist Jesus Sanchez. "It

was only when the slopes and shapes of the pyramid, the floors with

altars were found, that the finally believed us."

 

Ceramic fragments and the presence of other ceremonial structures on

the hill suggested the possibility there was a pyramid or temple

somewhere nearby, but the theory wasn't proved until a member of

Sanchez's team, Miriam Advincula, started a project to map the site in

2004. Exploratory trenches dug in 2005 and 2006 confirmed the find.

 

"Both the pre-Hispanic structure and the Holy Week rituals are part of

our cultural legacy, so we have to look for a way to protect both

cultural values," said Sanchez, who, along with archaeologist Miriam

Advincula, has been exploring the site since 2004.

 

The people of Iztapalapa â€" now a low-income neighborhood plagued by

squatter settlements â€" began re-enacting the Passion of Christ in

1833, to give thanks for divine protection during a cholera epidemic.

 

During the ritual, which draws as many as a million spectators every

year, a wooden cross is raised just a few yards from the buried

remains of the Teotihuacan temple, and a man chosen to portray Christ

is tied to the cross.

 

Archeologists said they will fill in the excavation pits that revealed

the pyramid to prevent the structure from being damaged by Good Friday

spectators.

 

Measuring nearly 500 feet on each side, the 60-foot-tall pyramid was

carved out on a natural hillside around 500 A.D., the scientists said.

It was abandoned about 300 years later when the Teotihuacan culture

collapsed.

 

Mexico abounds with cases in which Spanish conquerors literally built

their Catholic faith atop the remains of older religions.

 

But the case of Iztapalapa hillside, known as the Hill of the Star,

appears to be mere geographical coincidence, Sanchez said.

 

Pre-Hispanic cultures chose the hills that dot the otherwise flat,

mountain-ringed Mexico Valley for their ceremonial sites, and

postcolonial communities did the same.

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