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Mystery Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture?
Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say.
Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley
of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.
(See Mexico map
Most of the 41 artifacts "do not fit into any of the known cultures of
the Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said
Carlos Hernández, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of
Anthropology and History in the central state of Hidalgo.
Many of the figures are depicted in a sitting position, with their hands placed on their knees.
Some have headdresses or conical hats with snakes at the base,
which could represent Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god of the wind.
One figure shows a man emerging from the jaws of a jaguar.
The sculptures are also made of flat stucco—a combination of fine sand,
lime, and water—and painted blue or green to the give the appearance of
jade.
All of the artifacts date to the Epiclassic period between A.D. 600 to 900.
Some Mexican and foreign archaeologists have said the sculptures weren't ancient and thus false, Hernández said.
"But by linking all the characteristics that make them different, [such
as their location in Tulancingo and time period], allows us to say that
they should be considered as a product of a different culture [called
Huajomulco]."
The culture is named after an area in Hidalgo.
Baffling Pyramid
Some of the artifacts were also found near the mysterious Huapalcalco
pyramid in Hidalgo, whose origin has been a source of debate among
archaeologists
Photograph courtesy Carlos Hernández Reyes
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/37402216.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
excerpt:
Archaeologist uses satellite imagery to explore ancient Mexico
Satellite imagery obtained from NASA will help archeologist Bill
Middleton peer into the ancient Mexican past. In a novel archeological
application, multi- and hyperspectral data will help build the most
accurate and most detailed landscape map that exists of the southern
state of Oaxaca, where the Zapotec people formed the first state-level
and urban society in Mexico. “If you ask someone off the street about
Mexican archeology, they’ll say Aztec, Maya. Sometimes they’ll also say
Inca, which is the wrong continent, but you’ll almost never hear anyone
talk about the Zapotecs,” says Middleton, acting chair of the
Department of Material Culture Sciences and professor in the Department
of Sociology and Anthropology at Rochester Institute of Technology.
“They had the first writing system, the first state society, the first
cities. And they controlled a fairly large territory at their
Zenith—250 B.C. to 750 A.D.”
~~~~~~~~
Another aspect of the NASA-funded project will focus on
environmental change. This part of the study, done in conjunction with
colleagues at the University of Colorado at Boulder will analyze plant
microfossils in sediment samples collected from a variety of locations,
including areas where streams expose sediment layers 10,000 years old.
“Roughly 10,000 years ago, Oaxaca was wetter than it is today,”
Middleton says. “Today it’s classified as semi-arid, and the dominant
vegetation in the valley is thorn-scrub forest. Ten thousand years ago,
it was a grassland and there were horses there.”
Source: Rochester Institute of Technology
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2008120881 | Mystery Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture ...
the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into ...
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Archaeologists continue to debate the origin of the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid in the central Mexican state of Hildalgo. ...
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