Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Acozac--Ixtapaluca, Mexico









3 comments:

Dennis said...

Wade
This site is nothing compared to a half dozen other ruins in Mexico. I hope you get to see more.
Dennis

Wade G. Burck said...

Dennis,
I realize this is a "small" ruins, but funny you should say that. I had heard about this ruins but could find absolutely nothing about it, except the wikipedia deal. When we arrived in Ixtapaluca, I asked 10 cab drivers to take me there. Not a one knew what I was talking about. The 11th driver said he knew where it was, but "why did I want to go there, it was nothing!!!" I replied, "it's your history Moron, what do you mean it is nothing?" When I returned to the show, I was telling Jorge(the sea lion trainer) who was born in and has a house in Puebla about the ruins and he said, "that's nothing, I had a pyramid and ruins behind my house when I was a child in Puebla, and we used to play in it, and kick soccer balls off the top to see how far they would go." That's when I realized pyramids and ancient ruins are so common place in Mexico that they aren't a big deal to them.
I am making plans to go see the Aztec’s Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, discovered in 1978 dead in the middle of Mexico City, underneath a 17 century church, next month. Beyond incredible!!!!

Wade

2006 article from the web:

The most significant archeological find in many decades has been made this month in Mexico City. Archeologists have unearthed in the capital a gigantic 12 ton stone slab at the site of the ancient Aztec Templo Mayor, and many think the monolith may in fact cover a burial chamber where artifacts of great importance will be found. The huge stone which has a surface area of 46 feet, has yet to be fully uncovered, but it seems to be a carved portrayal of the Aztec earth goddess, Tlaltecuhtli. Next to the buried slab, archeologists found a 15th century alter decorated with relief carvings of the rain god Tlaloc, as well as carvings of an unidentified deity related to plants and fertility. The alter and the monolithic stone are still being excavated at the time of this writing, but many experts are saying this find represents one of the greatest archeological discoveries in Mexican history.
In 1978, while installing underground cables beneath the streets of Mexico City near the capital’s spacious Zocalo and national cathedral, electricity workers found an immense stone disk carving of the Aztec moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui (She Who Wears Bells on Her Cheeks). Immediately archeologists knew they had found the actual remains of the Aztec’s Great Temple of Tenochtitlan - since it was already understood that the moon goddess stone lay at the bottom of that temple’s enormous staircase. It had long been thought that the Great Temple had been totally destroyed and the cathedral built directly over the buried ruins, but finding the 10 foot wide, 8 ton carving of Coyolxauhqui launched the excavations of the area that continue to this day.

In 1987 the Museo del Templo Mayor was established on the site of the Great Temple, and today it houses a magnificent collection of over 7,000 objects excavated from the immediate area. Arizona State University maintains an excellent website in English about the Templo Mayor museum, or you may choose to view the beautiful official website of the museum (Spanish only). Unfortunately, neither museum has updates on the latest finds written about here, but you can read the latest news about the Tlaltecuhtli monolith at the National Geographic website, or from a number of other news resources.

Jeff Darnell said...

great stuff! Keep exploring!