I've been attending a course titled Pre-Hispanic San Miguel in the Context of Ancient Mexico and Mesoamerica.
The lecturer is Albert Coffee, an anthropologist and archaeologist. Albert is extremely knowledgeable on the above subject as he was involved in the excavation of the pyramid outside of San Miguel that has been
open to the public now for several years.
He graduated from LSU, came to San Miguel on his way to Oaxaca or somewhere farther south. He stopped to visit a relative and the rest, as they say, is history.
He met the woman who owned the land that the pyramid was discovered on. She asked him to document many things, including the stories and legends of the elders in the area. Through that, in one way or the other,
he connected with INAH which oversees the excavations. He was thrilled to be involved in that as well.
Personally, I have studied and read and read many books on Mesoamerica. Visited archaeological sites as far away as Tikal in Guatemala along with many in Mexico. It is beyond intriguing to me how the pyramids were not only the living places of the ancient peoples, but they also served as places to study astronomy, develop the numbering system and writing systems along with so many other things.
The Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City along with the magnificent museum in Jalapa add to the intrigue about the ancient peoples of Mexico and Mesoamerica..
The course has been interesting each and every time. I've learned more then I could have imagined.
Mexico is like peeling a giant onion. Just about the time you think you're at the core, you find that you still have a zillion more layers to peel.
Forty years in this country, one way or the other, and I'm still intrigued by how much I still don't know!
The course is under the auspices of the Lifelong Learning Program that was started a few years ago. This has been the first course that has interested me enough to sign up. The location of the lectures is the Instituto Allende which is a mere shell of its former vibrant self.
I've just received a reading list from Albert. Uh oh, more reading to do.
I also confess that I've not been to the Canada de la Virgen site as its quite a hike, just to the site, once you arrive there. Bad knees are keeping me from making the trek. The things discovered at this site are beyond fascinating. I'll elaborate on that more after the course is completed.
In the meantime, if you're interested, you can search the internet for the stories of Canada de la Virgen.
7 comments:
Very interesting post.
As you probably already know from my blog, I am fascinated with Mexican archaeology and the pre-Hispanic civilizations. I've been to a bunch of sites in Mexico, but I never knew that there was a pyramid in the San Miguel area!
Thought you were going to explain what the little "figure" is in the corn field near Casqueros Chapel in San Miguel Viejo.
Someone just having fun or ???
http://sparks-mexico.com/guanajuato/sma_viejo/slides/casqueros5.html
Bill, when the land was purchased by a German woman about 12 years ago or so, that is when the discovery began. I don't know how long they excavated before they decided to open it to the public.
It is an interesting find. There are two more sites that are open to the public near Irapauto as well.
Peralta and Placuelas near Penjamo.
Those two sentences are from my notes and may be misspellings. One or both of them have museums and very few visitors according to Albert.
Wow, Sparks. In a way, that figure reminds me of the basalt figures in Jalapa to some extent. I'll ask Albert tomorrow.....thanks!
Sparks - I've printed out that photo. How tall do you think that character is in the corn field? And how wide?
5 feet tall and 2.5-3 wide. Not very big but it's been 5-6 years
Thanks Sparks! I'll let you know what I find out.
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