1500-year-old Indian village surprised scientists
In Mexico, archaeologists have found a 1500-year-old ancient settlement of the Indians of pre-Columbian America, belonging to the Teotihuacan culture.
Photo: INAH
Archaeologists have discovered a 1500-year-old Teotihuacan village in Mexico. A large amount of pottery and three human burials have been found in the settlement, according to the National Institute of History and Anthropology of Mexico.
Excavations carried out between March and June revealed several remains of buildings in the territory, according to CNN. settlements, including drainage channels, post holes, ceilings, stone lines and a well.
The bodies of one child and two adults were found next to a series of polished bowls with a Teotihuacan-style ring base.
From its seat of power at Teotihuacan, located about 50 kilometers northeast of present-day Mexico City, the civilization of the same name exerted great influence on Mesoamerica during its heyday in the 6th century, even more influential than the later Aztec empire.
Using ceramic evidence, experts have dated the village to around 450-650, about the same date as peak of Teotihuacan influence, CNN notes.
Archaeologist Francisco González Rule originally reported the settlement between 1960 and 1964, but these new finds have «strengthened and demonstrated» its existence, excavation leaders Juan Carlos Campos Varela and Mara Abigail Becerra Amescua said in a statement.
González Rule suggested that the village was probably inhabited by gatherer fishermen who exploited the resources of Lake Texcoco, a once large lake that now occupies a small area after being artificially drained in the 17th century.
< span class="article__picture-description" itemprop="caption">Photo: INAH
Excavations have confirmed this hypothesis, but recently unearthed artifacts suggest that the village also had artisanal pottery production, “since several fragments of solid and articulated figurines, greenstone objects, shells, funerary offerings, and various obsidian and flint arrowheads have been found. ”, added Campos Varela and Becerra Amescua.
Due to the presence of such artifacts, archaeologists believe that the rural village must have traded with other Teotihuacan settlements on the shores of Lake Texcoco.
< p>Excavations have also shown that the settlement was later inhabited by the people of mexico, as well as by communities as early as the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Archaeologists have identified the settlement of mexico by the presence of two canals, which, apparently had a chinamperia space — floating fields on a shallow lake, widely used, and artificially created artifacts, in this case a seated sculpture without a head, various completed and unfinished objects, as well as a layer of small stones.