MEXICO CITY
– The Mexican National lottery is issuing tickets to commemorate the centennial
on Feb. 21 of the discovery of the first remnants of the Great Temple in Mexico
City, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.
The
drawing on Tuesday, which will offer a grand prize of 18 million pesos (about
$1.2 million), will coincide with the celebration of the INAH’s 76th
anniversary.
The lottery tickets – emblazoned with the words “100 Years
of the Great Temple. History of a Discovery” – bear an image of the ancient
ceremonial site, which was the center of religious, political and social life
for the Mexica people.
Utility workers found the remnants of the Great
Temple while digging on Feb. 21, 1915.
A total of 180,000 commemorative
lottery tickets bearing the image of the Great Temple will be issued in three
series, with tickets being sold across Mexico.
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History,
or INAH, has launched an app that enables the general public to study
the Mendoza Codex, a 16th-century document detailing economic, political
and social conditions in the lands newly conquered by Spain.
The
digital edition of the Mendoza Codex, preserved at Oxford’s Bodleian
Library, is “a first effort made to repatriate in virtual form a Mexican
document kept abroad,” INAH said in a statement.
The new app – accessible at www.codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx
– and downloadable for free on mobile devices – allows users to read
the codex and its “in situ” translations into English or Spanish, and
also to examine its physical features and to link directly to related
multimedia content.
The app is further enriched by maps that correlate with the information presented in the codex and by a timescale.
“Codices
were systems for recording knowledge and operating on different levels
of communication,” INAH said. “It is almost natural to employ multimedia
and interactive tools to present them.”
Considered by the INAH
as “one of the primary sources for the study of pre-Columbian Mexico,”
the codex was compiled in 1542 on the order of the Spanish colonial
viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza.
In 72 illustrated and annotated
pages in Nahuatl – the language of the Aztecs – and 63 pages in Spanish,
the Mendoza Codex provides an overview of the socio-economic conditions
in the territories conquered by the Spaniards.
Mexican scribes
illustrated the pages on Spanish paper and although the Mendoza Codex
was dispatched to king, French pirates intercepted the document in 1549.
Mazatlán’s municipal government recently signed a collaboration agreement with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) to continue updating and revamping the Centro Historico.
Among projects presented to businessmen and public officials were prohibiting cars in the historic section, widening sidewalks, increasing green areas, continuing repaving streets with interlocking blocks and installing underground cables.
Israel Victoria Lona, director of the municipal institute of planning, put forward the plan to eradicate vehicles from Centro Historico streets. This would, he said, allow for the widening of sidewalks and liberate streets to become pedestrian walkways.
Sinaloa INAH representative, Francisco Ríos Avendaño, announced it has been arranged that property taxes for owners in Centro Historico would be deductible from taxes if they use those funds to improve their area.
Mexico City: The skull and tusks of a 10,000-year-old elephant has been found in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala.
According to Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the Gomphotheres' size was similar to modern elephants.
The bones were discovered in May amidst deposits of volcanic sand encrusted by thick layers of limestone, an INAH official said.
The skull and tusks of a 10,000-year-old elephant has been found in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala.
The skull and tusks measure about two metres (6.5 feet), relatively small for a gomphothere, possibly indicating that they came from a young animal.
Workers extracting sand for restoration of the Tepeticpac archaeological site stumbled upon the tip of one of the tusks and alerted INAH, which authorised an excavation.
Before deciding to purchase a house with the intention of remodeling, follow these tips:
1. Do the Math. A remodeling project should not cost more than 30% of the property value. Otherwise, the property will increase its value and drive it off the market should you want to sell.
2. Ensure that you can make the changes. Should the house be located in a historic area, do not forget to check the building restrictions set by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, or INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History), as the property by in large should be kept in its “as is” condition, and therefore the walls or windows should remain where they are located at the time of purchase.
3. Do not embark on your initiative blindly. Get an appraisal in order to determine the remodeling cost. It is also advisable to include an allocation of anywhere between 5 and 10% of the total remodeling cost for possible incidental expenses, such as: additional equipment, or a mishap, casualty or damage caused from drilling into walls.
4. Ask for help. If the remodeling project involves building another room or tearing down a wall, we recommend you get advice from a building professional. At this point, it is important to have a Construction Services Contract,and there should also be added to that Contract documents that indicate: (i) the project timetable; (ii) the budget signed by the professional hired; and (iii) the permits and authorizations issued by the municipal authority and, where applicable, the INAH.
What should I include in a contract for services?
a)Purpose.
b)Consideration. Terms under which the work will be paid.
c) Period ofperformance.
d)Eventsof force majeure and fortuitous event (effects of the weather, for example).
e) Responsible for obtainingpermits, licenses, authorizations and payments.
f)Planning, projects and budget. It is recommended to attach them to the Building Contract.
g) Extra and additional work. His way ofapproval. It is recommended to always be in writing.
h) Punishment andconventional interests. The parties shall agree on the penalties they incur the “contractor” for delay in delivery of work, and interest shall cover the “owner” of the work by the lack of timely payment.
i)Causes for terminationand completion of work.
j) Delivery to receive and hearnotifications.
k)Governing Law. Regularly the parties agree the law of the place where the work is performed.
MEXICO CITY – The Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul in Mexico’s Campeche state have been named “mixed natural and cultural” World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH) said.
The World Heritage Committee added the two Mexican sites to the World Heritage List at its meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.
This is the first mixed site in Mexico added by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to its list, the INAH said.
“The city played a key role in the history of this region for more than 12 centuries and is characterized by well-preserved structures providing a vivid picture of life in an ancient Maya capital,” UNESCO said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The area added to the list is in the southern part of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and is considered the second-largest stretch of tropical forest in the Americas and the best protected, covering 723,000 hectares (1.78 million acres).
The Ancient Maya City of Calakmul was added to the World Heritage Sites list in 2002.
Sinaloa representative of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Francisco Ríos Avendaño met with Mayor Carlos Felton yesterday to discuss the rehabilitation of abandoned or unused homes in the Centro Historico.
He pointed out there is an enormous number of historic buildings in ruin or empty in the area and as Mazatlán is experiencing a growing tourism trade, they could be renovated into boutique hotels, restaurants or spas for tourists.
The idea, said the INAH representative, is to establish a program of remodeling of antiquated buildings whereby owners or purchasers present their plans to INAH beforehand. Once approved, INAH will provide a permit to the owner to begin.
The program will allow us to reactive the Centro Historico, he said, adding Sinaloa has only two historic zones—Cosalá and Mazatlán—and it should not be possible that a large percentage of homes are empty.
Alejandro Alvarez's eyes widened against the dark underwater void that would become known as the Black Hole on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
His flashlight shined on ancient bones from extinct species, and eventually he would discover the hemisphere's oldest, most complete skeleton, a find that may transform the way we think about the development of American man.
"What in the world is this?" Alvarez recalls thinking. He and two diving buddies with him knew that they had stumbled across something special.
"We immediately realized the importance," Alvarez, now 52 and still diving, said in an interview. "It was very exciting."
The discovery of the 12,000-year-old skeleton of a teenage girl occurred seven years ago but wasn't announced until this month, after additional, sometimes-risky exploration and detailed scientific investigation.
Published first in the American magazine Science, then elaborated upon by Mexican scientific officials, the find has provided immeasurable evidence on the origins of the first Native Americans.
"This reveals a huge world," Teresa Franco, director of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, which took over study of the skeleton, said in a news briefing.
Yet such a remarkable discovery started out as nothing but a hobby for Alvarez and his small group of amateur spelunkers.
Alvarez, a civil engineer by training, had been diving much of his adult life. More recently he took up exploration of some of the estimated 6,000 water-filled caves that dot the Yucatan.
And so it was that on May 10, 2007 — he remembers the exact date because it is Mother's Day in Mexico — Alvarez and two fellow explorers, Alberto Nava and Franco Antonelli, swam into La Virgen, in Quintana Roo state, one of the caves known locally as cenotes.
They went deeper and deeper, down 10 yards and then along a tunnel more than half a mile long.
"It was immensely dark," Alvarez recalled. Suddenly the floor disappeared. This was the Hoyo Negro, the "black hole."
"We had to follow along the wall," Alvarez said. "I happened to be in the front. Then I could see something floating."
It turned out to be the leg bone of a gomphothere, an ancient elephant-like creature, one of dozens of bones they would find. "We stopped there, wide-eyed," Alvarez said.
They returned the next day and for many weeks to follow, this time with propulsion equipment to move more easily into the depths and hauling nine breathing tanks so they could stay below longer.
Soon they made their most celebrated discovery: They spied the girl's skull, resting on a ledge, propped up by her arm and bearing a full set of teeth.
"We knew this was a very important find, but for two years we could not figure out just what to do with it," Alvarez said from his home in Tulum.
Finally, they made videos of the skull, skeleton and the rest of the watery graveyard and reported to the National Institute.
Since then, late 2009, a team of U.S. and Canadian investigators has been working with the Mexicans to explore and document the Hoyo Negro site.
The age of the skeleton was determined through DNA testing of rib bones and a tooth, along with testing of seeds and bat droppings found in the Hoyo Negro, officials said.
Scientists believe the girl fell into the deep hole before water filled the caves. As the ice age ebbed and prehistoric glaciers melted, she and animals, such as saber-toothed tigers, were covered in water, sealed off from potential marauders or grave robbers.
The researchers nicknamed her Naia, for the ancient Greek water nymphs. The scientists believe she will help shed light on the theory held by most, but not all, scholars that the New World was settled by people who came from Siberia, crossing the Bering Strait.
"This is the oldest, most intact skeleton ever found" in the Americas, said Pilar Luna Erreguerena, head of subaquatic archaeology at the National Institute.
"And it was found in a perfect context, virtually untouched, like a time capsule."
Some studies have dated prehistoric man in the Americas to at least 40,000 years ago. Acquiring a such a skeleton allows scientists to learn more about early humans' features, evolution and how they lived, experts said.
Alvarez, who runs a spelunking company that caters to tourists in Tulum, says he and his fellow divers made no money from their discovery, although authorities began providing the equipment. Still, he and his companions remain involved in and excited about the project.
As Luna put it: "What started as a hobby is now a lifetime commitment."
MEXICO CITY – An aqueduct 110 meters (360 feet) long and 5 meters (16 feet) high, built in the mid-19th century and which remained hidden under vegetation for many years, was discovered in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, the national archaeological authority said.
The discovery was made during the work of clearing the land, whose owner reported it to the Linares municipal government, which in turn asked the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) to get involved and make an evaluation of it.
Architect Benjamin Valdez Fernandez of INAH in Nuevo Leon, leader in the task of authenticating the discovery, said that “it is a very important find.”
“We have nothing similar in Nuevo Leon in terms of the dimensions and construction” of this well preserved hydraulic work that has 33 arches of the Tudor type, ogive,” he said.
The aqueduct begins at ground level like an irrigation ditch, but as the land begins to slope downward, a series of arches is formed to support the channel that carried water to the end, where there was a waterwheel and a sugarcane mill, INAH said.
Valdez said it is believed to have been built around 1860 due to the fine sandstone construction and smooth finish of its walls.
“A very interesting feature of the construction, which we believe to have been done by Jesuits, is it 33 arches, a very important number in religious imagery. According to the Catholic faith, Jesus died on the cross at age 33, and 33 is the number of years that David reigned over the ancient Kingdom of Israel,” the researcher said.
As for the state of the aqueduct, he said that just a few stones have fallen from three of the 33 arches, which need major restoration, while the rest of the construction requires only maintenance.
Mexico’s traditional food has attracted more domestic and international interest since it was included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2010, Catherine Good, a researcher with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), said on Sunday.
Good’s comments were made at the “Sabores de Nuestro Saber” (“Flavors of Our Knowledge”) contest in Bogotá, which awards research into the culinary traditions of Latin America.
“The impact has been very big,” she said. “Now the whole world wants to know more about traditional culinary experiences at the personal, family and community level.”
According to Good, since its 2010 recognition by UNESCO, there is now a renewed interest in traditional food among Mexico’s urban population, who increasingly want to learn about how the ingredients they use every day are produced.
“There’s a great appreciation for the sophistication of cooking in rural areas, because it’s part of a pre-Hispanic cultural relationship that also incorporates elements from the colonial period,” she said. “Traditional cooking is a creative process in Mexican culture.”
She went on to say that there has been a rise in the number of students at culinary schools who specialize in Mexican food, including professionals in the tourism and communication sectors, which she added shows sufficient interest to deepen research in the country’s culinary traditions.
“In Mexico, chef training is traditionally designed to teach Italian, French, Chinese or Japanese cuisine, without showing interest in traditional Mexican food. This has changed,” she said, adding that Mexican cuisine is valued by all social sectors of the country, without political, ideological and religious distinctions.
Beyond an increase in domestic interest in Mexico’s culinary traditions, Good said that there is also increased interest abroad in the country’s food, which is usually misrepresented by Tex-Mex cooking instead of authentic Mexican food.
“The entire world has had a great interest since the UNESCO declaration,” she said, adding, “The UNESCO declaration has also driven other countries to value their own culinary traditions, to examine what they create in their own kitchens.”
Good said that the 2010 UNESCO declaration has boosted a movement across Latin America to recover the traditional cuisines of each country.
“We have a continental movement, and it’s therefore important for all of the countries of Latin America to work more closely together to understand and exchange experiences relating to each of our traditional cuisines.”
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