The discovery of this remarkable collection of mosaics emphasizes the fact that the investigation of the archeology of Mexico is hardly commenced, in view of the vast amount of material hidden under the ruins of thousands of ancient settlements and burial places, and probably in countless caves, which still remain untouched by the archeologist.
As revealed by the surprising results of Thompson’s dredging in the sacred cenote in Yucatan, a wealth of archeological material also lies buried in the mud under the waters of sacred wells and lakes. This is notably so in the case of Lake Chapala, on the borders of Michoacan and Jalisco in Mexico,[113] and of Lake Amatitlan in Guatemala, where thousands of pottery vessels and other objects have been recovered from the bottoms of the lakes by divers, and from the mud when the waters have receded from the shores during times of extreme drought. These objects had been thrown into the waters as offerings to the gods.
The recent results of the systematic exploration of the great mounds at Teotihuacan have been quite surprising, and have shed new light on the archeology of the central plateau of Mexico. Even more important is the discovery of culture sequences in stratified deposits in the valley of Mexico, the investigations showing three distinct culture layers distinguished by the character of the pottery. Of great significance are the discoveries recently made under the great lava flow called the Pedregal, at the very edge of the City of Mexico, where the artifacts correspond in toto with those found in the bottom layer of the stratified deposits.[114] These discoveries mark a great advance in our knowledge of the history of ancient Mexico, but, as we have before stated, they are only a beginning. Buried underground are the “books” the student must study, if ever the tangled history of Middle America is to become known and the story of the development of this exceedingly interesting division of the human race is to be recorded.
NOTES
[1] See Saville, The Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Indian Notes and Monographs, 1920.
[2] Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Historia General y Natural de las Indias, edition of the Real Academia de la Historia, tomo I, primera parte, lib. XVII, caps, VIII-XVIII, pp. 502-537, Madrid, 1851.
[3] The Itinerary of Grijalva, written by chaplain Juan Díaz, was undoubtedly recorded in Spanish, but we know it only from the Italian translation of 1520. It was translated into Spanish by Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta and published by him in his Documentos para la Historia de México, tomo I, Mexico, 1858. A translation into English, with translations of other accounts, relating to this voyage, will appear in the Publications of the Cortes Society under the title, The Voyage of Juan de Grijalva to Yucatan and the Mexican Coast in 1518.
[4] We quote here from the edition of Bernal Díaz published by the Hakluyt Society, bearing the title, The True Conquest of New Spain, translated into English by Alfred Percival Maudslay. The citation is from vol. I, pp. 48-49, London, 1908.
[5] Bernal Díaz, op. cit., vol. I, p. 53. In the work of Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, is an important statement bearing on this matter, of which we give the following translation in extenso:
“And this present it was that Gomara and Antonio de Herrera make confused mention as having been brought to Ferdinand Cortés by the governors of Montezuma on his first landing, which they notice in the following words: ‘Which present it is said was sent for Juan de Grijalva, when he touched on those shores; but that, notwithstanding the haste of those who carried it, they found that he was gone.’ The fact was as they state; but I do not understand how those who drew up the account of which Herrera availed himself, could have omitted that which I say in this chapter, and many other particulars which shall be observed in the sequel; since the circumstances which they mention, and those which I relate, are intimately connected with each other, and those who could have given an account of the former, could likewise have done so of the latter; although I think that the error lay in their seeking information only from the Spaniards, who at that period returned from the Indies, without verifying facts by applying to the Indians, who were mainly concerned in most of them, or I may say in all, since they were the mark which all who have written on the affairs of the conquest strove to hit, and were those who were very well acquainted with them, and in the beginning recorded them by means of figures and characters, and afterward, when some of the most curious amongst them had learned how to write, wrote them down; which histories are in my possession: and so high is the estimation in which I hold them, on account of their language and the style of their composition, that I should be glad to feel myself competent to the task of translating them into Spanish with the same elegance and grace as the Mexicans penned them in their own language; and since these histories are true and authentic, I follow them to the letter; but lest the accounts which they contain should appear strange to those who read them, I affirm that they are merely a true relation of what actually happened, but that other authors have not noticed them before me, because the few that have written on the affairs of the Indies were ignorant of the events which then occurred, nor had they any one to give them the requisite information; neither should I have mentioned these facts had I not found that they were verified by Father Bernardino de Sahagun, a grave and pious ecclesiastic, who was of the second number of those who undertook the conversion of the natives of New Spain, but was the first of the investigators of the most secret things of this land, of which he knew all the secrets, and employed himself for more than sixty years in composing works in the Mexican language and in incorporating into it all the information which he was able to acquire.” Lib. IV, cap. XIII.