Tuesday, July 18, 3pm
Teatro Santa Anta, Reloj 50-A
$100

Mysteries of Cañada de La Virgen - talk

By Guillermo Méndez

My previous lecture on San Miguel’s pyramid traced the tradition of the Mesoamerican pyramid as revealed in the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, Classic Veracruz, Toltec and Aztec cultures. These PreHispanic civilizations span a period of almost 3,000 years. A comparison of that long-standing tradition with Cañada de La Virgen demonstrated a great commonality of characteristics. To mention a few: the Mesoamerican pyramid had stepped sides, was crowned by a temple, stuccoed and painted, had tombs within, oriented with reference to astronomical phenomena and had earlier pyramids within. Cañada de La Virgen has all of these and more. But it also revealed some mysteries.

Beneath the floor of the pyramid’s temple the skeletal remains of a man were found. Tests revealed that he had lived and died about 350 BC. The earliest phases of the pyramid’s construction were at 540 AD and it was determined that the remains had been placed in the pyramid about 680 AD. That is, this man’s bones were over 1,000 years old when they were buried in the pyramid temple floor! Who was he? How were his skeletal remains preserved, protected and passed on from generation to generation for over 1,000 years until their final interment in San Miguel’s pyramid?
The answers to these questions are the subject of Mysteries of Cañada de la Virgen: San Miguel’s Pyramid.

All of the speaker’s fee is donated to the Biblioteca’s programs.