Page |1

Historia Chicana
3 November 2014

Nota: We recommend you access the 3:19-minute video showing the tunnel where these artifacts were
discovered. The video is on YouTube and can be accessed either by clicking on the link below or by
clicking on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dqy57L_cME#t=24. The video post
was made on October 29, 2014, and is titled: Hallazgos en el tnel del Templo de la Serpiente
Emplumada. It is one of several videos that INAH TV has produced with respect to this project. These
videos present the particulars of the long discovery process thats still ongoing. Gracias a Michael A.
Olivas for sharing with us.Roberto R. Caldern, Historia Chicana [Historia]

From: Olivas, Michael A [mailto:MOlivas@UH.EDU]

Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2014 1:29 PM
Subject: this came across my radar--FYI----Michael
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/33116

The History Blog

URL: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/33116
Accessed: 3 November 2014

50,000 Artifacts Found in Tunnel under

Teotihuacan Temple
Wednesday, October 29th, 2014 at 11:51 PM

Page |2

hen last we saw the tunnel underneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent

in Teotihuacan, the remote vehicle Tlloc II-TC had forged 65 feet ahead of the
point where humans could tread and identified the presence of three chambers with
its infrared camera and laser scanner. Wednesday Mexicos National Institute of
Anthropology and History (INAH) announced that archaeologists have reached a
space just before the three chambers and have discovered there a massive cache of
sacred objects.
The tunnel was discovered by chance in 2003 after heavy rains opened a hole more than two and
a half feet (83 cm) wide in front of the Adosada platform, a 4th century structure inside the
Citadel that faces the temple. Fifty feet under the hole, archaeologists found a tunnel almost 400
feet (120 meters) long. Excavations began in 2009, with initial explorations done with ground
penetrating radar, laser scanning and two robots.

The technology was only the beginning. The tunnel was expertly
sealed by the residents of Tenochtitlan in the second century A.D., filled top to bottom with soil
and rocks. The heavy lifting was done by at least 25 workers at any given time, one of whom
was Julio Alva, a descendant of 17th century Nahuatl chronicler Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl,
himself a direct descendant of Ixtlilxochitl I and Ixtlilxochitl II, rulers of Texococo, and of
Cuitlhuac, the penultimate ruler of Tenochtitlan. Alva and his comrades worked tirelessly to
remove 970 tons of earth and stone to make way for the remote vehicles and archaeologists to
explore the tunnel.

Page |3

INAH archaeologists have now reached the 103 point where they have
encountered a space 13 feet wide and 26 feet long filled with an extraordinary wealth of objects:
50,000 artifacts, including organic remains perfectly preserved in the low oxygen environment.
There are more than 4,000 wooden objects, bones and fur from large cats, beetle skeletons, more
than 15,000 seeds from different plants and the remains of skin, possibly human, which will be
submitted for laboratory analysis.

On the non-organic side are beautifully carved stone sculptures,

four of them anthropomorphic figures two feet tall made from greenstone, scores of shells from
the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, imported Guatemalan jade, rubber balls, pottery, pyrite
disks and a wooden box filled with dozens of elaborately engraved conchs. There are beads,
complete necklaces, amber and dozens of obsidian blades and arrow heads.

All of these offerings were interred in the tunnel between 150 and
200 A.D., a period known as the Miccaotli phase when Teotihuacans plan was being vigorously
altered with previous buildings taken down and new ones erected that would redesign the city.
With no written records to go by, archaeological remains are invaluable to the study of
Teotihuacans culture and history.
This space is 18 feet deep, and given its location close to the end of the tunnel in front of the
three chambers, archaeologists think the explosion of artifacts is a strong indicator that there are
significant burials in those chambers.
[Archaeologist Sergio] Gomez, who works for Mexicos National Anthropology and History
Institute, said he hoped to find a royal tomb at the end of the tunnel. Due to the magnitude of
the offerings that weve found, it cant be in any other place, he said.
Weve been able to confirm all of the hypotheses weve made from the beginning, he added,
saying ongoing excavations could yield more major discoveries next year.

Page |4

Heres a video that takes you down the tunnel and shows some of the highlights of the recent
discoveries. Theres no narration but there is some music well worth muting.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2014 at 11:51 PM and is filed under Ancient, Treasures. You
can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Pinging is currently not allowed.

Historia Chicana

Mexican American Studies

University of North Texas
Denton, Texas