The origins of a nation beneath a bustling city

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 24

The origins of a nation beneath a bustling city

By

PETER EISNER,

of Associated Press

Mexico has unlocked part of its mysterious Aztec origins with the public opening of the great temple, the focal point of a highly developed civilisation that flourished until conquered by Spanish invaders 461 years ago. Dedicated to the patron deity of the Aztecs. Huitzilopochtli, god of war. and to Tlaloc. the rain god. the temple was the centre of the city of Tcnochtitlan. The city's ruins lie beneath modern Mexico City. Mexicans see the excavation of this and other historic sites as a means of examining their heritage. Thousands have filed along the walkways that weave around the temple, viewing intricate stone carvings and pieces of a puzzle that made its archaeologist-excavators national heroes, since it was opened on November 27. The site, located in Mexico City's central Zocalo Square, includes a wealth of Aztec art and sculpture and provides what researchers say is the greatest insight yet to Tenochtitlan — destroyed in 1521 by invading Spanish troops led byHernando Cortes. "If we recover our preHispanic origins, it is to under-

stand them better not to idealise them," said Gaston Garcia Cantu, director of the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History, whose organisation supervised the fouryear excavation of the great temple. The great temple was discovered by accident in 1978 after years of futile searches based on Spanish accounts of a ritual platform, surrounded byshrines. Labourers for the local electric utility uncovered the temple. located alongside the Mexico City cathedral and National Palace, as they prepared to install underground voltage transformers. What they found was a stone carving of Coyolxauhqui. the mythological sister of Nuitzilopochtli. According to Aztec myths. Coyolxauhqui and 400 brothers conspired to kill her mother, when she was about to give birth to Huitzilopochtli, but Huitzilopochtli sprang forth from the womb, fully armed, killing the 400 and dismembering Coyolxauhqui. Discovery of the Coyolxauhqui stone caused a sensation in Mexico and further studies revealed ritual chambers and a maze of artwork buried in the

aea. Slowly, the remains of the pyramid-shaped main temple and the shrines to Nuitzilopochtli and Tlaloc were uncovered. Adjoining the site, scientists also found remains of an old cathedral built soon after Cortez' victory over the Aztecs, led first by Montezuma, then by Cuauhtemoc, who formally surrendered the empire to Cortes in August. 1521. Tenochtillan and its sister city. Tlatelolco. were separated by lake Texcoco, with causeway dividers serving as avenues. The lake was filled in by the Spanish conquerors. At Tlatelolco. less than three kilometres from the great temple, Mexico's modern Foreign Ministry stands at the Three Cultures Square — grouping elements of modern Mexico City, the Spanish period, and the Aztec period. An inscription in Spanish stands at the site, symbolising for Mexicans their mixed heritage:

"On August 13. 1521. heroically defended by Cuauhtemoc. Tlatelolco fell to Hernan Cortes. ■ It was neither a triumph nor a defeat. It was the painful birth of the mixed race that is Mexico today."