Ancient
pyramid found in central Mexico City
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Archeologists have discovered the ruins
of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of the Mexican capital
that could show the ancient city is at least a century older than
previously thought.
Mexican archeologists found the ruins, which are about 36 feet
high, in the central Tlatelolco area, once a major religious and
political centre for the Aztec elite.
Since
the discovery of another pyramid at the site 15 years ago, historians
have thought Tlatelolco was founded by the Aztecs in 1325, the
same year as the twin city of Tenochtitlan nearby, the capital
of the Aztec empire, which the Spanish razed in 1521 to found
Mexico City, conquering the Aztecs.
The
pyramid, found last month as part of an investigation begun in
August, could have been built in 1100 or 1200, signaling the Aztecs
began to develop their civilization in the mountains of central
Mexico earlier than believed.
"We
have found the stairs of this, much older pyramid. The (Aztec)
timeline is going to need to be revised," archaeologist Patricia
Ledesma said at the site on Thursday.
Tlatelolco,
visited by thousands of tourists for its pre-Hispanic ruins and
colonial-era Spanish church and convent, is also infamous for
the 1968 massacre of leftist students by state security forces
there, days before Mexico hosted the Olympic Games.
Ledesma
and the archaeological group's coordinator, Salvador Guilliem,
said they will continue to dig and study the area next year to
get a better idea of the pyramid's size and age.
The
archeologists also have detected a sculpture that could be of
the Aztec rain god Tlaloc, or of the god of the sky and earth
Tezcatlipoca.
In
addition, the dig has turned up five skulls and a series of rooms
near the pyramid that could date from 1431.
"What
we hope to find soon should tell us much more about the society
of Tlatelolco," said Ledesma.
Mexico
City is littered with pre-Hispanic ruins. In August, archeologists
in the city's crime-ridden Iztapalapa district unearthed what
they believe may be the main pyramid of Tenochtitlan.
The
Aztecs, a warlike and religious people who built monumental works
and are credited with inventing chocolate, ruled an empire stretching
from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and encompassing
much of modern-day central Mexico.
(Editing
by Xavier Briand)