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MEXICO
Ancient Mayan/Aztec Bones
By Jheri
Mexico is timeless—ancient, turbulent, mysterious, and
its geography sometimes involves tongue-twisting words. Ancient,
because as early as 3500 B.C. history records a diet of beans,
squash and domesticated turkeys in these lands. And ancient,
because the Mayan civilization was begun in 2600 B.C. in the
Yucatan Peninsula, the southernmost dogleg of the Mexican continent,
nearly 5,000 years ago. Turbulent, because the variously sere,
tropical, and rain-forested lands of Mexico have belonged to
Toltecs, Olmecs, Aztecs, Spanish, and the USA. Mysterious, because
how could the Aztec or Mayan people—advanced in art, sculpture,
music, dance, architecture (Great Pyramid of the Sun 300 B.C.),
and the writing of poetry—sacrifice and dine on large numbers
of slaves, prisoners and captives taken in war? Examples of the
unpronounceable include the name of the capital of the Aztec/Mayan
lands, Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City); Popocatépetl, Ixtachihuatl,
Citlaltepetl (volcanic mountains); and Tlalneopantla, Ixmiquilpan,
Tres Picos Pijijiapan (cities).
So it was to this historical tapestry that Ben
Cufone, our soil collector in Mexico, came when he visited Chichen Itza and Tuluum,
Mexico, on the Yucatan
peninsula. As he used his hands to pick up the soil, within view of deserted,
deteriorated large cut limestone block pyramids, surrounded by jungle growth,
he wondered if bone dust was part of his collection. Living quarters, temples,
altars, tombs, statues and astronomical observatories (for the Mayan calendar)
evoked those images of human sacrifice. Perhaps the spirits of the victims or
ancient priest-kings watched from above (or below) as he prepared his contribution
for Common Ground 191.
Mexico has a rich, diverse, “culinary” history
and a bright future. Because of the discovery of oil reserves there, the economy
of Mexico, long Third-World,
may soon expand into a leading force of the 21st century. And Common Ground 191
may initiate a new tongue and lingua franca of peace through the transformation
of this small bit of its soil.
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