Can you believe it? All this time we lived deceived, because archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have revealed that they discovered a dock and a canal in what was Chapultepec beach, right where the avenue and the forest of Mexico City are now.
Discoveries reveal that there was a beach in Chapultepec
As we told you above, archaeologists from the INAH made a great discovery in Mexico City, because right where Chapultepec Avenue passes, they found the remains of a dock and a canal from the pre-Hispanic era, revealing that at the foot of the Chapulín hill there was a beach.
How did they find these findings? As part of the construction of an overpass near the Chapultepec Metro station, a group of archaeologists from the INAH supervised the works and identified several sections of what was apparently an artificial canal and a small dock where they believe canoes arrived and departed heading for Lake Texcoco.
The canal that was found on Chapultepec Avenue.
Photo: INAH // The canal that was found on Chapultepec Avenue.
According to experts, the best preserved part of the canal was found under the vehicular stream on Chapultepec Avenue, right at the height of Lieja Street and next to the building that was once occupied by the Ministry of Health.
In fact, archaeologists say, they found this section of the canal surrounded by a thin layer of sand… Could it have been from that ancient beach that existed there?
What was the canal, dock and beach like that were in Chapultepec?
María de Lourdes López Camacho, an expert from the National Museum of History located in Chapultepec Castle, says that the discovery of the dock, the canal and the beach is a blessing because the location of these findings has undergone several interventions since the end of the 19th century, such as the construction of the building of the Ministry of Health and the Chapultepec Metro station.
“Originally, a river ran through here on the south side of the hill and emptied into a reservoir. This stream was culturally transformed: first, into a navigable canal; at the beginning of the viceroyalty, into a pipe and, in the mid-18th century, into the Chapultepec aqueduct, which had 904 arches and went from the ‘Chapultepec pools’ to the Salto del Agua fountain,” explains the expert.
The most surprising thing of all is that this pre-Hispanic canal is mentioned on the Uppsala Map from 1550, in which it appears with a canoe in transit.
“This must have been a main ‘waterway’, because through archaeological excavation and stratigraphic correlation we have confirmed that its maximum width is 1.80 meters, a narrow space, but sufficient for the passage of smaller vessels,” she adds.
On the other hand, archaeologist Liliana Márquez Escoto said that the largest exploration unit, where the bottom of the canal and the sands of the beach were found, measures 2.50 meters wide by four meters long.
Among the vestiges that were found are a rammed earth through which the canal was accessed and 40 piles of fir or fir wood between 40 and 137 centimeters high, with thicknesses ranging from 13 to 29 centimeters.
But the archaeologists also indicated that at the center of the exploration they observed a concentration of botanical remains typical of lake deposits, including seeds, wood, gastropods and small roots.
Even some of the samples recovered by the experts showed that a large part of the diet of the inhabitants of the pre-Hispanic settlement near the canal was based on the consumption of quelites, squash and tomatoes.
And in addition to everything, pieces of ritual ceramic pieces were also found, such as the following: incense burners, braziers and vessels with the solar symbol and representations of characters, which could have been offered to the ancient body of water in the Late Postclassic period.
But semi-complete and complete pieces from the Early Colonial period were also found, from 1521 to 1620: a macuquina, one of the first hammered coins of New Spain; green glazed earthenware and basins, in the bottoms of which the seals of hospitals and religious orders were observed, as well as materials from the 20th century.
Source: sopitas
