Recently, a team of archaeologists from the INAH conducted an archaeological rescue near Constituyentes Avenue in Mexico City, due to the construction of a Cable Car station. At the site, they found an ancient cemetery dating back approximately 3500 years, belonging to a pre-Hispanic village that settled in that area.
The discovery is notable because it’s the first time burials from this antiquity (Preclassic period) have been found in this part of the west side of the city, at an altitude of 2416 meters above sea level.
They excavated 10 truncated cone-shaped tombs, characteristic of Mesoamerican funerary architecture. Five contained the skeletal remains of individuals, mostly young adults, four of whom exhibited feminine features.
It is estimated that this community inhabited the area between 2500 and 400 B.C., i.e., before the eruption of the Xitle volcano and the formation of the Pedregal de Coyoacán.
The excellent preservation of archaeological materials allows glimpses into the lives of these early agricultural populations.
Inside the tombs, offerings were recovered, such as four deer arrowheads, bone awls, sgraffito pottery, a concave-convex cup, and numerous female figurines. Fantasmitas (“Little ghosts”), schematic figures with a ritual function yet unknown, were also found.
This cemetery provides new evidence of early human presence in the Chapultepec Forest and the complexity achieved by these cultures, which were already engaged in activities such as agriculture, pottery, and funeral rituals.
The materials found are being studied at the National Museum of History to obtain more details.
The archaeological rescue shows that human settlements existed in this area of the city much earlier than suspected. These findings are crucial for reconstructing the distant history of the Valley of Mexico and understanding the origins of the earliest Mesoamerican civilizations.
Sources
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) de México
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