Archeology Assessment
Social Studies Mrs.
Barella
By: Arianne S.
8:25 a.m., May 7th,
2005
Today I woke up very early in the morning
so that my team and I could begin our trip to Mexico City. We packed up
all the materials and tools that we would need and then we drove to JFK
airport.
10:30 a.m., May 7th
2005
Right now I am on the plane. The flight
is expected to be about five and a half hours. From my window, I can see
white fluffy clouds, and the sky is a relaxing baby blue color. I can’t
wait till we arrive in Mexico City, and begin excavating the area!!!
4:00 a.m., May 8th
20005
The flight went well. We arrived in
Mexico City at 1:00 p.m., local time. The next leg of our journey was,
about a 40-kilometer drive to Teotihuacán, an enormous archaeological site
in the Basing of Mexico. Teotihuacán means City of the gods.
We set up our tents, and unpacked the
tools and materials we would be using such as grids, brushes, shovels,
trowels, sifters, buckets, dental picks, and sieves. I am up early, though
I am used to it, being an Archeologist.
8:00 a.m., May 8th
2005
The focus of our work is going to be
excavating the south and west areas of the Sun Pyramid. (The north and
east sides were largely explored by the archeologist, Eduardo Matos
Moctezuma in the early 1990’s.) The Sun Pyramid is huge, measuring 225
meters along each side and about 63 m high. There is a cave under the
pyramid, which many scholars believe is where important rituals took
place. But no one knows for sure. There used to be a temple at the top of
the pyramid, but along with the people of the city of Teotihuacán, it is
long gone. Now instead there are just many steps leading to the top of the
pyramid from the outside. We hope to find any artifacts inside the
pyramid, which will help, tell us more about the people who built the Sun
Pyramid and this ancient City. But right now, I have to go and organize
work crews
6:30 a.m., May 8th
2005
Today we
begin to excavate. I am very excited!!!!!! For breakfast we ate bread with
honey, and some grapes. I am in the car right now. It is very bumpy, and
is NOT a great place to write.
10:00 p.m., May 8th
2005
Today we didn’t find anything, although
it was still very interesting to see the Sun Pyramid in real life.
Tomorrow we will keep looking.
9:00 p.m., May 9th
2005
Still nothing. The days hot, dusty, and
dry.
9:30 p.m., May 10h
2005
Last years
archeological dig, had established a tunnel, leading into the center of
the Sun Pyramid. They had found what looked like might be an opening to a
burial chamber, but there wasn’t time to explore this theory further. Our
mission is to open this door, and see what lies behind it.
Today we began to brush away, the outer
layers of dust and dirt, very carefully. It was interesting, because after
about fifteen minutes of doing this, we discovered that the dust was a
much deeper red color. I realized that the base of the door was actually
hidden under the earth. We started digging away the earth using our
shovels. We dug 3 feet down, and then headed back to our camp -grounds
because it was getting late.
8:30 p.m., May 10th
2005
Today was one of the most exciting days,
but the beginning was very tough!!!! When we finally managed to open the
door, we found a tiny, empty room about as large as a broom closet. We
scoured every inch of the floor, the walls, and the ceiling for further
clues, but there was nothing. As we were finally giving up, and heading
out the first door, Alexandro, one of the volunteers, tripped and fell to
the ground. His hand landed on something, which we thought was only a
little rock, but after using a trowel we dug away the earth surrounding
it, and found that it seemed to be some sort of lever. We pulled the lever
up and a side panel in one of the walls, flipped open. That’s when we
discovered the real chamber. It was huge, but very old looking. There were
cobwebs all over and, the room looked as if know one had been in it for
centuries, which was probably true. But there weren’t loads of treasure in
it, like some people had suspected. There were bugs crawling around. It
was then when I noticed it. It was a round vase, completely covered in
dust, so that it blended in with its surroundings. It was in a little
alcove in the center of the back wall. We held our lanterns up so that we
could get a better look at the vase, and saw to our amazement, that the
vase appeared to be in mid condition despite it’s age. We eagerly started
to go back to our camp- site, so we could examine the artifact more
closely.
7:00 a.m., May 11th,
2005
We picked away some of the
dirt that had been incrusted on the vase’s surface using a dental pick. We
also used brushes to take away the dust, though we worked very carefully,
so as not to break, or damage the vase in any way. When the vase was
finally cleaned off we saw that, it had the characteristic, thin orange
pottery of the Teotihuacán and from everything else we knew, our best
guess was that this vase dated to about 600AD, when the city of
Teotihuacán was already in decline. We also took at small fragment from
the vase’s base, which was already broken from the vase’s surface, to send
to the University of Bristol, where the latest technique in dating pottery
has just been developed. Scientists there have been able to isolate the
animal fats that are absorbed into unglazed pottery, and then use
radiocarbon dating to come up with a date for the pottery.
5:00 p.m., May 12th
2005
We are
still waiting for the results for final dating of the vase, but clearly,
going through all my notes, I think that the vase was used for something
very special. My best guess is that it was used for a coming of age
ceremony, and that it was probably used by some tribal leader, or priest.
Obviously this vase was not used for holding flowers, or cooking. The
other theory, that one of my team members suggested, is that the vase was
hidden for a reason. When I first saw the vase, it looked like it was from
600 A.D.