Steve Stanton was born in Mexico, studied in the US and is perfectly bilingual. He has lived in Tapalpa for some 20 years and because he was actively involved in tourism for many of them, I felt he was the perfect person to ask about interesting sites in the area, off the beaten track.
“Actually,” he said, I have just come back from a place called Las Yácatas, where I was taken to some curious mounds. These seem to be the remains of both rectangular and circular monuments. I wonder if some of them might be Guachimontones built by the Teuchitlán Civilization.”
I told him I knew just the expert who could answer his question and only a few weeks later, Steve and I were heading for the ruins with archaeologist Rodrigo Esparza, former right-hand man of the late Phil Weigand, discoverer of the Teuchitlán Civilization. Accompanying us was Austrian artist Ilse Hable Taylor. Half an hour later, we were parked in front of the ranch house of Benito Preciado, who immediately offered to take us on a tour of the mounds, located literally in his back yard.After clambering over a few stone walls—a hallmark of hiking in Mexico—we stood atop the first mound, which was overgrown with tall weeds, bushes and trees.
“First I must tell you the legend of these mounds,” said Benito quietly. “The name of this place is Pueblo Viejo and we are told that a great many people once lived here …but one day a terrible calamity occurred right on this spot. Maybe it was an earthquake or perhaps something else, but the ancient city, Pueblo Viejo, was utterly destroyed, buried, some say, and no one survived. Some people claim they have seen ghosts among these mounds and others say they have heard strange sounds. As for me, I really don’t know what to think, but I am certainly curious about what used to be here.”
So were we, and, of course, we turned to our archaeologist. “Well, right off the bat,” he said, “I can tell you this is a very important archaeological site dating back to the classic period, 300 to 900 AD. This mound and the others around us may appear round because of erosion, but they are actually rectangular, which I think I can demonstrate with the help of Google Earth.” A minute later, we were looking at a satellite view of the very place where we were standing, and, indeed, even we non-archaeologists could see rectangular shapes filling the area. Later we found several places where the original walls of these structures are uncovered, and yes, in every case the walls are straight.
We started looking for shards and found so many we were soon ignoring most of them in favor of those with paint or decorations. In many cases we found curved shards which had been part of the rim of large pots, and lots of curiously twisted handles for holding such vessels. “I wonder what sort of drink they might have been brewing in these big pots, considering this place is called Pueblo Viejo,” joked Ilse Taylor, referring to a popular brand of Tequila with the same name.
Everywhere we found pieces of obsidian tools and arrowheads too. In several places we found holes dug by tomb robbers. This place definitely needs a watchman. “How many people might have lived here?” we asked Esparza.
“The first thing that’s needed is a proper survey of this area, to see just how extensive it is. It does appear that all these mounds were the foundations of buildings, with big patios among them. From what I’ve seen today, Pueblo Viejo, if we can call it that, must have had a population of 3,000 or more people at the very least.”
Hopefully the Pueblo Viejo site will soon be registered with INAH, the National Institute for Anthropology and History and placed under its protection. After that, Benito Preciado says he would be delighted to assist archaeologists in surveying the forgotten ruins in his back yard.