The 1,300-year-old pyramid was found during roadworks in Hidalgo.
Back in June, construction workers in Hidalgo, Mexico were hard at work adding a third lane to the Pachuca-Huejutla highway when they stumbled upon a 1,375-year-old pyramid.
Their historic discovery was not announced to the public until December 5, when Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology (INAH) issued an update on the pre-Columbian structure’s partial excavation—but it’s not exactly the news that history buffs might have hoped for.
Structure 1, as the pyramid is officially known, stands more than 1,000 feet tall. It is the center of a larger site that also encompasses 10 mounds for temples that have not survived the passage of time. Smaller artifacts have survived, though; archaeologists recovered more than 155 items, ranging from shells and ceramics to obsidian fragments and rock paintings of faces and arrows, which are currently under scientific examination.
The archaeologists suggest the pyramid and the settlement surrounding it may have been built by the Metzca lordship, a multiethnic society that lived in Hidalgo’s Sierra Alta region between the Epiclassic (650 to 950 C.E.) and Late Postclassic (1350-1519 C.E.) eras.
View of “Structure 1” before reburial.
Little is known about the Metzca compared to other pre-Columbian societies like the Aztecs or Toltecs, making the discovery of Structure 1 equal parts exciting and puzzling. According to Héctor Labra Chávez, director of tourism for the nearby town of San Agustín Metzquititlán, “No known remnants of pre-Hispanic civilizations in this immediate era” had previously been found, adding “deeper studies are essential to uncover the cultural context of this significant find.”
Whether these studies will be carried out remains to be seen. On December 6, Mexico News Daily reported that the freshly uncovered pyramid will be reburied to ensure its preservation, though not before archaeologists are done taking photos and creating 3D models that will allow them to continue studying the structure virtually.
The stratigraphic profile of a pyramidal base was analyzed and reburied as a conservation measure.
The decision to rebury the pyramid did not result from a lack of scholarly interest; as Chávez said, Structure 1 may hold the key to exposing a hitherto unknown chapter of Mexican history. Nor was the decision made primarily out of a desire to keep the pyramid intact—a consideration that has justified reburial of ancient structures around the world.
