The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-04-23
Mexican Government Sinking
Shaft to Uncover MySteri-
GUS "City of Gods"
BUILDERS THOUGHT INDIANS
Immense Stores of Valuable Archeo-
logical Material Have Been Taken
From the Various Excavations
To Make 1t Show Place.

San Juan de Teotihuacan. Mexico
Prospecting for the habitations of a
lost race in virtually the same manner
as miners dig for gold. federal EN-
plOyees here have just started to un-
cover the remains of a city of ut least
100000 inhabitants which fuurished
four thousand or more years ago.
Here and there over the confines of
the buried city have been sunk shafts
To ind streets, houses and temples
known TO exist below the level of the
mountain valley in which lies the little
village Of San Juan TeOtihuacaR,. the
name of which means in the Aztec
tongue City of the Gods"
The Mexican government has apprO-
priated funds for this work of excaya-
ton, which is in charge of Manuel
GamiO. director of anthropOlOgy of the
department of agriculture. The gov
eminent hopes eventually to make the
spot one of the show places of Mexico.
Dominating the area are two pyra-
mids, one to the sun and the other 10
the moon, which for centuries have de-
fed the efforts of Psychologists and
historians to trace their origin. The
pyramid to the moon is still I'M
touched, retaining an appearance to
the lay eye of huge mound of irregu-
lar shape, overgrOwn with grass and
rubbish.
Builders Thought Indians.
Senior Gamio says the city now un-
der excavation at one time covered an
area of fifteen square miles with a
population of more than 100000. Its
builders are unknown to history, but
Senior GamiO believes they were a part
Of an Indian tribe which wandered into
Mexico from the north, and finding the
valley fruitful and the climate salu-
brious, decided to settle there.
The presence of volcanic rock as one
of the top strata covering the ruins in
dicates that one of the nearby noun
tains erupted and inundated the city
with lava.
Entry to the grounds is made facing
the Temple of the Goddess of the
Winds" which was discovered less
than a year ago. when erosion uncoV.
cred well-detned walls and decorations
typically Indian and Egyptian in their
conception. This temple has now been
dug out and reconstructed on the ex-
terror.
The inside is reached at present
through a series of subterranesn mas.
sages. Inside the visitor treads over
massive stairs ornate with decorations
of huge serpents with obsldian eyes
and grOtesque conceptions reminiscent
OfsEgyptian art. The work of interior
excavation and reconstruction IS far
from complete.
Paint Still Bright.
Between this temple and the pyra-
mid to the sun is a stretch of one
quarter of a mile, which is at intervals
pierced by the shafts of the diggers
and in some places by the uncovered
remains of a house or public building
with the paint still bright and the fres-
Goes as intact as the day they were
placed there several thousands of years
ago.
Between the two pyramids Is a we'll
defined plaza, on one side of which a
street has been uncovered. known as
the Path of the Dead" Thanking the
plaza are hundreds of mounds. which
Senior Gamio assured the correspond