Maya and Aztec

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations

New Archaeology Hall has opened at Aguascalientes Regional Museum

Category: News reports

Aguascalientes, Mexico, April 11, 2009. With a new Prehispanic heap, the Aguascalientes Regional Museum opened recently its new Archaeology Hall, divulgating the cultural diversity of the region known as Great Chichimeca, where according to studies, more than 1,500 groups inhabited. With this new hall the museum part of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) attends the requirement of a section that would instruct about the first dwellers of the region, the way they lived, produced and developed.

Maria de Lourdes Herrasti, director of the Aguascalientes Museum, declared that the main objective of the hall is to divulgate between the Aguascalientes community Prehispanic historical facts. The anthropologist pointed out that there is great unawareness about the Prehispanic origins. “We have to redefine the perception of life in the region before the Colonial period. 85 Prehispanic settlements that developed between 600 and 900 AD have been found in Aguascalientes”.

The Archaeological Hall has a new museographic design that includes 40 new pieces added to the 20 that were exhibited in different areas of the museum. The location underwent intervention to correct humidity problems, and INAH specialists also restored the furniture.

The visit was designed in a chronological order, beginning with the first hunter-gatherer human settlements, until the development of Prehispanic peoples. The new hall informs visitors about how difficult life must have been 15,000 years ago, when nomad groups arrived with their early technology: arrowheads. The first agricultural societies registered developed between 200 and 1200 AD, having contact with the ones established in San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas and Jalisco, sharing customs, beliefs and commerce.

The region known as Great Chichimeca resulted in the pejorative term “chichimeca” used by Spaniards to define the “barbarian tribes”, which really were complex societies with great adaptation ability.

Among the archaeological collection outstand the crude ceramics and a fragment of wild maize found in a burner more than 1,000 years old. The permanent exhibition helps understanding the social rhythm of the societies that left their testimony in petroglyphs and rupestrian paintings that represent the sun, the stars and time. Jewelry is exhibited as well; necklaces, bracelets, rings and earwear made out of materials such as turquoise, shell, obsidian and clay outstand.

Aguascalientes Regional Museum is located in 110 Carranza Street, in the Historical center of Aguascalientes. The admission fee is 38 MXP, and visiting hours are Tuesday to Friday from 8:30 to 17:30; Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 18:00. Children under 13, senior citizens, physically challenged people, students and teachers with a valid ID do not pay. Admission is free for Mexicans and residents on Sundays.

Source: INAH.


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