Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Urban Archaeology: Parque Ecoarqueologico de Poniente

A couple days ago my dad and I made our way to the "Parque Ecoarqueologico Poniente" which is a Eco-Archaeological park located in the western edge of the city (Merida). The park is a project similar to the one know as the "Parque Ecoarqueologico de Oriente", however although they are both within the city in large residential areas... this particular park is much less landscaped and wild, so it is very easy to forget that you are in the city (for the most part) and just enjoy the archaeology and birds! The area of the park is of about 300 square meters and has a few dozen observable structures which range from barely describable mounds to a couple pyramidal structures between 7 and 8 meters in high. There is also an aguada (artificial water reservoir) and Sacbe (pre-hispanic elevated road) which communicated the outpost with other urban centres in the region. There has been some restoration done at the site, however the structures have suffered a lot of damage since they where obviously pillaged for construction of newer structures in decades and centuries past. Anyway I hope you enjoy the photos!








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