Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Founding
Founding of Ruínas de León Viejo
archaeological site in Nicaragua
- 15 June 1524
- Mesoamerica and the Caribbean
Founding
archaeological site in Nicaragua
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Ruins of León Viejo is a World Heritage Site in Nicaragua. It was the original location of León. It is the present location of the town of Puerto Momotombo in the Municipality of La Paz Centro of the Department of León. It is administered by the Instituto Nicaragüense de Cultura (Nicaraguan Institute of Culture).
León Viejo was founded on June 15, 1524, by the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, who was decapitated at the town's Plaza Mayor (Main Square) in 1526 by governor Pedrarias Dávila, his Lieutenant.
Settled by Spanish colonists, León Viejo originally had a native population of about 15,000 and it is located on the southwestern banks of Lago de Xolotlán or Lago de Managua (Lake Xolotlán or Managua), south of the volcano Momotombo. The area suffered frequent volcanic activity, culminating in the earthquakes of 1594 and 1610.
The city was not destroyed by the 1610 quake. However, due to the damage caused to the infrastructure and the seismic activity, the settlers held a referendum and decided to relocate the city to its present location, about 30 kilometres (20 mi) to the west. Subsequently, the old city was gradually buried by the continuous expulsions of ash and volcanic stone coming from Momotombo.
The ruins of León Viejo were discovered in 1967 and excavations begun the following year revealing that the city had a similar layout to other cities in America at that time, laid out on a grid system with a main square located at its center. León Viejo occupies an approximate area of 800 m x 500 m. Around the Plaza Mayor and on the surrounding streets, 16 ruins have been partially restored.
The city had three monasteries: "La Merced", "San Pedro", and "San Francisco", which remained active until October, 1559. The ruins of La Merced and San Pedro have been identified, however they have been damaged by natural disasters over the years. In May 1982 tropical storm Alleta wasted the walls of the city. In October 1988 Hurricane Joan caused new damages to the ruins, and in October 1998 Hurricane Mitch affected an estimated 40% of the site, damaging several houses, La Merced convent, and La Fortaleza.
León Viejo is the only 16th-century colonial city in America that has never suffered city-planning alterations during its history. This fact was the main argument in the request to the UNESCO when it was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.
The conquistadors found the country occupied by numerous entrepreneurial towns practicing the arts and peaceful industries. Dr. Berendt, a great explorer and scholar of aboriginal people of Central America, in light of philological results obtained by himself and by American diplomat Ephraim George Squier (1849), as well as traditions preserved mainly by Oviedo, Torquemada and Herrera, believed that the Cholutecas, Chorotega, Dirianes and Orotiñas were descendants of the people who migrated from Cholula, Mexico. These people occupied the greater part of the country from the Gulf of Fonseca to Nicoya, its territorial continuity interrupted near the current city of Leon by the Marabios, and again by an Azteca colony occupying the narrowest part of the strip of land between the Pacific and Lake Nicaragua, as well as the islands of the Lake. The King and his latest national capital wore the name Nicarao (Conference read before the American geographical society, July 10, 1876, by Dr. C. H. Berendt). The former inhabitants of this region left abundant relics of their civilization in burial mounds, cemeteries, etc.
In 1987, Elphidio Ortega, Advisor to the Organization of American States (OAS), conducted 14 stratigraphic wells on the site. Contrary to previous researchers, he suggested that the colonial settlement was not located on the native site, but rather alongside a prehispanic town. Lourdes Dominguez, a Cuban national, also made investigations in 12 wells, both outside the limit of some structures from which obtained more 1100 pieces of ceramic evidence. After her research, Dominguez proposed the theory that León Viejo was built on a prehispanic settlement, as suggested by the site's abundance of ceramics. This theory came into contradiction with Elphidio Ortega, who concluded that the colonial city was established along an indigenous settlement, but not over it.
In 1996, Devora Ederman Cornavaca, postgraduate student at the University of California Los Angeles obtained permission from the Department of cultural heritage of the Nicaraguan Culture Institute (INC) to carry out excavations in León Viejo, aimed at studying the impact of the Spanish society on the native populations of the region. The first excavation was near the current city limits and found evidence of a possible smithy. The second was located on an agricultural parcel limited south with León Viejo, in what is now part of the site's buffer zone. Unfortunately, the final results report of this research period has not been published. However, Cornavaca states that the Spanish settlement was located outside of the native town of the area. (Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America an Encyclopedia - Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster. Pages: 401–402).
The anthropological research Department of Nicaragua National Museum (MNN) conducted excavations and archaeological explorations in León Viejo, digging 8×2 meter trenches oriented north to south.
Excavations recovered material consisted of ceramic, porcelain, metal, wildlife remains and human remains.
A fragment of a musical instrument, possibly a flute made from a human humerus, was found in association with a set of prehispanic materials. E. Espinoza, in his article on "Shamanism" in prehispanic Nicaragua, points out that the German archaeologist G. Haberland found, in a burial zone, a musical artifact associated with human remains that probably belonged to a shaman; hence, it is inferred that this type of object is linked to a ritual or ceremony.
In the cathedral, a prehispanic female skull with evidence of trepanation (a surgical intervention) was found—one of the few examples of trepanation recorded in the history of the Nicaraguan archaeology.
The site evidenced an abundance of pottery, stone artifacts of chalcedony and basalt, and fragments of prismatic knives (of obsidian, probably imported from multiple locations in the Central American region). This sheds light on prehispanic trade practices. Obsidian is a coveted raw material, utilized extensively for the production of domestic and ceremonial tools.
Found in the east sector of grid 3D, the first 20 cm, had previously been removed, this condition was observed in the next 40 cm, i.e., at the end of the second level. Morphologically, the soil is a mixture of volcanic sand, clay and degraded of bedrock dirt geologically known as pumice, which gives the dirt a white or yellowish color and a very soft texture.
Due to the soil characteristics, it proved impossible to define the morphology of the burial; no special arrangements were observed, only that the head rested on small volcanic stones (tufa).
The burial is atypical, the skull is on the south side as if looking at Momotombo mountain, or perhaps the Lake, the position in which the individual was laid is not well defined, his right hand has the ulna - radius - in the chest and the right hand ulna - radius on the facial bones as if covering the face, metacarpal bones and phalanges are associated with the clavicle and left scapulae. It is possible that the burial may be an extended burial and corpse has been buried when the body became stiff which is why the hand is on the face. The skull has a hole at the top of the left parietal caused by circular trepanation or surgery which was practiced on the bone to cure some illness. Furthermore, a set of holes caused by osteoporosis was observed through an electronic magnifying glass, the operation was performed in the same region of the skull (Personal communication with Dr. Henry Guerzten, Pathology Professor at the University of Virginia, USA)
The skeleton is quite complete and in acceptable preservation condition, according to biometric data obtained from the measurement of the skull bones ranges from 22 to 23 cm. and postcranial bones, the column including pelvis 55–56, femur 42, shinbone - fibula 34 cm, respectively, a height of between 1.50 and 155 was calculated approximately and bone anatomy infer that this is a young woman between 25 and 30 years of age, female. All dental parts are anatomically articulated and morphologically incisors teeth (spade-shaped) make us to infer that it is a specimen belonging to the Imabite people Chorotega indigenous population of the area. Over the pelvic region of the specimen a sacrum and coccyx and a lumbar vertebra were found, by the feet a package of bones was found that corresponds to the lower extremities. Near the head, bone remains belonging to the upper limbs of another individual were found, the perturbed human remains seem to correspond to a mature male adult.
With regard to the interpretation of the cultural context of this funerary burial, the burial space is not on a main altar, but another area of burial. Although this space is also considered a place privileged in the Church, it is difficult to infer whether the burial was disturbed during the different stages of construction of the cathedral, and there remains the possibility that the corpse has retained its place and position.
Archaeological evidence shows that there was disturbance of the human remains of other specimens, and not with the individual unearthed in grid 3D and was buried as looking at the volcano. If we talk about that it is an individual of the prehispanic population; then it is possible that the orientation of this person have some link with a ritual, a ceremonial act or a human sacrifice to honor one of their gods, the God of the mountain, the God of heights or the Momotombo volcano, prehispanic population feared these large volcanoes, but also paid tributes because they associated height to their gods, they believed that being in the highest places could come into contact with one of their gods.
The team resorted to data on burials types recorded both in Europe and America: as noted by Goodwin (1945), burial rites are closely delimited by customs, and the position and orientation of the body can help show the distribution of a cultural group, both in space as time. Variations in type of burial that are associated with a given people can contribute to determining differences in beliefs and customs, although as noted Ucko (1969), the ethnographic interpretation of burials can be a risky affair. That there were considerable variations in the type of burial even in prehistoric times is something that has been left clearly exposed Marija (1956), but the interpretation is not always easy.
The presence of stone artifacts is remarkable, as fragments of prismatic knives made of Obsidian (volcanic glass), reported chips of obsidian, chalcedony quartz, wildlife remains corresponding to small mammals, reptiles, birds and fish, part of these materials were associated with the human bones. Indigenous peoples that lived around the city, in what could have been the largest settlement around Imabite, with about 15 thousand people according to Oviedo.
This second burial was located between the southern profile grid (C - 1A) and north grid profile (C - 1B) the skeleton has the body and head tilted slightly to the northwest, with the feet below the first step of the altar.
The burial was discovered below the human remains that correspond to the second Archbishop who arrived in Nicaragua in 1540 fray Francisco Mendavia, and was buried between 80 and 100 cm deep at the altar of the cathedral. The bones under Mendavia tomb were found at between 160 and 180 cm depth, the specimen was buried with the head toward the west side and face toward where the sun rises or facing the altar, the skeleton was anatomically articulated in a stretched position with both arms parallel to the femur, this burial form is not a Christian habit, it is more associated with prehispanic burials. Human remains are: properly articulated skull, clavicles, shoulder, humor bone, dices - radius, femurs, ulna - fibulae, cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, pelvis and bones of both hands and feet. Biometric data from the specimen are as follows: skull 23 cm, left femur 44 cm, right tibia 36 cm and the column including the pelvis 55 cm, infer that the height of the individual range between 1.55 and 1.60 cm approximately. According to the biological characteristics of bones and teeth appear to correspond to an adult individual female, 30–35 years of age approximately.
Most of the molars display a very marked wear that is typical of the prehispanic Nicaragua population, the upper molars are spent in the form of channel, attrition in the enamel and well-worn dental cusps, teeth of this specimen were compared with a collection of dental pieces belonging to archaeological excavations and indigenous people. Pathological problems were observed in two dental pieces, the molar inferior M1 on both sides have lesions caused by decay, by examination through an electronic magnifying observed a set of holes mainly in the proximal and distal parts of the long bones that were possibly affected by osteoporosis.
During the excavation process several archaeological objects were found that corresponds to the pre-Hispanic period and a few to the colonial period, these artefacts were developed with different types of raw material, for example: lithic, human bones, clay, metal etc. The material have been systematically controlled and with great scientific rigor.
Fishing net artefacts made with fragments of pottery negative Usulután and oval shape, long 5.5 cm, level 6, depth 1.20 cm. C - 3D. Weight for fishing nets, one has circular measure 3.3 cm diameter and 5 cm wide and oval shaped fragment. Level 3, depth of 40–60 cm. C - 3 c. C - grid-2 level 1 c, a device was recorded with elaborate tip with red ceramic.
Text from the Wikipedia article “León Viejo”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.