G8 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Mr. William H. Holmes read the following paper on 



"Evidences of the Antiquity of Man on the Site of the 

 City of Mexico." 



Aboriginal art in Mexico seems, in a great measure, to have de- 

 veloped and flourished within her own borders, and the story of her 

 culture is, therefore, quite fully recorded in the superficial deposits of 

 the country. The volcanic and lacustrine formations of the elevated 

 valleys and the rich soil of the Tierra Caliente teem with relics of 

 many human periodSj and the whole surface of the land is dotted 

 with the ruins of temples and cities. Up to this time the efforts of 

 investigators have been confined to the exploration of points of 

 popular interest and in touching, somewhat superficially, upon the 

 more glittering problems. Little attention has been given to classi- 

 fying and describing the multitude of minor relics. The ceramic 

 art, which was phenomenally developed, has received scarcely more 

 than a passing notice. It is this condition of affairs that affords 

 me an opportunity of presenting this paper, based as it is, upon a 

 brief study of the contents of the soil within the limits of the City 

 of Mexico. 



Incomplete as my observations were, they afforded me a most 

 welcome opportunity of beginning the study of the ceramic art of 

 Mexico from the standpoint of actual observation of relics in place. 

 Superb as are the collections within the Mexican Museum, their 

 study is rendered extremely unsatisfactory by the absence of detailed 

 information in regard to their origin and chronology. Fortunately 

 the section of deposits here presented reads with the readiness of 

 an open book, giving not only the proper sequence to its own trea- 

 sures, but, I doubt not, making clear the relative position of many 

 other relics that would, otherwise, go unclaimed and unclassified. 



The site of the capital of the Montezumas is naturally a great re- 

 pository of the ceramic remains of the pre-Columbian peoples. 

 One has but to wander into almost any of the suburban villages, 

 wherever excavations are going on, to witness the exhumation of 

 multitudes of fragmentary utensils, many of which have been a 

 second and a third time thrown up and rebuilt into the edifices and 

 defences of successive cities. 



During the spring of 1884 I spent a few weeks at the Central 

 Railway station, which is located in the outskirts of the city. The 

 old walls and fortifications of the city, dating back perhaps to early 



