We are about to go deep into a world that, until recently, was still unknown. A world made of many worlds, real time-capsules that for hundreds, or even thousands of years, remained protected by the oceans or by the waters in a Cenote or in a cave and that, although if it now finds itself submerged, it once was a dry shelter for extinct animals, or groups of humans that for the first time where stepping into those places.
All that archeological and historical richness constituted by human and animal skeletons, prehispanic offerings, colonial objects and the remaining of vessels from different nationalities, of ships that saw their end when sailing trough our oceans within the last five Centuries, these, who constitute the underwater cultural heritage of Mexico, a legacy that is as important as the one found inland and that makes Mexicans feel equally proud of.
Along this route, prepared by the historian Flor Trejo Rivera, a researcher from the Historical research area for the Underwater Archeology section at the INAH (National Institute for Archeology and History), we will get to know the efforts that men had to endure to reach the ocean bottoms, in distant periods of time and with war-intended ends or when looking for worthy offerings for their deities, and in more recent times, to extract the fragments of history that remain there.
We will also get to know the complexities of Underwater Archeology. What is this world´s relatively new discipline all about? What is its purpose when scrutinizing aquatic depths? What does an archeologist find in the ocean depths, or when descending into the murky waters of a Mayan Cenote? How to study this material, how to preserve it, how to be able to share it with those who do not have the privilege of visiting those places?
We hope that at the end of this immersion in this important part of the cultural heritage that lies underneath the waters of our country, we will be able to better understand the value of this legacy that has remained waiting for us for so long to tell us the facts that it has witnessed and that tell stories about our own past.
Archeologist Pilar Luna Erreguerena
Deputy Director of Underwater Archeology
National Institute of Anthropology and History