Arqueology

The Mazatlan Archeological Museum: A Window to our History

Text: Alejandra García - Photo: Iván Lizárraga

The Mazatlan Archeological Museum opened in the heart of downtown back in 1984 in one of the big, old houses on Sixto Osuna Street in the historic center. It began with pieces donated by the then chronicler of Mazatlan, Miguel Valadez.  Through the years many interesting pieces have been added, some donated by locals and tourists.  There are 187 pieces in the museum and they constitute part of the history of the first inhabitants of this area and help us appreciate the beliefs, customs and life style of them.

We can get to know things about the Cahitas, the Totorames, the Tahues, the Xiximes, the Acaxes and the Tepehuanes, who were the first settlers of the region.  They had their own organizational system and some were wilder than others when it came to traditional hunting.  Others simply busied themselves cultivating crops and tending the earth.  But generally there were lots of fights back then among groups who disputed land, women or slaves or who were just plain bellicose.

In the museum you can find ceramic pieces, fossil remains of people and statues and arrow heads that allow us a glimpse into their customs.  Among the older pieces, some ceramic works from around 500 AD stand out.  They are from the Aztatlan culture.  One of the more eye raising things is the presence of some so called “second burials”, which was a common practice in the old civilizations.  This involved burying the person in the earth and then exhuming him a year or so later, placing the corpse in fetal position and then placing him in urns.

Old bone remains show us that the people of this area back then were tall and robust.  On the skulls of the skeletons you can appreciate two common traits of old Sinaloa: the deformation of the cranium that is probably due to something in infancy and dental mutilation already done among the permanent pieces due to filing or cutting.

Regarding the way an ordinary man dressed back then, they must have dressed sparsely.  They only wore loin cloths.  Women covered the bottom half of their bodies with cotton blankets.

There is a section of the museum dedicated to the pre-Hispanic ball game called “ulama”, which has its antecedents right here in Sinaloa dating back to the times before Christ.  It was a game from the mesa Americana culture that is still practiced in some regions.  There are these and other fascinating vestiges that are worthwhile to rediscover.  There is an outstanding photographic exposition on the flora and fauna of the state of Sinaloa that features more than 20 illustrations along with explanations.

Go to the Mazatlan Archeological Museum.  It is ours and it is worthwhile to rediscover our history!