MEXICO CITY.- The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will destiny 5 million MXP for research and acquisition of plots at Jalisco archaeological sites of El Ixtepete, Tesistan and Teocaltitlan. Jalisco State Government will invest the same amount as part of a trust constituted for that matter.

Jesus Alejandro Cravioto Lebrija, Jalisco Culture Minister, informed that the trust was created in 2008 as part of the State Fund for Culture and the Arts, specifically for buying plots with archaeological value. That year, INAH destined the same amount that the one dedicated to 2009.

“This is a sample of the jointed effort of federal government, represented by INAH, and Jalisco State Government”, he expressed.

Angelica Peregrina Vazquez, director of Jalisco INAH Center, detailed there are projects functioning related to research and plot acquisition, with the aim of giving juridical certainty to places with important archaeological vestiges in Jalisco.

“Intention is rescuing and investigating Pre Columbian testimonies, but mainly protecting them, facing the threat that urban sprawl represents, which invades spaces where elements of Western Mexico cultures, as well as Chupicuaro and Teuchitlan traditions are found”.

To present, the case of El Ixtepete (Obsidian Mount in Nahuatl) Archaeological Zone is analyzed. It is located on a 6 hectares surface of Zapopan Municipality, in an urbanized area, specifically Mariano Otero Avenue near Periferico Beltway.

The site dated from 600-900 AD, includes a pyramid, shrines and rests of a plaza, traced by the ancient inhabitants of Atemajac Valley.

This is a long term plan, continued Peregrina; polygonal protection areas are being delimitated, and Jalisco INAH Center archaeologists are integrating projects to be presented to INAH Council of Archaeology.

“In Tesistan, Zapopan, plot acquisition is also contemplated. Archaeological vestiges have been found in nearly 70 hectares, just 15 per cent of them are municipal property, and the rest are private property or ejidos (cooperative owned land)”.

Other plots considered to be bought are Teocaltitlan, Jalostotitlan, where in early 2009 an INAH archaeological project headed by Marisol Montejano began.

The Jalisco INAH Center director concluded that same work will be conducted at Villa Guerrero municipality, where Prehispanic vestiges were found, and if the resource is enough, in Ayutla.