An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

of ancient structures, including Cerro de Montezuma, were being impacted by changes in
the course of the San Juan River (Espinoza-García 1998:1).
Espinoza visited the site later in 1994 and sketched a partial map indicating the
location of some of the more obvious architectural structures. In 1998, he revisited the
site and submitted a brief unsolicited report to the Director of Centro INAH Veracruz that
described possible detrimental effects of the San Juan River on El Marquesillo, Cerro de
Montezuma, and other unidentified nearby sites (Espinoza-García 1998). In this account,
Espinoza included a second sketch map made during his 1998 visit. This map reveals
that, since his 1994 visit, thousands of square meters of the elevated site, including a five
mound architectural complex, had been lost to the river’s erosive action. Ironically, the
years of Espinoza’s visits to the site, 1994 and 1998, are the years of the El Niño
enhanced floods that caused significant changes in the course of the San Juan River. At
the conclusion of his 1998 report, Espinoza states he believes a survey to evaluate the
endangered sites along the river is needed.
A major event occurred in October, 2001, when El Marquesillo resident Señor
Angel Barrientos observed what he thought was a stone metate eroding out of the upper
portion of a 9 m high cut on the western bank of the San Juan River. The stone was
located in the ejido land parcel of Apolinar Capetillo. Further investigation by residents
revealed a substantially larger piece of carved stone. When it was realized that the piece
was actually an artifact of significant archaeological interest, municipal and INAH
authorities were notified. The artifact turned out to be a monumental Olmec carved stone
throne.
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