FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

searching the ground, from where he picked up a stone. Myfather asked him what he was doing and he told us that thememorial was built on the site of an old Indian village thatpredated the arrival of Spaniards in Mexico. He showed usthe rock he had picked up and explained that it had beenused to crush corn in a stone bowl. He then said the hill waslittered with these historic remnants. I looked down at thefreshly tilled earth and noticed that many ancient potteryfragments lay scattered upon the ground. I was surprisedthat it was only after I had been told that I was standing onancient ground that I immediately noticed that these fragmentslittered the earth at our feet. Marcel Proust, a Frenchnovelist, once said, “The real voyage of discovery consistsnot in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”Amazed, I picked up the remnants of an old pottery bowl toexamine it and realized that until this time, I had only seenancient artifacts behind glass cases in museum halls thatdemanded tomb-like silence as one viewed the preservedprogress of mankind. This ancient site, home of the earliestdwellers of Mexico, had now returned to its original stateand was forgotten forever. As one civilization died away anotherrose on top of it. Today a cross stands at this placeas homage to a Christian god. What stood here a thousandyears before? Perhaps an altar to offer homage to gods thathave since been forgotten? From earth to earth and fromashes to ashes, we rise and return. The cycle continues.Upon returning to the entrance we were met by Pedro,7