FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

possible ancient or sacred site. The Mexican fellow, whosename was Luis, then told me he was in the middle of anotherexcavation and that he had found a three-foot statue, whichhe was going to extract from theground that evening. He mentionedthat it was slow work because he hadto be careful not to break the statue.I was somewhat skeptical about hisclaims considering he had admittedto handing us one fake piece already.I asked him if he would take me tothis ancient site. To my surprise heagreed and said he would arrangeing next to city hall told us the mountain was called Montede Lima. But, a lady in the tourist office said it was calledBuenavista. We later learned the imposing mountain wasnamed Buenavista and that Montede Lima was a location behindBuenavista.Later, I also learned that thepre-Hispanic inhabitants of this areawere referred to as the Senorio deMazatan. Compostela was foundedin 1540 and was the first capital ofNuevo Galicia, a Spanish colonialregion. At that time it was referred tofor some horses to transport us to theCerro Buenavista, Compostela, Mexico. as Santiago de Galicia de Compostela.site, which would take about an hour to reach. He said atthe site we would see a cave with ancient wall paintings; hethought the area was once a burial ground. We agreed tomeet him two days later.After saying our good-byes we asked around to confirmthe name of the mountain Luis had pointed out. Interestingly,none of the people we stopped on the street knewthe name. However, a rancher talking to a policeman stand-The main economic activity in this area is farming andcattle-raising. Many of us reside in urban locations, living acontemporary life without much thought that we might actuallybe living on top of another civilization. And so whenwe look at an empty field or forest, that is all we see. It ishard to fathom that under our very feet we might be standingover an ancient grave or atop a sacred site.In Mexico many civilizations seem to have disappeared33