Items of the Lost City on display

Objects recovered from the recent excavations at the archeological site known as Malpaís Prieto , are part of the temporary exhibition " La Ciudad Perdida. Raíces de los soberanos tarascos “ ("The Lost City. Roots of the Tarascan Rulers”), currently showing at the National Museum of Anthropology .

This exhibition, organized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the Mexican and Central American Research Center, is comprised of 80 items which show the every-day life, urbanism, and rituals of the Chichimeca groups who lived in this Pre-hispanic settlement , located on a the volcanic field of the Zacapu Basin, north of Michoacán .

Eliseo Padilla Gutiérrez, a researcher affiliated to the National Museum of Anthropology and curator of this exhibition, together with P.h.D Grégory Pereira, explained that the novelty of this exhibition is that most of the pieces had never been on display before.

Items of the Lost City on display

(The Omichicahuaztli, a Pre-hispanic percussion instrument made out of raccoon bones – Photo: Melitón Tapia/INAH)

Divided into ten thematic modules, the exhibition first explains the volcanic environment of Zacapu, on which Malpaís Prieto was founded. The following modules analyze the stages of the society which lead up to the consolidation of the Tarasco State: urbanism, daily life, and rituals.

According to Padilla, the settlers of Malpaís Prieto abandoned the city for unknown reasons during the early 15th century and arrived at the Pátzucaro region, where they consolidated, together with the people living on the shoreline of the lake, the Tarascan Empire .

Where:

National Museum of Anthropology

When:

From Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 19:00 hours until July 29.

How much:

Free entrance.

For more information, please check the official website in Spanish here .

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