La Jornada: Archaeologist warns of “very severe” damage to the Teotihuacan site

The Temple of the Feathered Serpent, in Teotihuacan, “could cease to exist in about 100 years,” because it suffers “very severe” damage, among which the disintegration and fracture of the stone stands out, in addition to the impact caused by humidity, which triggers and is the main cause of deterioration, among multiple factors.

For years, a proposal that was proposed for its conservation, which apparently was forgotten, was to place a very discreet cover on the facade of the monument, explained archaeologist Sergio Gómez Chávez.

In chat with The Day, The specialist warned – as he has for some time – about the damage observed in the Pyramid of Quetzalcóatl, a place that he knows perfectly, since he has carried out excavations and research around the ancient tunnel created by the Teotihuacans more than 1,800 years ago, which was discovered under that same building.

The solution that has been proposed for a long time, the researcher emphasized, in order to reduce the deterioration of the temple, has been to place a roof; The project was evaluated, postponed and, finally, forgotten as administrations at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) passed.

“We have photographs taken with a scanning electron microscope, where we can see how the stone is completely disintegrated; that is, sandblasted. For this reason, we drew attention to the fact that this problem had to be addressed.”

This was a few years ago, recalled Gómez, who, together with archaeologist Saburo Sugiyama, proposed “a comprehensive strategy that consisted of eliminating humidity, which we did as part of the archeology work, and we rehabilitated the original drainage system of La Ciudadela made by the Teotihuacanos; in addition, the floors that were in the complexes were restored in order to prevent water from penetrating the subsoil and then migrating to the building, through a process called capillarity; that is, to absorb it.”

Even, he explained, “an international competition was held where many proposals were presented, of which one was selected that did not solve the problem, but was the cheapest; the point is that nothing has been done yet; the temple continues to be damaged and the deterioration process cannot be stopped.”

A discreet plan

The proposal put forward by Gómez and Sugiyama consisted of “covering only the façade, discreetly, returning the building to the shape it originally had.

“When Manuel Gamio discovered this enclosure, he cut the terraced platform so that tourists could enter; we thought of returning the building to its original shape, and taking advantage of it and placing a cover.”

He explained: “When we explored the tunnel we detected that the water was entering there; it is like a kind of cone and all the water that has fallen for almost 100 years, since Gamio explored it, was going there; we even detected that for this reason there was a collapse in the tunnel due to the humidity that penetrated.”

If the conservation and restoration problem is not addressed, Gómez warned, “in a few years that monument will continue to be damaged and the sculptures will continue to erode and, in some time, I don’t know, 100 years, it will no longer exist; the stone enters a process of disintegration, due to many factors… it cannot be observed with the naked eye, but if you get closer, every day you can see sand from the same stone that is disintegrating.”

For example, Gómez recalled that before his comprehensive proposal, “in the 1980s, restorers applied a product to the façade, ethyl orthosilicate, which at that time was thought to be the solution, but over time we detected that far from benefiting the building it was harming it, either because it was not applied correctly or because the same product had already deteriorated, but the truth is that it was harming it” more than benefiting it.

The Citadel is one of the most important architectural complexes of the City of the Gods, which is made up of a large wall-shaped platform, whose dimensions are 400 meters per side, housing the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, also known as the Temple of Quetzalcóatl, which dates back to the year 250 AD.

This enclosure is one of the oldest in the pre-Hispanic city and, without a doubt, one of the most splendid, originally built on seven architectural levels with the talud-tablero design, characteristic of Teotihuacan, composed of circular designs framed by intersecting bands, interpreted as symbols of the four directions or the quincunx.

Its structure is solid, made of stones with mud; In the foundations of the temple, offerings containing mainly human remains were recorded, dedicated to the construction of the building or to the deity that gives it its name.

Its complex and exquisite decoration is composed of feathered snake heads, which seem to be found in an aquatic environment, as indicated by the shells and snails that can be seen between their undulating bodies.