Leopoldo Batres
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Leopoldo Batres (1852 in Ciudad de Mexico – 1926) was a pioneer of the
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
of Mexico. He worked as an anthropologist and archaeologist for the
Museo Nacional de Antropología The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street within ...
between 1884 and 1888, beginning his excavations at
Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
, working on the Temple of Agriculture and the
Pyramid of the Moon The Pyramid of the Moon is the second-largest pyramid in Mesoamerica, after the Pyramid of the Sun, and located in modern-day San Martín de las Pirámides, Mexico. It is found in the western part of the ancient city of Teotihuacan and mimics th ...
. Later he worked at
Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the ...
,
Mitla Mitla is the second-most important archeological site in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, and the most important of the Zapotec culture. The site is located 44 km from the city of Oaxaca, in the upper end of the Tlacolula Valley, one of the t ...
,
La Quemada La Quemada is an archeological site. It is located in the Villanueva Municipality, in the state of Zacatecas, about 56 km south of the city of Zacatecas on Fed 54 Zacatecas– Guadalajara, in Mexico. History Given the distance between La ...
,
Xochicalco Xochicalco () is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Miacatlán Municipality in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The name ''Xochicalco'' may be translated from Nahuatl as "in the house of Flowers". The site is located 38  ...
,
Isla de Sacrificios Isla de Sacrificios ("Island of Sacrifices") is an island in the Gulf of Mexico, situated off the Gulf coastline near the port of Veracruz, in Mexico. The waters surrounding the island are part of the Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano National Mari ...
, Mexico City, and more work at Teotihuacan, including his flawed reconstruction of the
Pyramid of the Sun The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan, and one of the largest in Mesoamerica. It is believed to have been constructed about 200 AD. Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela ...
. Batres claimed distinguished ancestry, and his father, Salvador Batres was a consul in Germany for President
Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...
. According to Batres's autobiography, his mother, Francisca Huerta, encouraged his patriotism. Batres joined the Mexican army and was a cavalry officer. In the early 1880s, during the first years of the regime of former army general
Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
, Batres went to Paris and studied archeology at the Museum of Natural History under
Ernest Théodore Hamy Ernest-Théodore Hamy (22 June 1842, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 18 November 1908, Paris) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist. He studied medicine in Paris, earning his doctorate in 1868. Afterwards, he served as a ''préparateur'' under P ...
and
Armand de Quatrefages Armand refer to: People * Armand (name), list of people with this name *Armand (photographer) (1901–1963), Armenian photographer *Armand (singer) (1946–2015), Dutch protest singer *Sean Armand (born 1991), American basketball player *Armand, ...
, but nothing is known about the nature of his training. Batres created the first archeological maps of Mexico, one of which was aimed at the 1910 delegates of the
International Congress of Americanists The International Congress of Americanists (ICA) is an international academic conference for research in multidisciplinary studies of the Americas. Established August 25, 1875 in Nancy, France, the scholars' forum has met regularly since its incept ...
, which met in Mexico to coincide with the centenary of Mexican independence. The marking of 110 archeological sites was superimposed on a map of Mexican railway lines. One scholar views the map as highly symbolic, "The ruins of antiquity and train tracks of modernity act like joined metaphors, making reference to the past and present and conveying that Mexico is a nation both ancient and modern."Christina Bueno, ''The Pursuit of Ruins'' . Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 2016, p. 191.


Major publications

* ''Antigüedades mejicanas: Falsificación y falsificadores''. (1910) * ''Arqueología mexicana: Civilización de algunas de las diferentes tribus que habitaron el territorio, hoy mexicano, en la antigüedad''. (1888, 1891) * ''Cartilla histórica de la ciudad de México''. (1893) * ''Cuadro arqueológico y etnográfico de la República Mexicana'' (1885), * ''La piedra del agua'' (1888), * ''Excavaciones en la calle de las Escalerillas'' (1902), * ''Exploraciones de Monte Albán'' (1902), * ''Exploraciones en Huexotla, Texcoco'' (1904) * ''El Gavilán, México'' (1904), * ''La lápida arqueológica de Tepatlaxco'' (1905), * ''Teotihuacan'' (1906).


Further reading

* Batres, Leopoldo. "Visit to the Archeological Remains of La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico" in ''The North American Frontier'', edited by Basil C. Hedrick, J. Charles Kelley, and Carroll L. Riley, 1-20. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press 1971. * Bueno, Christina. ''The Pursuit of Ruins: Archeology, History, and the Making of Modern Mexico''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 2016. * Morales Moreno, Luis Gerardo. ''Orígenes de la museología mexicana: Fuentes para el estudio histórico del Museo Nacional, 1780-1940''. Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana 1994. * Sellen, Adam. "Orphans of the Muse. Archaeological Collecting in Nineteenth-Century Oaxaca." Merida: CEPHCIS-UNAM 2015.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batres, Leopoldo Mexican archaeologists 1852 births 1926 deaths