Eduardo Luis Pareyón Moreno (December 2, 1921 – March 15, 2000) was a Mexican

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He was a pioneer researcher in several aspects of modern Mexican archaeology. He was born (and died) in

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from ''wikt:azcapotzalli, āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + ''wikt:-co, -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcap ...

Federal District A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...

, to a family renowned for its contributions to the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

sciences Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

Education

He studied architecture at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

and started a brilliant career assisting architect

Mario Pani Mario Pani Darqui (March 29, 1911 – February 23, 1993) was a Mexican architect and urbanist. He was one of the most active urbanists under the Mexican Miracle, and gave form to a good part of the urban appearance of Mexico City, with emblema ...

during projects as the new

National Conservatory of Music (Mexico) National Conservatory of Music may refer to: * Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon, in Lyon, France * Conservatoire de Paris * Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música (Argentina) in Buenos Aires * National Conservat ...

and the Latinoamericana Tower, both in Mexico City. However, he soon get interested with archaeologic excavations, due to the rich history of the soil in many areas where he was working as architect. Another element that influenced his first studies as archaeologist, was that during his childhood he spent many days exploring the old ruins of

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 ...

, years before its reconstruction. Actually, Pareyón Moreno's father, colonel Eduardo Pareyón Azpeitia, was a friend of

Manuel Gamio Manuel Gamio (1883–1960) was a Mexican anthropologist, archaeologist, sociologist, and a leader of the '' indigenismo'' movement. Although he rejected full sovereignty for indigenous communities in Mexico, he argued that their self-governing or ...

, whose work and personality had an impact during his first cultural development. He returned to study at the National School of Anthropology, where he completed his master dissertation "Excavations at the archaeologic zone of Cerro del Tepalcate" (1961).

Career

From 1955 to 1959 was assistant of

Alfonso Caso Alfonso Caso y Andrade (1 February 1896 – 30 November 1970) was an archaeologist who made important contributions to pre-Columbian studies in his native Mexico. As a university student, he was part of a group of young intellectuals known as '' ...

during excavation and register works in archaeological sites in Quiotepec, Tecomavaca, Los Cues, and Cuicatlán,

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

. In 1959 was named director of the Museum of Popular Arts at

Pátzcuaro Pátzcuaro () is a city and municipality located in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Purépecha Empire and later its ceremonial center. After the Spanish took over, V ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

. Around 1960 Pareyon was exploring and mapping archaeological sites in the low basin of the

Balsas River The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Alt ...

, at El

Infiernillo Dam The Infiernillo Dam ("Little hell"), also known as Adolfo López Mateos Dam, is an embankment dam on the Balsas River near La Unión, Guerrero, Mexico. It is on the border between the states of Guerrero and Michoacán. The dam supports a hydroelec ...

. In 1961-62 he conducted the reconstruction of the

Tenayuca Tenayuca ( ) is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Mexico. In the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology, Tenayuca was a settlement on the former shoreline of the western arm of Lake Texcoco. It was locate ...

pyramid superposition 6, and was exploring Huejotla, Texcoco archaeological site. In 1964 the INAH assigns him the whole reconstruction of Santa Cecilia Acatitla ruins,

Estado de México The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the mos ...

. In 1970 he was named Chief of Archaeological Sites Maintenance of INAH. During the same year he moved to

Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...

, with the task of developing the studies on the unknown surroundings of the site. In 1972 he conducted consolidation works at

Tulum Tulum (, ) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea. T ...

ruins, and in 1973 he developed the project for the Archaeological Museum of Tlapacoya, Estado de México. During 1975 was in charge of developing excavations and reconstructive tasks in Calixtlahuaca, and later in Tepetlaoztoc (1978), and in Ex-Convent of Churubusco (1980–81).

Achievements

His most important contributions to Mexican archaeology were the recovering of the ruins of

Santa Cecilia Acatitlan Acatitlan (Nahuatl: "place among the reeds"; Spanish "carrizal") is an archeological zone of the early Aztecs, Aztec (or early Toltec) culture located in the town of Santa Cecilia, in the municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz in the State of Mexico, ...

and the studies about the yacatas structures in the

area of Tzintzuntzan. He also initiated the archaeological works showing the

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

paintings of the Cholula pyramid in

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

. He taught history of

Mexican art Various types of visual arts developed in the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the prehispanic Mesoamerican era, the New Spain, colonial period, with the per ...

and architecture during 35 years, at the National School of Anthropology and the National Academy of San Carlos, in Mexico City. He was accepted to the Membership of the Society for American Archaeology, 1962.

Published works

* (1952) ith R. Pina Chan and A. Romano Pacheco"Tlatilco: nuevo sitio preclasico del Valle de Mexico". vol. 1, nos. 3-4, pp. 9–14. * (1957) "Exploraciones Arqueológicas en la Ciudad Vieja de Quiotepec, Oaxaca". VII Mesa Redonda Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología. Ms. (IWO). * (1960) "Exploraciones Arqueológicas en Ciudad Vieja de Quiotepec, Oaxaca". RMEA vol. 16. (IWO). * (1961) "Excavaciones en la zona arqueológica del Cerro del Tepalcate, San Rafael Champa, Estado de México", ENAH, Maestría en Arqueología, 141 pp. * (1968) "Arquitectura de México; los mexicas", Revista CAM-SAM, vol. 1, no. 1; pp. 24–26. * (1972) "Las pirámides de doble escalera". In Religión en Mesoamérica. XII Mesa Redonda, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, edited by Jaime Litvak King, and Noemí Castillo Tejero, pp. 117–126. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Mexico City. * (1988) "Objetos maqueados". In La Garrafa: Cuevas de La Garrafa, Chiapas: estudio y conservación de algunos objetos arqueológicos, edited by María Elena Landa et al. Gobierno del Estado de Puebla and Centro Regional de Puebla, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Puebla; pp. 183–209.

Notes

"Back Matter", American Antiquity, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Jan., 1963), p. 432. Published by: Society for American Archaeology

External links