Project
The Allure of Antiquity: Archaeology and the Making of Modern Mexico, 1877-1910
Division of Research Programs
Photo caption
Photograph of the Piedra del Sol with Porfirio Díaz
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Photo caption
Photograph of the Piedra del Sol with Porfirio Díaz
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Famous for its majestic ruins, Mexico has gone to great lengths to preserve and display the remains of its pre-Hispanic past. The Pursuit of Ruins argues that the government effort to take control of the ancient remains took off in the late nineteenth century during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. While the making of Mexico’s official past was thought to bind the nation together, it was an exclusionary process, one that celebrated the civilizations of bygone times while disparaging contemporary Indians.