The Meanings and Uses of the Past in the Present: A Case Study of the San Martín Pajapan Monument

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 1" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This presentation addresses the relation between archaeological patrimony and collective memory using the San Martín Pajapan (SMP) monument as a case study. The SMP monument is an Olmec monument found on the top of the San Martín Pajapan volcano of Los Tuxtlas region. According to ethnographic research done in the 1960s, the local communities settled in the vicinity of the volcano regarded the SMP as the embodiment of a deity called Chane. In 1966 Alfonso Medellin Zenil conducted an archaeological project aimed at moving the SMP monument from the volcano to the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa (MAX). Apparently, local communities let Medellin Zenil take monument to the museum; however, in the 2000s they requested the MAX to return it to them. Instead of returning the monument, the MAX decided to donate a replica of it, which local communities welcomed with a solemn ceremony in 2006. These two events led to a process of oblivion and remembrance of the SMP monument. In this presentation, I provide ethnographic data to indicate which beliefs related to this monument have been forgotten and what is still remembered. I argue that despite the oblivion effects it is still used as a local identity element.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33635