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Progress has often trumped history in Mexico, where roads have regularly been pushed through ruins. In Mexico City, the lava-buried remains of the ancient Cuicuilco culture, with its famed round pyramid, are crowded and partly covered by shopping malls, housing developments, a major freeway and even a college for archaeologists. The Amecameca protesters now guard against construction workers and looters and to explain the ruins to passers-by. They are asking the road be rerouted. "The planned route wouldn't have to be changed that much," Lopez Reyes said. Authorities have not yet commented on the demands, and the builders of the road, known as the Mexican Beltway, did not respond to requests for comment. Both federal and state transportation officials declined to comment.
INAH spokesman Arturo Mendez said that "in almost every project of this type, there are going to be discoveries" of pre-Hispanic material." Thousands of years of settlement have left potentially interesting relics scattered across the region. The institute normally sends in a team to excavate, recover any significant items, carefully rebury the site for possible future exploration, and then allow construction to continue. The people of Amecameca say they want to prevent that from happening to them. Maria de los Angeles Eusebio, 55, a retired anthropologist, is one of the residents who have camped out for the last week to prevent construction machinery from going through. Equipped with tents, coffee "and lots and lots of blankets," the protesters are staying day and night, through wind, rain and cold, to ensure the remains of their ancestors' city aren't destroyed. "We don't want them to just bury this and run the highway over the top of it," said Eusebio. "We want them to return the artifacts, so we can display them in a museum for the community."
[Associated
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