In Professor Salas-Landa’s piece she discusses the tedious steps that are involved in the excavation and restoration of ancient ruins. By focusing on what these structures mean to the culture in which they exist, Salas-Landa looks into these roles and how they affect the processes of excavation. These structures became monuments, and Salas-Landa states that “they have emphasized the roles that the monuments of pre-Hispanic past played in substantiating elite notions of nationhood” (Salas-Landa 48). These structures were important pieces of the pre-Hispanic past and the present. Due to this importance the process of excavation and or renovation must be highly stressed because the loss of these monuments would be a devastating blow to Mexico.
Throughout the piece Salas-Landa draws our attention to the meaning of the physical artifact itself. Although ideologically these structures play a very important role and carry a lot of weight in the history of Mexico, we must pay attention to what is right in front of us. Salas-Landa discusses the process of turning a structure into a monument, and how these ruins were found, recognized and monumentalized.
I enjoyed this reading and was able to connect it to many of the other readings we have done in class. I think the process of monumentalizing something is very interesting and to think about what it means to take an ordinary object and realize the weight of its’ presence is an important concept within our society. In this class we have discussed the importance of artifacts, how the space that they occupy can affect their perception of those around them. I found it interesting to consider the role of the pyramids in Tajín and the relationship that they had with the people and culture there.