The Mexican government said Tuesday that a private building project is destroying part of the outskirts of the ancient Mesoamerican ruins ofTeotihuacán, just north of Mexico City.
The city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, was settled as early as 400 B.C. and at its height, had a population numbering close to 150,000 people.
The Associated Press is reporting that owners of farm plots across one of the roads near the historical site are supposedly planning on putting in an amusement park of some kind. The area they have chosen is just outside and across a road from the site’s Avenue of the Dead and pyramid complex.
Mexico’s Ministry of Cukture says that since March, it has repeatedly issued stop-work orders, but they have been ignored. It is estimated that at least 25 ancient structures on the site are threatened, and it has filed a criminal complaint against those responsible.
The United Nations got involved in the crisis on Monday, according to the BBC., with the UN’s international council on monuments and sites (Icomos) saying bulldozers threatened to raze as many as 15 acres (7 hectares) at the site, which is a protected area. The council also said looting of artifacts had been detected.
“Teotihuacán is an emblematic site declared as World Heritage by the UNESCO, that represents the highest expression of the identity of the people of Mexico,” the U.N. council said in a statement.
Archaeologist Rogelio Rivero Chong, who is director of the Teotihuacán site, told El País newspaper that police officers who visited the site were threatened by workers brandishing pipes, sticks, and stones.
The UN council is demanding Mexico’s government intervene to allow experts to evaluate the damage. It’s unclear what further steps the ministry will take, though it says it is committed to protecting the site, whose Aztec name means “the place where the gods were created.”
