1.
LV THE NEWLY EXCAVATED PYRAMID WITH WORKMEN
0.03

2.
GV ANOTHER ANGLE DITTO
0.06

3.
SLV PYRAMID WITH WORKERS
0.09

4.
SLV MEN RELAYING STONE TO FILL TOP
0.13

5.
SV WORKERS DIGGING
0.16

6.
MV DIGGING
0.19

7.
CU SHOVEL
0.21

8.
SCU MANDUSTS OFF SAND FROM SECTION
0.24

9.
SCU ANOTHER WORKER
0.28

10.
CU GIRL WORKER
0.30

11.
CU SAND REMOVED FROM A STONE HEAD
0.38

12.
SCU ARCHAEOLOGIST AND GIRL CHECK STONE HEAD
0.40

13.
CU HEAD
0.45

14.
LV THE PYRAMID OF THE SUN
0.50

15.
LV PAN OVER THE PYRAMID OF THE SUN
0.53

16.
SLV THE PYRAMID
0.56

17.
SLV TOURISTS DOWN STEPS OF PYRAMID
0.59

18.
LV THE PYRAMID
1.04



Initials KJ/S/JF/FW DR/S/JF/FW



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: MEMBERS OF MEXICO'S NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY ARE CONTINUING EXCAVATION WORK ON A RECENTLY DISCOVERED PYRAMID AT THE VILLAGE OF SANTA CECILIA, ACATITLAN, LESS THAN AN HOUR'S DRIVE FROM MEXICO CITY.

FIFTY-FIVE EXPERTS, INCLUDING TWO WOMEN, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF GOVERNMENT ARCHAEOLOGIST EDUARDO PAREYON, HAVE ALREADY SPEND SEVERAL MONTHS CAREFULLY REMOVING TONS OF EARTH AND RUBBLE, SIFTING SAND AND BRUSHING EVERY UNCOVERED STONE.

SLOWLY THE OUTLINE OF THE PYRAMID EMERGED, REVEALING AN ANCIENT PLACE OF WORSHIP IN NEAR PERFECT STATE OF PRESERVATION. RARE SCULPTURES APPEARED FROM THE SOIL, HELPING TO ESTABLISH THE ORIGIN OF THE STRUCTURE. IT IS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN BUILT ABOUT 800 YEARS AGO TO BE DEDICATED TO TLALOC, THE AZTEC GOD OF RAIN.

THE TLALOC PYRAMID - WITH ITS 75FT SQUARE BASE, 21FT SQUARE TRUNCATED TOP AND HEIGHT OF 25FT - IS ALMOST EXACTLY A TENTH OF THE SIZE OF THE NOW WORLD-FAMOUS PYRAMID OF THE SUN, SITUATED ONLY 25 MILES AWAY AT SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN. THOUSANDS OF TOURISTS VISIT SAN JUAN EVERY YEAR TO SEE THE PREHISTORIC MONUMENT, DATED ABOUT 1,000 BC. NO ONE KNOWS WHO BUILT THE PYRAMID OF THE SUN SINCE IT IS GENERALLY ASSUMED THAT THE TOLTECS - WHOSE POWER DECLINED WITH THE EMERGENCE OF THE AZTECS AROUND 1,100 AD - DID NOT SETTLE IN THE AREA UNTIL 500 BC.

UNCOVERING MEXICO'S COMPLEX PREHISTORIC PAST IS A JOB THAT WILL KEEP THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS BUSY FOR MANY DECADES TO COME, FOR THE COUNTRY HAS MORE THAN 11,000 REGISTERED RUINS TO BE DUG UP. OF MEXICO'S NOW EXTINCT CIVILISATIONS, THE AZTECS ALONE NUMBERED SOME THIRTY MILLION PEOPLE AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POWER BEFORE THE SPANIARDS ARRIVED.