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León Viejo or Imabite is an archeological site located at the old site of the city of Leon in Puerto Momotombo, municipality of Paz Centro, León Department, Nicaragua. As in many other Mesoamerican places, the arrival of the Spaniards to the continent not only destroyed cultures and civilizations, but also their cities. Such was the case of this pre-Hispanic City; according to Carl Bovallius, Subtiava〔Bovallius, Carl. Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography, “Nicaraguan Antiquities”, Stockholm 1886. KONGL. BOKTRYCKERIET. P.A. NORSTEDT & SÖNER. PAGE. 4〕 was its original name, on whose vestiges was built by the Spanish city of León Viejo (1524–1610).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=León Viejo, Primera Capital de Nicaragua )〕 The area where Leon Viejo was built had a lot of telluric activity caused by the continued activity of the Momotombo volcano, which produced outbursts of sand, ashes and lava, in addition to the 1594 and 1610 earthquakes. ==History== The conquistadores found the country occupied by numerous entrepreneurial towns busy on the practice of the arts and peaceful industries. Dr. Berendt, great explorer and scholar of aboriginal people of Central America, in the light of philological results obtained by himself and by American diplomat Ephraim George Squier (1849), as well as traditions preserved mainly by Oviedo, Torquemada and Herrera, believed that the Cholutecas, chorotegan, Dirianes and Orotinas were descendants of the people who migrated from Cholula, Mexico. These people occupied the greater part of the country from the Gulf of Fonseca to Nicoya, its territorial continuity interrupted near the current city of Leon by the Marabios, and again a by an Azteca colony occupying the narrowest part of the strip of land between the Pacific and the Lake of Nicaragua, and the islands of the Lake. The King and his latest national capital wore name Nicarao (Conference read before the American geographical society, July 10, 1876, by Dr. C. H. Berendt). The former inhabitants of this region left abundant relics of their civilization in burial mounds, cemeteries, etc.〔 * 〕 In 1987 Elphidio Ortega, Advisor to the Organization of American States (OAS), conducted 14 stratigraphic wells on the, site contrary to previous researchers, he suggested that the colonial settlement was not located on the native site, but rather alongside a prehispanic town. Lourdes Dominguez, a Cuban national also made investigations in 12 wells, both outside the limit of some structures from which obtained more 1100 pieces of ceramic evidence. After her research, Dominguez proposed the theory that the ruins of León Viejo site were built on a prehispanic settlement, since the abundance of ceramics was enough evidence to make such a statement, this theory came into contradiction with Elphidio Ortega, who concluded that the colonial city was established along an indigenous settlements, but not over it.〔5° Anthropology Centoamerican Congress, Nicaragua National Museum, Archaeological Investigations performed in León Viejo, February 23, 2004. (Spanish)〕 In 1996, Devora Ederman Cornavaca, postgraduate student at the University of California Los Angeles obtained permission from the Department of cultural heritage of the Nicaraguan Culture Institute (INC) to carry out excavations in León Viejo, aimed at studying the impact of the Spanish society on the native populations of the region. The first area that excavated was near current limits city, and found evidence of a possible smithy, the second excavation made was on an agricultural parcel limited south with León Viejo, in what is now part of the buffer zone of the site. Unfortunately the final results report of this research period has not been published. But Cornavaca, states that the Spanish settlement was located outside of the native town of the area. (Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America an Encyclopedia - Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster. Pages: 401-402).〔5° Anthropology Centoamerican Congress, Nicaragua National Museum, Archaeological Investigations performed in León Viejo, February 23, 2004. (Spanish)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「León Viejo (archaeological site)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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