No one who has been fortunate enough to visit Mexico and even one of its ruins cannot miss the rich archaeological heritage the country possesses. Mexico is hardly alone in its vast legacy, but like most Third World countries, it has faced enormous difficulties in trying to preserve those treasures for its own population and the world. This study explains how and why Mexico tried, and largely succeeded, in keeping its pre-Columbian past intact in an era shamelessly intent on shipping as much of it as possible off to the developed world for its sale for the edification and amusement of the foreign viewer.
It seems strange and counterintuitive that Valiant argues that it was Leopoldo Batres, Mexico's first Inspector of Monuments, who ended up safeguarding its treasures for the general population. She shows how the very qualities that irritated other archaeologists—Batres's self-dealing in antiquities, his brusque manner, his lack of any formal training, his penchant for denying foreign scholars the right to excavate at Mexican sites—all served to protect Mexico's heritage. As Valiant notes, “The situation necessitated … a strong uncompromising character … who could confront and confound hostile conditions, looters, and foreigners alike” (250). She is particularly effective in showing how Batres was viewed among his peers, many of whom seemed to loathe him, particularly Zelia Nuttall.
Valiant also clears up a few mysteries here, including why Batres was made Inspector of Monuments in the first place. She relates a rumor that Mexico's first Inspector was the son of Manuel Romero Rubio, Minister of Gobernación, and more importantly the father of Porfirio Diaz's second wife, Carmen. If true, that would explain how Batres got his position and kept it throughout the Díaz regime, but it leaves ambiguous how Mexico handled the two developmental strands affecting how the New World approached its quest to gain stature in the Old. Some countries without spectacular indigenous ruins, like the United States and Argentina, promoted themselves as quasi-European by fostering immigration on one hand, and on the other exhibiting murderous hostility toward native populations.
Mexico, however, tried to get Europe to recognize the glories of its Aztec past by thoroughly promoting its pre-Columbian heritage and not fostering immigration. The differences between the Aztec palace of the 1889 Paris World's Fair and the pavilion displayed there by Mexico in 1910 easily present the contrast. As Valiant argues convincingly, Batres kept his position after his 1902 condemnation at the International Congress of Americanists (ICA), probably because he was thought capable of completing the excavations at Teotihuacan by 1910, in time for the centennial celebrations of Independence. However, that did not mean that his views were not challenged by other powerful forces inside the Porfiriato, including that of José Yves Limantour, who became Treasury Minister in 1893. That debate still awaits further scholarly consideration and will require an examination not simply of the general widespread antipathy to the Aztecs and thereby to Mexico, but also of the effect of white supremacy in relegating anything indigenous to second-rate.
It would be wrong to end this review without mentioning the appearance of a new publisher on the scene. Brill deserves to be commended for putting the volume's footnotes at the bottom of the page, helping scholars see where Valiant found her evidence in many new sources and made use of it. However, it is to be hoped that the press will begin to send out review copies to relevant journals so that those interested in the discussion can learn about new and important contributions like this one.
