The Long and Winding Road:
Regional Maya Sacbe, Yucatán Peninsula, México

Archival Research

First, archival research was attempted in Mérida and Chetumal at libraries and government offices on the historic construction of chiclero railways in Quintana Roo. I spent two days in Chetumal at the main government offices attempting to obtain records from state reports on the development of the chicle rail lines and telegraph lines in Quintana Roo, but no one was able to locate these reports. I was then directed to the Gobierno del Estado de Quintana Roo, Secretaría de Turismo, Fondo de Chicle, and met with the director, Lic. Manuel Aldrete. I was able to obtain information on the contemporary situation of chicleros in the area of Quintana Roo, including a video (El Chicle 1998) and an extensive article by the director (Aldrete, 1998), but they did not have information on the development of the rail lines earlier in the century. Visits to the public library in Mérida, as well as the library at the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatán (UADY) were more fruitful, as I was able to obtain general information about the telegraph lines in the early 1900s (Escalona Ramos, 1940), but unfortunately, not specifically for the region near Puerto Morelos.

However, I have communicated with Dr. Paul Sullivan (1998, 1999), an expert in archival research in Quintana Roo, and he was able to provide me with several articles, historic maps, and information related to this region (see for example, Macías Zapata, 1992; Villalobos González, 1993). Both Dr. Sullivan and an ethnographic informant indicated that the land where the railway was constructed was once owned by the Bank of London (Paul Sullivan, anthropologist, personal communication, 1998; José Montoya, informant, personal communication, 1999). I obtained a volume entitled, "A Century of Banking in Latin America to Commemorate the Centenary in 1962 of the Bank of London and South America Limited" (1964), however, there was no information related to the state of Quintana Roo, or the chicle industry. Nonetheless, I have also learned from Dr. Sullivan that the archives of the Bank of London/ Banco de Londres y México are deposited in the Special Collections at the University of London, so I am in the process of communicating with them about obtaining any relevant information. He has also suggested communicating with Banco Serafin, as this is the modern incarnate of the Banco de Londres y México, and they may have retained corporate archives (Paul Sullivan, personal communication, 1998). Any new information obtained after the submission of this 1999 report will be included in a subsequent report to FAMSI.

In addition to the archival research, several ethnographic interviews were conducted with local chicleros and residents of the small pueblo of Vallarta during the 1999 field season. This community continues to collect chicle on a small scale, but was considerably more involved in the chicle industry and the construction of the chicle rail line between the 1930s and 1970s. Several men in the community are familiar with the local history and the locations of historic and ancient features and have proven to be a great resource. While conducting archaeological fieldwork, I was able to arrange for several ethnographic interviews with the men I was working with, and some of the older men in the community. Most informants were very happy to talk about their knowledge of the roads and features, and confirmed the information that we had previously received. Several informants affirmed that they believed the historic railway was constructed on top of an ancient causeway, and indicated that while the historic railway continued northwest toward Leona Vicario, the ancient road continued due west. One informant told me that he believed the railway to be entirely historic, and said that there had never been an ancient roadway in this area. However, he also indicated that other than one Maya site known as "Veinte", there were no other prehistoric ruins in the area. As this is contrary to what we know about the ruins in the area (numerous prehistoric sites are known for the region) I believe that he was uncomfortable with archaeologists working in the area and was reluctant to discuss this information. The information gathered thus far (including the test pits conducted in 1999) causes me to be inclined to believe the several other informants who indicate that the road is prehistoric.

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