The Apocalypse Calendar (4 page)

Miller said in his best professorial tone, “Sedimentary rocks are formed from layers of sediment that were laid down in the ocean or on land in the geologic past. Usually, these sedimentary layers become lithified; that is, they form layers of rock. Each layer of rock is older than the layer above it and younger than the bed below it. This scenario is referred as the Principle of Superposition. It is one of the basic principles of geology. You archaeologists use the Principle of Superposition every time you go on a dig.

“A formation is what geologists call a ‘lithic unit’ or a ‘rock unit.’ It consists of a package of rock layers, or strata, that share the same lithologic characteristics; it can even consist of layers of basalt lava and sedimentary rock. A formation often can be followed for hundreds of miles laterally. For example, in Texas, the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk can be followed from Northeast Texas along the Red River to south of the Río Grande into Mexico. I should also add that formations and all other lithic units are named for geographic localities.”

Dolores Clark asked, “How do you determine the age of your formations?”

“We mostly use fossils to date each formation. The formations that crop along the highway here all formed as sediments in the Jurassic or Cretaceous oceans millions of years ago. We hope to find marine fossils in these formations to help us to determine their age. Hopefully I answered your questions. If not, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I think now we all need to get to bed like Arturo suggested.”

As usual, the dawn at Tamazunchale
was enough to wake the dead. The geologists finished their breakfast and took off for the field to begin their study of the Taman Formation at its type locality at Taman. The drive to Taman took about twenty minutes on the winding mountainous course of Route 85 along the south side of the canyon of the Río Moctezuma.

It took a lot of skill to get the hang of driving on Mexican roads. Route 85 was a major highway and was well constructed. However, a driver never knew what to expect going around a hairpin turn. There could be a stray cow or a horse along the edge of the road, or even unannounced road construction. The road edge, which was frequently very narrow, was always populated with numerous people—children going to school in their colorful uniforms; women carrying bundles of firewood on their heads; men carrying heavy-duty baskets filled with rocks for road construction; and stands with people selling pottery, bananas, and other tropical fruit.

The village of Taman was situated at the bottom of the river valley. The drive through Taman was interesting. Small stores were beginning to open up. One store sold nothing but freshly processed chicken; another sold nothing but bread; still another sold nothing but red meat. It was important for people to buy chickens and other meat early in the morning before it got too hot.

After crossing the new highway bridge over the Río Moctezuma, which connected Taman on the south side of the river to Barrio Guadalupe on the north side of the river, Miller said, “I think it would a good idea to split up into two teams. Felipe, why don’t you come with me? I may need someone along that can speak better Spanish than I can. My Spanish is a little rusty. Arturo, I suggest that Gary work with you. He needs to get experience working with other geologists in the field. I think you and Gary should measure the thickness of the lower member of the Taman Formation, which is now formally referred to as the Mera Ceiba Member. This is beautifully exposed along the river downstream from the bridge. You should be able to measure the entire thickness of the Mera Ceiba Member. Both its contact with the underlying Santiago Formation and its contact with the overlying Barrio Guadalupe Member are well exposed. Felipe and I will take the van and collect samples of the Barrio Guadalupe Member and try to measure its thickness. Its contact with the Mera Ceiba Member is well exposed on the east side of the bridge at Barrio Guadalupe. I am not sure whether we’ll be able to find the contact between the Barrio Guadalupe Member and the overlying Pimienta Formation.

“It is critical that everyone keep their eyes open for fossils—particularly ammonites. The ammonites have been used since the mid-1800s to subdivide the Jurassic System into stages. Stage boundaries are frequently based on the first occurrence of species and genera of ammonites. You will probably also encounter the fossil pectin,
Aulacomyella.
We will also collect samples for microfossils like the radiolaria. The general battle plan is to try to relate the microfossil biostratigraphic data to the ammonite biostratigraphic data.”

As Miller and Felipe worked their way up the road with the van in the course of measuring the section, they attracted a lot of attention from the residents of Barrio Guadalupe. A man who was in the process of building a house out of cinder blocks said, “I see from your van that you are from Texas.

I worked in Dallas for several years. I made enough money working there to build this house. I really liked living in the US. What are you guys doing? Are you looking for gold?”

Felipe said, “No, we are just measuring the thickness of the rock section and collecting samples as we go. We are particularly interested in finding rocks that contain ammonites.”

The house builder asked, “What do ammonites look like?”

“They are usually coiled in one plane, sort of like snails. Sometimes they have fairly ornate shells that are quite pretty. We use these fossils to help determine the age of the rocks.” Miller said, “Here, let me show you pictures of ammonites from a book that I have in the van.”

After examining the photos of the ammonites in Miller’s book, the man exclaimed, “I have seen some of your ammonites in rocks just two kilometers from here along the road.”

Felipe said, “Thanks for the information about the fossils. We’ll keep our eyes open.”

“How old are the rocks that you guys are looking at?”

Felipe explained, “The rocks that we are looking at are about one hundred and forty-six million years old. They belong to what we call the Jurassic Period. I’m sure you saw the movie
Jurassic Park
, with the dinosaurs and all that, when you worked in Texas. The ammonites that occur as fossils in these rocks were swimming around in the ocean about the same time that all of the dinosaurs were roaming around the land. Well, I guess we had better get going. We have a lot of work to do. It’s going to be a long day. Good luck building your house. It really looks nice. Your information about the fossils is extremely useful.”

The house builder said, “
Vaya con Dios
.”

Miller told Felipe to take the van to a wide spot at the next hairpin turn in the road. He said, “I will start measuring the section and collecting samples. You can walk back and help me. Bring the bottle of hydrochloric acid for limestone etching, the plastic bowl for the acid, and more sample bags.”

Miller and Felipe finally worked their way up the new dirt road, carefully measuring the thickness of the geologic section and collecting samples. As they worked, Miller marveled at the activity along the road. Horses and burros loaded with bananas and other fruits and vegetables were guided by their handlers down the new road. Some pack animals even carried crates full of chickens. On the very steep mountain hillsides, farmers were attempting to plow the soil to plant corn. In some cases, the farmers had no oxen or horses to pull the plow. Two or three men or women pulled the plow and another steered. The soil was rocky from the numerous limestone outcrops and the abundance of boulders left by the Río Moctezuma in the distant past, before it cut its canyon so deep.

Many Americans don’t realize how hard it is for the average Mexican peasant living in the mountains to scratch out a living; they tend to think these people are lazy. However, anyone who sees these farmers at work in this rugged terrain would be impressed by their vigor and toughness. No American farmer would even bother trying to farm hillsides of this sort, yet these people needed to grow corn to feed themselves and such farm animals that they had.

Miller and Felipe found numerous ammonites along the road. Some of them were quite well preserved. These invertebrate fossils would provide useful data on the age of the Barrio Guadalupe Member of the Taman Formation. Unfortunately, a fault had cut off the top of the Barrio Guadalupe Member. As a consequence, the geologists were unable to measure the total thickness of this rock unit. Its contact with the overlying Pimienta Formation could not be observed along the road.

Miller said, “I guess we’ll have to examine the Taman–Pimienta contact along Route 85. I think we had better pack up our field equipment and drive back down to the river and join up with Arturo and Gary. By now they should be just about finished measuring the thickness of the Mera Ceiba Member. After we pick them up, we’ll head back up the road and collect a few more samples at the Taman–Pimienta contact.”

Arturo and Gary were waiting for Miller beside the bridge. Miller asked, “How did it go? I gather you guys finished measuring the section.”

“Everything went well. Some of the natives were a bit testy about our working along the river. In general, they are often suspicious of strangers— even other Mexicans. At any rate, we finished measuring the section. What are we going to do next? We can still work another hour or two.”

Miller said, “I want to take a look at some outcrops along the main road above Taman. There are some good exposures showing the Taman–Pimienta contact. Felipe and I weren’t able to see the contact along the dirt road. A fault cut out the uppermost part of the section. When we finish all of this, I will treat you guys to a beer at one of the stores along the road.”

About the time the geologists made their beer stop, four vans carrying Mexican soldiers equipped with submachine guns stopped at the store. They surrounded the four geologists at gunpoint. Miller realized that this was one of the hazards of doing geology in Latin America and some of the Caribbean Islands. He had heard of geologists working in Haiti being chased out of the proposed field area by natives wielding machetes. He had also heard of a prominent geophysicist doing seismic work in the Sierra Madre Oriental being arrested by the Mexican army and accused of trying to blow up a Mexican dam. The geophysicist and several of his colleagues were held in a Mexican army prison for several days before they were released. Actually, the geophysicists
were
setting off explosive seismic charges. Another geophysicist was stationed onboard a ship in the Gulf of Mexican to record the charges. This seismic data enabled the scientists from the Institute to calculate the thickness of the crust under the Gulf of Mexico.

Usually, Miller’s colleague, Arturo, could talk his way out of any situation in Spanish, English, and several other languages. However, in this case, Arturo’s pleas did no good. Arturo and Felipe, accompanied by two soldiers, were told to get into the Institute van and drive it back to Tamazunchale. Miller and Gary were placed in a Mexican Army van full of soldiers. The entourage of geologists and soldiers finally arrived at the headquarters of the official who controlled the district that included both the towns of Taman and Tamazunchale. The official, Roberto Mendez, informed the geologists that they were picked up because there had been complaints about them from the son of a prominent citizen in Tamazunchale. He was forced to pick them up because of these complaints.

Arturo said, “We are geologists from the Texas Institute for Scientific Research at Dallas, and we have a grant from the US National Science Foundation to study the geology in this part of Mexico. This is my colleague, Professor Frank Miller, and these other two guys are graduate students who will be studying the geology of this area for their PhD dissertations. We are not trying to cause any problems with the people who live in your district.”

Mr. Mendez said, “I was a schoolteacher myself. I am very sympathetic towards university professors like you guys. However, I had to have you picked up. There is an anti-American feeling around here at the moment. About two weeks ago, there was a group of young Americans down here. They were looking for Moctezuma’s Treasure in some cave near the village of Taman. Several of them got drunk and were totally obnoxious. Apparently, they tried to make out with some of the local girls in Taman. These guys caused a lot of trouble. You people walked right into all of this. At any rate, you geologists are free to go, but next time you come here, stop by my headquarters and let me or one of my associates know that you are back to study the geology again.”

Arturo said, “Okay, next time we come back through here we will stop and let you know. By the way, you mentioned that these amateur archaeologists were looking for Moctezuma’s Treasure in a cave. Are there any drawing or inscriptions on the cave wall?”

Mr. Mendez said, “Yes, I believe there are. I’ve never seen them myself, but others say that there is a drawing of a pyramid on a north–south wall of the cave.”

Miller said, “We saw the same sort of symbol on the wall of a cave in the Sierra Cruillas. There are some anthropologists from the University of Pittsburgh staying at the La Quinta Chilla with us. We told them about the drawing we saw. They became quite excited. They claimed that there are rumors among the Indians that this sort of symbol is a sign for Moctezuma’s Treasure. Is there any chance that you could show us this cave?”

“Yes, I would be pleased to. Why don’t we plan to meet at my office around nine a.m. tomorrow?”

“Okay, we’ll do that. Is it alright if we bring the two anthropologists from the University of Pittsburgh along?”

“No problem; I look forward to meeting them too. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

The day dawned with its usual
morning noises. After breakfast, Miller gathered up the two anthropology professors from the University of Pittsburgh, who were thrilled to go see the ancient symbols in the cave. Dolores Clark said, “I can’t believe that rumor we heard from the Indians is actually true. Thanks for letting us come with you. This is a real treat!”

Miller said, “Dolores, I suggest that you follow us in your vehicle. We have too much stuff in our van. There is no way we can carry more than four people short of unloading the van. We need to be at Mr. Mendez’s office at nine o'clock. Who knows—we may be escorted by forty Mexican soldiers. Those guys really made me nervous yesterday. They kept fooling around with the triggers on their submachine guns. I was afraid they were either going to shoot themselves or us accidentally. I guess they came from the barracks along the road paralleling the Río Amajac.”

When the six scientists arrived at Mendez’s office, Mendez greeted them warmly. Arturo introduced Mendez to the two anthropologists from the University of Pittsburgh. Dolores Clark quickly tried to explain to Mendez about their studies of the languages of the local Indian tribes near Tamazunchale.

Mendez suggested that everyone pile into one of his official vans and leave their vehicles at his headquarters. The tall and rather rotund Mendez sat in the front seat beside his driver, and the scientists sat in other seats in the large fifteen-passenger Dodge van.

Mendez said, “We are going to drive up to Taman, cross the river to Barrio Guadalupe, and then use some four-legged off-road vehicles to take us up in the hills to the cave that you are all interested in. Do you all know how to ride horses? Certainly you geologists from Texas can all ride horses. Actually, some of the animals may be mules. Mules are a bit more surefooted in the mountains.”

Miller said, “I hate to disappoint you, but the only experience I’ve had riding a horse was when I was ten years old at some summer camp that my parents sent me to. All I can remember is that the damn horse did what he wanted to—which mostly included stopping and eating leaves off bushes. However, with a little help, I’ll manage somehow. Why walk when you can ride? That’s my motto—but Arturo’s is ‘Why ride when you can walk?’ How far is it from Barrio Guadalupe to the cave?”

“I would estimate that it’s about fifteen kilometers round-trip. We’ll have to rest the horses several times along the way. The terrain is very rough and the slopes, as you geologists know, are very steep.”

Miller wondered how the six-foot-five and overweight Mendez was going to be able to ride any beast short of the Clydesdale carriage horses that you see in beer commercials. He hoped Mendez knew what he was doing.

The van finally arrived at a very large stable in Barrio Guadalupe filled with mules and a few horses. Mendez told the stable owner to pick out a good, surefooted mule for Miller to ride. He suggested that several handlers come along to take care of the horses and mules.

Miller slipped a couple of times trying to mount the mule, but with a little help from the mule handler, he finally made it. With Miller on board, the group headed out towards the cave.

To start with, the horse trail contoured the sides of the ridges and stayed at about the same elevation. The trail cut through small farms containing orange groves, banana trees, papayas, and mango trees. Finally, Mendez took a trail that angled upslope to the top of a major ridge capped with thick bedded white limestone, which Miller judged to be the Chapulhuacan Limestone, a formation that overlies the Pimienta Formation. The trail was about five thousand feet above the floor of the Río Moctezuma river valley and passed through areas that were covered with coffee trees. By now, Miller was getting a little saddle sore and hoped they would soon be getting to their destination. He guessed that the cave probably formed in the Chapulhuacan Limestone, the same limestone that occurred at the cave of the Virgen de Montserrat in the Sierra Cruillas.

Finally, the group stopped in front of a small farmhouse made of the Chapulhuacan Limestone and covered with a thatched roof. Two pigs were tied up to a huge mango tree near the farm house and were happily consuming large quantities of fermenting mangos. In Mexico and the Caribbean, it was common practice to fatten pigs with mangos. Unfortunately, sometimes the combined smell of fermenting mangos and pig manure was overpowering. Mendez told everyone to dismount from their horses and mules. The handlers tied the animals to fence posts and every available bush.

Miller asked, “Where is the cave?”

Mendez replied, “We will have to hike up the ridge a little ways. It will be too rough to take the horses and mules. The terrain is very rocky. We will have to walk upslope about two kilometers.”

“How far will we have to go into the cave to examine what the ‘ugly Americans’ were looking at?” Miller asked.

Mendez said, “We will have to go in about fifty meters. The farmer said that there should be some torches inside the cave entrance. We will have to light these. If any of you have flashlights, it would be a good idea to bring them along.”

It was about noon when the party of politicians, a few soldiers, and six scientists entered the cave. The entrance of the cave was wide and flat and oriented towards the east. A fifteen-passenger van could have easily driven in. However, as the group proceeded into the cave following Mendez, the passageway rapidly narrowed to about four feet. Suddenly, the passageway made a right-angle turn to the north. Miller saw an intense beam of light from the roof of the cave that focused on the cave wall. The wall emitted an eerie green glow.

“Do you know what the green glow is from?” Miller asked Mendez.

“No, I have never been here before.”

Miller said, “It sounds like all of this may be tied in with the time of day. It’s now high noon. This may be the only time of day that the sun rays penetrate the hole in the cave roof. Maybe there is some substance embedded in the limestone that irradiates when the sun hits it and causes the green glow. Let’s take a look at this; it’s quite interesting.”

When the group got close enough to the wall, they observed the strange symbol that the geologists had observed at the shrine of the Virgen de Montserrat in the Sierra Cruillas to the north. This time, however, all parts of the engraving were outlined with small pieces of clear stone that emitted the eerie green glow. The engraving was much larger than that at the cave in the Sierra Cruillas. It occupied an area of about six square feet on the cave wall. Again, there was an arrow on the cave wall that pointed due south. In addition, there appeared to be hieroglyphs of some sort written on the wall.

Miller asked, “Dr. Clark, do you recognize the hieroglyphs?”

Clark responded, “They appear to be Aztec, but you need a good archaeologist to translate this. I suggest that everyone with a camera take pictures of the symbol on the wall. You can send your best pictures to me, and I will forward them to the appropriate experts to translate the hieroglyphs and see what they can make of the drawing. If the rumors that we have heard in our visits with the Indian shamans are true, then this drawing, as well as the one that Dr. Miller and his colleagues observed in the Sierra Cruillas, represents a symbol for ‘Moctezuma’s Treasure.’ Given the fact that the wall of this part of the cave is oriented in a north–south position, the arrow indicates that the treasure is located somewhere to the south of here.”

Mendez said, “Maybe the drunken Americans who visited the cave before you guys came were really on to something. Perhaps I chased them off too soon!”

After taking a few pictures, the group left the cave and descended down the mountainside on horseback—or muleback, in Miller’s case. Miller found that the trip down was even more treacherous and uncomfortable than the trip up. He did everything he could to stay on the back of the mule. The rock chips that had fallen inside his pants when he was crawling around in the cave didn’t help matters. He suspected that it would take several days to get rid of his saddle sores.

When they reached the vehicles, Mendez treated everyone to a beer. He suggested that they meet him for dinner later in the evening at a restaurant in Tamazunchale. Miller and his companions were pleased to hear that it was the same restaurant that they had pigged out on the
acamaya
several nights before. Since Mendez had missed his four o'clock meal, which is normally the biggest meal of the day in most Latin American countries, he was more than eager to eat as soon as possible.

Dinner was enjoyable. Miller guessed that Mendez consumed about five pounds of
acamaya
. When dinner was over, the conversation briefly turned to the events of the day.

Gary said, “Why do you think those crystals on the cave wall gave off a green glow?”

Arturo said, “I don’t know. I pried out one of the small stones with my pen knife. We’ll get it analyzed with the electron microprobe when we get back to the Institute.”

Dolores Clark asked, “What do you geologists plan to do tomorrow?”

Miller responded, “We’re heading south to do some geology in the Canyon of the Río Vinasco near a village called Huayacocotla. It’s going to be a long drive.”

Mendez smiled and slapped Miller on the back and said, “As long as you don’t have to ride on a mule, you’ll be alright. I have at least one contact in Huayacocotla. Give me a pencil and a piece of paper and I will write down his name. As you can see, the guy’s name is Guillermo Toa Vaca. He is the veterinarian for the district. He would be a good person for you to contact when you get there. He may be able to find you lodging or a place to camp out. Where do you plan to go when you descend into the Canyon of the Río Vinasco?”

Miller explained, “When we descend from Huayacocotla, we plan to start our investigations at a place called La Calera. Our studies follow the work of a famous Swiss geologist, Charles Burckhardt, who studied the area in the early twentieth century.”

Roberto Mendez said, “I hope you are aware of what you are getting into. The terrain in this area is pretty formidable—even more so than it is here. As much as I hate to suggest this, Dr. Miller, I would see if you can persuade my veterinarian friend to round up some burros or mules for you. I have only been to Huayacocotla once, but I know for a fact that the descent into the canyon is very steep along a winding trail.”

As the group exited the restaurant and prepared to go their separate ways, they all agreed to stay in contact with each other by e-mail. Dolores Clark jokingly said, “If you geologists happen to find Moctezuma’s Treasure, let me know. I will help you spend it.”