Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley - Mexico

Sometimes it is not that easy to decide whether a postcard is from a UNESCO site or not. This one, for example, raises some doubts but after some research, Oscar, who sent it, and I decided to include it in our collections and thus remove one more place from our missing lists.
This painting by José María Velasco shows a cactus in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, the originary habitat of Mesoamerica. This Mexican site has been classified as a World Heritage Site since 2018.

Reproducción Autorizada por el Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura 2018
Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, part of the Mesoamerican region, is the arid or semi-arid zone with the richest biodiversity in all of North America. Consisting of three components, Zapotitlán-Cuicatlán, San Juan Raya and Purrón, it is one of the main centres of diversification for the cacti family, which is critically endangered worldwide. The valley harbours the densest forests of columnar cacti in the world, shaping a unique landscape that also includes agaves, yuccas and oaks. Archaeological remains demonstrate technological developments and the early domestication of crops. The valley presents an exceptional water management system of canals, wells, aqueducts and dams, the oldest in the continent, which has allowed for the emergence of agricultural settlements. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1534/

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