Caso, Alfonso, 1896-1970

Alfonso Caso (1896–1970), famed for his 1932 discovery of Tomb 7 at Monte Albán in Oaxaca, was an attorney-turned-archaeologist from the intellectual elite of Mexico City, and the first director of both the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, established in 1939, and the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, established in 1948. He produced more than 300 publications on Mexican history and archaeology, including such well-known titles as La religión de los aztecas (1945), Urnas de Oaxaca (1952), El pueblo del sol (1953), La cerámica de Monte Albán (1967), and El tesoro de Monte Albán (1969).

Caso began his career as a professor of law, logic, and epistemology, and this methodological background is widely viewed as foundational to his persona as an archaeologist serving in the field, the classroom, and in various government institutions. Caso’s formal entrance into the world of professional Mexican archaeology via the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía (today called the Museo Nacional de Antropología) c. 1930 was part of the rise of a new generation trained after the Mexican Revolution.[4] As he swiftly rose through the ranks of that institution, he had a direct hand in ushering out some of the old generation, including the archaeologists Ramón Mena and Porfirio Aguirre. Later shifting from the Museo Nacional and into his role as the director of the newly established Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Caso focused considerable attention on mitigating the looting and trafficking of pre-Hispanic objects, while also maintaining working relationships with collectors and dealers. If Guillermo Echániz viewed private collectors as superior to government archaeologists or curators in terms of effectively acquiring, maintaining, and exhibiting these materials, Caso worked hard to prove the opposite true, emphasizing the importance of documented archaeological excavations, like that of Monte Albán Tomb 7, while still conceding that certain objects and collections in private hands held historical value. Of the 16 pre-Hispanic objects reproduced as photographs in El pueblo del sol, only two were held in private collections (those of Guillermo Echániz and Solomón Hale), perhaps reflecting a ratio that Caso could accept.

Caso died in Mexico City in 1970. His documentary archives are in the Biblioteca Juan Comas (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and the Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, the latter of which houses a reconstruction of Caso’s personal library.