Maria del Pilar Luna Erreguerena was a Mexican underwater archaeologist, pioneer in the field of archaeology, who founded the Division of Underwater Archaeology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History.
22 Facts About Pilar Luna
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Pilar Luna was awarded her undergraduate degree by the National School of Anthropology and History and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, from which she then obtained her master's degree in Anthropological Sciences.
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Pilar Luna was a member, among other associations, of the Consultative Council of Cultural Heritage Underwater of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, as well as member emeritus of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology Society for Historical Archaeology and International Grant Advisor for the National Geographic Society.
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Pilar Luna was the first Latin American woman and only the second underwater archaeologist to receive the J C Harrington Medal and is considered the pioneer of aquatic archaeology in Mexico.
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Maria del Pilar Luna Erreguerena was born in 1944 in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
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Pilar Luna's father had immigrated to Mexico from Sahagun of the Tierra de Campos district of Spain and worked his way up to owning a jewelry store.
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Pilar Luna spent twelve years teaching disabled children how to swim.
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Originally an anthropology major, Pilar Luna, who was taking classes at the National Institute of Anthropology and History took a class on general archaeology given by the National Museum of Anthropology.
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Pilar Luna's recovery was a slow process, which took more than a year.
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Pilar Luna was approached by Manuel Gandara, head of the National Institute of Anthropology and History to organize a course on undersea archaeology.
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Pilar Luna contacted Bass to help with lectures and curricula and he agreed to come with one of his students, Donald H Keith.
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In 1978, immediately upon her return from Turkey, Pilar Luna got a message from Keith, who was working at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Texas.
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Pilar Luna alerted her that sports divers had located some guns in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Shortly thereafter, Pilar Luna first heard of the shipwreck Nuestra Senora del Juncal, when Burt Webber, a diver and treasure hunter who had made other finds in the Caribbean, applied for a permit to recover relics.
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Pilar Luna is considered the founder of underwater archaeology in Latin America.
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In 1990, a team of subaquatic archaeologists, including US researchers James P Delgado and Larry Nordby, worked with Luna to excavate the wreck of the USS Somers, which had been discovered in 1986 by George Belcher.
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Odyssey executives tried many methods of influence to gain a foothold into Mexican waters, and while Pilar Luna considered resigning, she held firm in her refusal to allow commercial excavation.
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Pilar Luna was involved in many projects, including the Manila Galleon off the coast of Baja California, Nevado de Toluca near Edomex's coastline, and Banco Chinchorro of Quintana Roo.
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Pilar Luna has spearheaded an atlas and registry for the study and preservation of the caves and cenotes of the Yucatan Peninsula, working on projects to conserve and protect Mexico's underwater and submerged heritage.
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Pilar Luna worked with UNESCO in the development of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which was adopted in 2001 and signed the same year by Mexico.
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Pilar Luna was hopeful that the agreement might finally lead to the location and excavation of the Juncal.
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In 2016, Pilar Luna was awarded the Research Prize of the Spanish Geographical Society for her work in studying and preserving submerged cultural heritage.