The Blind Woman of Santa Clara de Cobre

Year Photographed: 1989

Origin: Michoacan, Mexico

Native Language: Tarascan

Pre-Tarascan Michoacan cultures were small and fragmented. They were largely hunters and gatherers who preyed upon bison and mammoth. Sometime around A.D. 200 a distinct culture began to flourish along the Michoacan-Guanajuato border. These people became known as the Tarascans. Their language called Perepucha bore no resemblance to any other known Mesoamerican languages. Instead, it found its roots in the Quechua language of the Incas from Peru.