The result of five years of interdisciplinary studies was the publication of the 479-page book 'Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretive Journey Through the Map of Cuauhtinchan No. 2'.

Carrasco said that in 2010 the University of New Mexico, which published the original version, will edit the version in Spanish.

'This map and the book we published to decipher it have changed our understanding of the Mesoamerican codices and of the sacred lands of that region,' Carrasco said.

That new understanding has political and social significance today.

'This map links the identity and politics of Mexican-Americans, that is, the Chicano people, with the art, rituals and philosophical practices of pre-Colombian Mexicans,' he said.

'The insistence of Mexican-American scholars and activists on using Aztlan as their symbol is strengthened by the history recounted by this map, since it places Mexicans in the US within a wider history of migration, ethnic interactions, religions and rituals,' the academic said.

MC2, according to Carrasco, links Chicanos 'with the lands where the struggle for their freedom and rights took place before the oppression'.

So great is the connection of this map with Chicanos that Colgate University astronomy professor Anthony Aveni and journalist Laana Carrasco -- David's daughter -- published a children's book telling the story of 10-year-old Mexican-American twins who 'travel in time' and go on pilgrimage with their ancestors 100 years before the Spaniards arrived.

This book 'connects many of the concerns and hopes of the present-day Chicano Movement with the cosmology and life of the ancient indigenous Mexicans', David Carrasco said.

Together with his students and his interdisciplinary team, Carrasco continues to study the sacred objects and numerous plants that appear on the map.

'This map is a treasure for academics because it reveals with artistic splendour and in detail the way of life of an Indian community that told its own story in the midst of a serious social conflict,' he said.