Four monogenetic Holocene lava flows located within the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field, Mexico, were sampled for paleomagnetic dating. These flows (namely, El Infiernillo, Malpaís Las Víboras, El Capaxtiro, and Malpaís Prieto) are within the heartland of the pre-Hispanic Tarascan civilization and were inhabited repeatedly since at least 100 BC, but no relation with the volcanic evolution has been proposed so far. The stratigraphically oldest lava flow, El Infiernillo, has a radiocarbon age of 3200 ± 30 yr BP (cal. 1525-1420 BC), and it was used to validate the method. Using full-vector paleomagnetic data from three sites as input for paleomagnetic dating applying the global paleosecular variation model SHA.DIF.14k, an age range of 1500-1370 BC was obtained. Two age ranges of 1340-1230 and 1030-940 BC were obtained for Malpaís Las Víboras. A younger age range of 200-80 BC was obtained for the Capaxtiro lava flow and, finally, the Malpaís Prieto lava flow erupted within the range of AD 830-960. The human occupation history of these flows started around 100 BC during the late Pre-Classic, probably shortly after the Capaxtiro eruption. Archeological records indicate an abandonment of the entire area around AD 900 (late to terminal Classic), which coincides with the paleomagnetic age of the Malpaís Prieto eruption. Interestingly, this area was heavily repopulated again only few hundred years later around AD 1250 and belongs to the core region in which the Tarascan civilization has its roots. The eruption recurrence interval of roughly 1000 years indicates that a new monogenetic eruption should be expected to occur again in the future and that this area deserves to be studied in greater detail with particular emphasis on the impact of past eruptions. This could help to better evaluate volcanic hazards and design preparedness strategies to minimize the impact of a future eruption.

Few monogenetic eruptions that produced lava flows have occurred in historical times, limiting the observations of their impact on human settlements. However, rheological models based on morphological and petrological datasets can contribute to decipher the eruptive dynamics and durations of ancient eruptions. The Malpaís de Zacapu, a temporal-spatial monogenetic volcano cluster at the western margin of the Zacapu lacustrine basin (Michoacán, Mexico), offers a good opportunity to apply such models because of the availability of a high-resolution LiDAR topography from which detailed morphological data was extracted. The Malpaís de Zacapu comprises late Holocene lava flow fields emplaced in the last 3200 years by four different low magnitude volcanic eruptions: Infiernillo, Malpaís Las Víboras, Capaxtiro, and Malpaís Prieto. Jointly these eruptions produced thick andesitic block lava flows covering an area of 38.3 km 2 with a volume of ~ 4.4 km 3 . The lava viscosities at eruption vents were estimated from petro-textural analyses and range between 10 3 and 10 6 Pa s, while the final flow apparent viscosities, obtained from dimensional analyses, vary from 10 8 to 10 10 Pa s. We estimated the mean effusion rate and lava flow emplacement duration for each flow field. Results revealed that the more viscous flows, Malpaís Las Víboras and Malpaís Prieto, could have been emplaced in less than 3 years, while the more fluid Infiernillo probably took less than 1 year. In stark contrast, the morphologically different and more voluminous Capaxtiro flow field could have been emplaced in ~ 27 years. These findings can help to evaluate the impact that these eruptions had on adjacent pre-Hispanic populations, known to have inhabited the region since at least 3000 years ago.

After acquiring 91 km2 of lidar data from the Zacapu region, West Mexico, we confronted a series of issues that most archaeologists using this technology face. These include the large volume of data available, the limited training of potential “analysts,” the difficult development of a collective mapping tool and protocol, and the reliability of desk-based interpretation of archaeological features. In this article, we present an initiative conducted in 2015 and 2017 as an attempt to answer these methodological and pedagogical issues. We developed a web mapping platform to collectively interpret archaeological features using lidar-derived imagery and to train volunteer students to participate in this desk-based web mapping within a crowdsourcing framework. After evaluating the results of this initiative, we discuss the potential and limitations of this method for both lidar-based research and future training.

Beginning with Building 4, each new version of the Moon Pyramid in Teotihuacan was initiated with a major sacrificial event. These events invariably included human victims, males ranging in age from about 14 to 60 or more years (Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) ¼ 37). Many display cranial modification and dental decoration. In the earliest offering, Burial 2, the lone human was merely one element in a complex tableau. In subsequent sacrifices, the human victims increased in number and became a major focus of the event. There was also a growing dichotomy among them, with numbers of decapitated victims being included in the sacrifices. Skeletal elements from the pyramid fill suggest still other rituals involving human crania (MNI ¼ 11), but the context of these is not yet clear.

No abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This study reports a detailed analysis of artificial modifications observed on a collection of human bone artifacts from CarlLumholtz's nineteenth-century excavations at El Palacio, Michoacan. The data obtained confirm that they were used as musical rasps called omichicahuaztli in Nahuatl and also provide new interpretations of their acquisition, manufacture, and abandonment processes. Cut marks indicate that the bones were taken from fresh cadavers of at least eight individuals, possibly sacrificial victims. Regarding manufacture and use of these instruments, important variations are observed and suggest that different persons could have manipulated them. Finally, it is possible to demonstrate that most of the instruments were broken intentionally prior to being buried with numerous individuals. Regarding the context in which the omichicahuaztli were used, it is interesting to point out some characteristics of the associated skeletons. Among male skulls, the high incidence of traumatic lesions that may have occurred in warlike context strongly suggests that many of the buried individuals were warriors. This association may indicate that Tarascan omichicahuaztli, similar to those of the Aztec, were used in funerary ceremonies dedicated to dead warriors. El presente estudio se basa en un analysis detallado de las modificaciones artificiales observadas en una serie de artefactos confeccionados en hueso humano procedente de las excavaciones de finales del siglo XIX de Carl Lumholtz en el sitio de El Palacio, Michoacan. Los resultados obtenidos confirman que fueron empleados como instrumentos musicales, llamados "omichicahuaztli" en nahuatl; y aportan ademcis nuevos datos acerca de sus procesos de adquisiciOn, fabricacion y abandono. Las huellas de corte muestran que los huesos fueron obtenidos de ocho individuos recien fallecidos, posiblemente desacrificios o victimas rituales. Las importantes variaciones registradas en la manufactura y use de los instrumentos sugieren que fueron confeccionados por diferentes personas. Finalmente, es posible demostrar que la mayoria de los instrumentos fueron quebrados intencionalmente antes de ser enterrados conjuntamente con numerosos individuos. En cuanto al contexto en cual los omichicahuaztli fueron utilizados, es interesante senalar algunas caracteraticas de los esqueletos con ellos asociados. Entre los crcineos masculinos, la alta incidencia de lesiones traumciticas, semejantes a las que ocurren en contextos belicos, sugiere que muchos de los esqueletos pudieron ser de guerreros. Eso indicarla que, al igual que sus rivales aztecas, los tarascos empleaban el omichicahuaztli en ceremonial funerarias dedicadas a los guerreros fallecidos. nificanc...

Resumen El período de aproximadamente tres siglos (600–900 d.C.), que corresponde al epiclásico, fue el escenario de una notable expansión de los asentamientos en la cuenca de Zacapu y sus alrededores. Si bien la zona parecía carecer de núcleos monumentales mayores equivalentes a los que se conocían en las regiones vecinas del Bajío o del sur de las tierras altas michoacanas, los trabajos recientes en la parte noroeste del Malpaís de Zacapu cambian esta concepción. Los datos proporcionados por medio del LiDAR y nuevos trabajos de campo revelaron complejos monumentales de dimensiones inéditas para la zona que estructuran una red de asentamientos menores distribuidos en un amplio territorio. Estos descubrimientos ofrecen nuevos datos sobre la arquitectura pública y doméstica de la época. La distribución de estos asentamientos y su relación con áreas dedicadas a la explotación de recursos agrícolas y mineros permiten vislumbrar un sistema más complejo e integrado, el cual pudo tener elementos comunes al de un altepetl. El objetivo de este artículo es presentar esta nueva información y reevaluar, a partir de ella, la organización territorial del período considerado.

Recent research at Río Bec has revealed that interments in residential structures were limited to a very small portion of the population. Although these burials are relatively modest compared to those found in many other Classic period Maya sites, the funerary procedure suggests that they were important individuals in the household. Grave wealth and the size/elaboration of the burial structure do not correlate with the striking socioeconomic differences expressed in residential architecture. In fact, it seems that Río Bec funerary ritual was a private affair focused within the domestic unit, rather than a public display. A study of the variation found among these residential burials reveals two important patterns of mortuary ritual that seem more reflective of ancestor veneration than of social hierarchy: (1) "transition burials" (stressing centrality, verticality, the link to earth, and the transformations of the dwelling) and (2) "occupation burials" (stressing laterality, horizontality, a link to fire and the domestic hearth, and the permanence of the domestic space).