New AMS Radiocarbon Ages from the Preceramic Levels of Coxcatlan Cave, Puebla, Mexico: A Pleistocene Occupation of the Tehuacan Valley? (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 2021
The ecological context of human societies living in tropical North America between the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene is of significant interest to scholars studying the last Pleistocene continental colonization of our species and, eventually, the emergence of agriculture in the Americas. However, there are currently few records of direct relevance to human behaviour with which to study environmental change across this crucial period. Here, we present stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from the tooth enamel of small-and medium-sized game from the archaeological site of Santa Marta Cave (Chiapas, Mexico) which spans the terminal Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (~11,340-11,280 cal. years BP) until the Mesoamerican Classic period. The results demonstrate that there was a persistent mixture of tropical environments in the vicinity of the site, from canopy forest to grassland, throughout this period. We argue that the presence of such tropical ecotones in southern Mexico, further supported by existing palaeoenvironmental datasets and palaeoclimatic modelling, enabled long-term resilient foraging, and highlights the increasingly-recognised importance of such habitats for forager-farmer transitions in the tropics.
Radiocarbon, 2020
El Maye is a community located in the municipality of Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, in the central region of Mexico. During the late Postclassic period (1350-1521 AD), the Aztecs controlled the area through the establishment of a dual-headed system, one part belonging to the Aztec government and the other to the local government. El Maye was the local government center for the Ixmiquilpan territory under the Aztec domain. The residential units of El Maye archaeological site were constructed in 6 different occupational phases, with the presence of large rooms, stucco floors and walls, offerings, and a variety of ceramics belonging to the late Aztec III ceramic period (1400-1520 AD). The Axis Project of the Mezquital Valley (PEVM-ENAH) and the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (LEMA-UNAM) have undertaken a collaborative study of the El Maye site by performing absolute radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (14 C AMS) dating. For a better understanding of the emergence and development of El Maye, a series of AMS 14 C dates of charcoal and bone samples recovered from different stratigraphic levels, was performed. This allowed us to locate the occupation of the site between 1320 and 1625 cal AD.
Reassessing Coxcatlan Cave and the early history of domesticated plants in Mesoamerica
PNAS, 2005
Reanalysis and direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of the cucurbit assemblage from Coxcatlan Cave provide information on the timing and sequence of the initial appearance of three domesticated plants in the Tehuacá n Valley (Puebla, Mexico) and allow reassessment of the overall temporal context of plant domestication in Mexico. Cucurbita pepo is the earliest documented domesticate in the cave, dating to 7,920 calibrated calendrical (cal) years B.P. The bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is dated at 7,200 cal years B.P. Cucurbita argyrosperma does not appear until 2,065 cal years B.P. The earlier identification of Cucurbita moschata specimens is not confirmed. Seventy-one radiocarbon dates, including 23 accelerator mass spectrometry dates on cucurbits, provide ample evidence of postdepositional vertical displacement of organic materials in the western half of Coxcatlan Cave, but they also indicate that the eastern half of the cave was largely undisturbed.
RADIOCARBON. 4 C-AMS IN MEXICO AND PRE-COLUMBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Cambridge University Press, 2021
The complex geographical scenario of Mexico allowed the cultural diversification and development of multiple cultures such as Tolteca, Teotihuacan, Mexica, and Maya, among others. Despite this rich cultural heritage, radiometric dating of Mexican cultural samples with radiocarbon (14 C) began only in the 1980s and with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in 2013. Analysis of 14 C with AMS is the most widely used technique to date archaeological objects and cultural heritage. Since 2013, the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (LEMA) facility of the Institute of Physics at UNAM (IF-UNAM) has supported archaeological research in Mexico, but also investigation in other areas such as geology, physics, chemistry, and environmental sciences through the analysis of 14 C, 10 Be, 26 Al, 129 I, and Pu. The absolute dating with 14 C continues to be the core of LEMA's work, where different geographical scenarios of the country and climatic conditions present very diverse analytical challenges. This work presents a basic description of the AMS system of the LEMA laboratory and describes some applications that are currently being developed.
The Chiquihuite Cave, a Real Novelty? Observations about the Still-ignored South American Prehistory
PaleoAmerica, 2020
The recently reported discovery of cultural evidence at Chiquihuite Cave (Zacatecas, Mexico), produced by humans of at least 26,500 calendar years ago, is a major advance in research into early human occupations in the Americas. Thirteen of the 239 lithic artifacts recovered from the SC-C stratigraphic component, dated during and before the Last Glacial Maximum, are illustrated in Ardelean et al. (2020. "Evidence of Human Occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum." Nature 584: 87-92). Although waiting for more detailed technological studies, these types of artifacts have been reported in other sites, primarily in South America. The field evidence from sites predating the Last Glacial Maximum must now be included in all interpretations of the initial settlement of the Americas.
4 C-AMS IN MEXICO AND PRE-COLUMBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Radiocarbon, Vol 63, Nr 4, 2021,, 2019
The complex geographical scenario of Mexico allowed the cultural diversification and development of multiple cultures such as Tolteca, Teotihuacan, Mexica, and Maya, among others. Despite this rich cultural heritage, radiometric dating of Mexican cultural samples with radiocarbon (14 C) began only in the 1980s and with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in 2013. Analysis of 14 C with AMS is the most widely used technique to date archaeological objects and cultural heritage. Since 2013, the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (LEMA) facility of the Institute of Physics at UNAM (IF-UNAM) has supported archaeological research in Mexico, but also investigation in other areas such as geology, physics, chemistry, and environmental sciences through the analysis of 14 C, 10 Be, 26 Al, 129 I, and Pu. The absolute dating with 14 C continues to be the core of LEMA's work, where different geographical scenarios of the country and climatic conditions present very diverse analytical challenges. This work presents a basic description of the AMS system of the LEMA laboratory and describes some applications that are currently being developed.
Evaluating Claims of Early Human Occupation at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico
PaleoAmerica, 2021
Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in the Americas, based on lithic items excavated from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas. Although they provide extensive array of ancillary studies of the cave's chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental record, the data they present do not support their central argument, that these lithic items are anthropogenic and represent a unique lithic industry produced by early human occupants. They give limited consideration to the most plausible alternative explanation: that the assemblage is a product of natural processes of disintegration, roof fall, and mass movement of the cave fill, and thus the lithic materials are best explained as geofacts. We assess the evidence by considering the alternative hypotheses (1) that the observed phenomena are artifacts or (2) that they result from natural processes. We conclude that hypothesis 2 is more strongly supported and that Chiquihuite Cave does not represent evidence for the earliest Americans.
The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene
PloS one, 2017
Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding 14C dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311±370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America.