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A survey was conducted to investigate buried archaeological remains at Tingambato, a pre‐Tarascan classic‐epiclassic archaeological site located in the north‐central part of the State of Michoacán in western Mexico, using ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). The aim of this study was to detect the foundations (ancient buried walls) and cavities (tombs), define the geometry of the foundations and correlate construction style and depth with relative chronological buried structures. The survey was carried out on two grids of 15 m × 37 m (Zona Verde) and 10.25 m × 36.5 m (Ballgame court), using a 200 MHz antenna for GPR and Schlumberger‐Wenner arrays for ERT. GPR 3D acquisition was carried out along parallel lines spaced 0.25 m apart in a single direction. In the first area, considering the geometric shape found at a depth of 1.35 m, we can assume the existence of a buried structure, probably wall remains. In the second area, a very diffractive zone coincides with a resistive anomaly (> 2000 ohm·m). In order to refine the GPR results, synthetic modelling and a comparison with real traces were carried out. The 1D GPR modelling allows us to precise the presence of a cavity with a rectangular cross section. Since the type of volcaniclastic avalanche deposits of the subsoil do not allow the formation of cavities of that size, we infer that it may be the remains of a tomb or an anthropogenic cavity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents, from an approach of archaeothanatology, osteobiography, bioarchaeology of care and palimpsest, the analysis of one of the most important archaeological findings recently made in western Mexico. It is about a female person buried in a lavish tomb in the Tingambato archaeological site, Michoacán, Mexico, dated 1400 years ago, with more than 19,000 objects covering her body. This research presents the results of the work of almost a decade of studies carried out by different methods on this individual: morphophysical studies, taphonomy, dating, genetics, as well as various techniques of virtual archaeology among others. Through the Index of Care it was possible to systematize all the information obtained by different study methods and integrate it for analysis. The use of archaeothanatology and the Index of Care makes it possible to perform analyses on specific individuals from the past to establish their health conditions and the probable causes of death. The main limitation that arose was the poor state of preservation in which we received the bones, which unfortunately did not allow us to carry out some morphoscopic and taphonomic studies that would have been relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new estimate of the Epiclassic chronological interval (6th to 9th centuries) is proposed for the archaeological site of San José de Los Ranchos, located in Los Altos de Jalisco, near the city of Lagos de Moreno. This site is part of the cultural space of the western Mexico. The date was obtained through an archaeomagnetic analysis of ceramic materials from a cist-type tomb found at old hacienda located in the foothills of the Sierra Alta, next to the valley of the Lagos River. This archaeological site is a settlement of farmers, possibly linked to neighboring sites such as El Cerrito in the town of El Cuarenta; Los Cerritos in Lagos de Moreno and El Cóporo in the neighboring state of Guanajuato. The materials recovered in the tomb, consisting of pottery, shell beads and miniature zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines. The new periodization allows us to date the beginning of the Mesoamerican occupation of the Lagos River valley from the 6th century, in addition to dates obtained by previous investigations. In this way, it can be established that the villages in the valley date from the end of the Mesoamerican classic period, with its peak in the epiclassic era and possibly concluding at the beginning of the postclassic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clearing and construction activities related to the Maya Train (Tren Maya) project resulted in potential and inevitable impacts to archaeological caves sites in largely undeveloped areas of Quintana Roo. An effort coordinated by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) involved accelerated digital documentation of two caves – via SLAM-enabled mobile LiDAR scanning and targeted photogrammetry – to facilitate prompt visualization and evaluation of terrestrial and subterranean geospatial relationships. Mobile LiDAR is well suited to the challenges of capturing the complex, multilevel morphology of caves and was readily deployed across and through priority environments. Specific archaeological features – such as ancient Maya rock art and masonry shrines – were documented via photogrammetry, and the resulting higher-resolution models co-referenced with the georeferenced mobile LiDAR-generated point clouds of each cave and the surrounding topographic context. This integrative approach contributed to a more informed decision-making process, with respect to conservation and construction, and provided baseline data for future monitoring of the affected cave sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In archaeometry, the correct assignment of archaeological artefacts with their original geological sources continues to be an indispensable tool for determining exploitation patterns, trade routes, tool production and the movement of goods in ancient times. Statistically, Mahalanobis distance has been an integral part of the artefact provenance methodology. However, this method presents disadvantages when some of the theoretical assumptions are not fulfilled. In this way and with a focus on the veracity of the correct assignment of archaeological samples to their geological sources, we present a technique that employs a semi‐supervised classification based on finite mixture models. This procedure uses labelled and unlabelled data to assign samples to groups with the advantage that it does not depend on the sample size of the groups as required by Mahalanobis distance. This procedure was first applied in a controlled experiment where the exact origin of the samples is known in order to verify the accuracy of the method; afterwards, it was applied to artefacts recovered from the archaeological site of Xalasco, Tlaxcala (Mexico), from both surface and excavation collections and analysed with a portable X‐ray fluorescence spectrometer. The resulting groups defined that the ancient dwellers of Xalasco exploited six supply sources located in Central Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the American Institute for Conservation is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This report shows a first map of the Tingambato archaeological site, which is located in the center of the avocado belt of Michoacan, Mexico. It addresses the problem about the impact of this crop on the archaeological heritage and the possible applications of LiDAR technology for its conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the study of earth-based building techniques from the pre-Columbian site of la Joya in Mexico, which use soils containing a high proportion of fine fraction (loam and clay) stabilized with bitumen, a combination considered inadequate by modern building standards. Experimental mud bricks were manufactured emulating the ancient technique representative of the construction in that region by using the raw earth of the archaeological zone mixed with additives of different nature. The bricks' cohesion was analysed by submitting them to mechanical stresses in compression mode. The effect of the inherent heterogeneity of hand-made bricks, along with the effect of the additive concentration on their mechanical behaviour, is discussed. Techniques such as determination of particle size, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Scanning Electron Microscopy and total inorganic carbon-organic carbon were implemented for quantitative and qualitative measurement of the soil characteristics. Results indicate that synthetic additives provide better cohesion. Fracture analysis was monitored in real time by using acoustic emission technique in order to understand the mechanisms of failure. The main result is that the pre-Columbian recipe improves the mechanical performance of mud bricks, a knowledge important both for the conservation of the archaeological heritage architecture as well as for modern construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speleothems (cave stalagmites) contain inorganic and organic substances that can be used to infer past changes in local and regional paleoenvironmental conditions. Specific biomarkers can be employed to elucidate the history of past fires, caused by interactions among climate, regional hydrology, vegetation, humans, and fire activity. We conducted a simple solid–liquid extraction on pulverised carbonate samples to prepare them for analysis of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and three monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs). The preparation method requires only small samples (0.5–1.0 g); PAHs and MAs were measured by GC–MS and LC–HILIC–MS, respectively. Detection limits range from 0.05–2.1 ng for PAHs and 0.01–0.1 ng for MAs. We applied the method to 10 samples from a ∼ 400-year-old stalagmite from Cenote Ch'en Mul, at Mayapan (Mexico), the largest Postclassic Maya capital of the Yucatán Peninsula. We found a strong correlation (r = 0.75, p < 0.05) between the major MA (levoglucosan) and non-alkylated PAHs (Σ 15). We investigated multiple diagnostic PAH and MA ratios and found that although not all were applicable as paleo-fire proxies, ratios that combine PAHs with MAs are promising tools for identifying different fire regimes and inferring the type of fuel burned. In the 1950s and 1960s, levoglucosan and Σ 15 concentrations roughly doubled compared to other times in the last 400 years, suggesting greater fire activity at Mayapan during these two decades. The higher concentrations of fire markers may have been a consequence of land clearance at the site and exploration of the cave by Carnegie Institution archaeologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The symbiotic relationship between people and the genus Agave spans millennia and a vast geographical area encompassing Mexico, the southwestern United States, and the Texas borderlands. In the early 1950s, Richard MacNeish's investigations in Tamaulipas yielded evidence of past agave use in the mountains of northeastern Mexico. Excavations in the Ocampo Caves revealed 9,000 years of sporadic occupations by hunter-gatherers, mixed forager-farmers, and finally, periodic visits by residents of nearby agricultural villages. Although these discoveries are incompletely published--and existing publications largely underemphasize the range of utilized wild resources in favor of domesticated maize, beans, and squash--agave is among the wild plant taxa most often mentioned in use throughout the Holocene. Unpublished field notes, curated plant assemblages recovered during MacNeish's excavations, and data from recent archaeological survey complement the published literature to explore the role of this prominent plant in this important archaeological region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a compositional analysis of metal artifacts from the Postclassic period (a.d. 1100–1450) city of Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico. We document metallurgical production at R-183, an elite residential group and one of the most significant archaeological contexts associated with metalworking at Mayapan. Salvage excavations in 1998 recovered a small cache containing 282 copper bells, two miniature ceramic vessels filled with metal, and production debris including loose casting sprues and miscast bells. Metallographic analysis of a small copper bell and wire fragments from the cache reveals lost-wax casting production techniques. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) of metal artifacts provides insight into the range of metals used by the R-183 metalworkers, which included copper-lead, copper-tin, and copper-arsenic alloys, and how these alloys compare to assemblages recovered from other contexts at the city. Our findings strongly suggest the use of remelting and casting techniques, likely utilizing remelted metals of both West and central Mexican origin, together with the use of imported goods made from a range of copper alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of archaeological structures in satellite images is beneficial for archaeologists since it allows quick identification of structures across large areas of land. To date, some methods have been proposed to solve this task; however, these methods do not give good results in areas with large amounts of vegetation, such as those found in the southeast of Mexico and Guatemala. The method proposed in this paper works on satellite images obtained with SASPlanet. It uses two color spaces (RGB and HSL) and filters (Canny, Sobel, and Laplacian) jointly with supervised machine learning to improve the detection of archaeological structures in areas with a lot of vegetation. The method obtains an average performance of at least 93% on precision, recall, F1 score, and accuracy. Thus, our proposal is a very good option compared with traditional techniques for manual or semi-automatic detection of structures, identifying archaeological sites in a shorter time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an approach to the health conditions of the ancient inhabitants of the Malpaso valley in the current state of Zacatecas, Mexico, through the analysis of the osteological indicators present in two skeletal samples dated to the epiclassic period (c. 500-800 CE) from two archaeological sites close to each other, La Quemada and site MV-206. The osteological sample from La Quemada corresponds to a ceremonial context while that of site MV-206 is from domestic contexts. The results obtained were compared with each other, concluding that both collections manifested similar pathologies, predominantly indicators of iron deficiency (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis) and suffering from infections (periostitis, osteomyelitis), evidencing that the two population samples studied were subjected to nutritional stress. Other biomarkers of interest were also identified, such as trauma and auditory exostosis. This study provides unpublished data about the diseases that affected the ancient inhabitants of this region located geographically in the center of Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyze the content and form of 58 stone monuments at the archaeological site of Lacanjá Tzeltal, Chiapas, Mexico, which recent research confirms was a capital of the Classic Maya polity Sak Tz'i' ("White Dog"). Sak Tz'i' kings carried the title ajaw ("lord") rather than the epithet k'uhul ajaw ("holy lord") claimed by regional powers, implying that Sak Tz'i' was a lesser kingdom in terms of political authority. Lacanjá Tzeltal's corpus of sculptured stone, however, is explicitly divergent and indicates the community's marked cultural autonomy from other western Maya kingdoms. The sculptures demonstrate similarities with their neighbors in terms of form and iconographic and hieroglyphic content, underscoring Lacanjá Tzeltal artisans' participation in the region's broader culture of monumental production. Nevertheless, sculptural experimentations demonstrate not only that lesser courts like Lacanjá Tzeltal were centers of innovation, but that the lords of Sak Tz'i' may have fostered such cultural distinction to underscore their independent political character. This study has broader implications for understanding interactions between major and secondary polities, artistic innovation, and the development of community identity in the Classic Maya world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the symbolism of the petate in light of an unprecedented archaeological discovery. Excavations carried out in a Classic context in northern Michoacán revealed the impression of a petate marking the location of a burial. In addition, the lower section of the burial pit was covered over with andesite slabs, including one with grid-like and spiral incisions. After a brief overview of the ancient and modern uses of the petate and relevant archaeological evidence, I present the data that allow the testing of different hypotheses, in particular the symbolization of power through the petate. Contextual analysis suggests that both the woven mat and the incised slab served as thresholds, if not barriers, between the world of the living and the underworld. I propose that the petate was placed over the grave to serve as a regulator, ensuring that entities were properly separated and that they remained in their respective places. As such, it was an object protecting the cosmic order. I further suggest that the petate may have acted as a temporal gate, guaranteeing the continuous exercise of authority and argue that it was, as a finished object, endowed with power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introductory study on the Mexican archaeologist Enrique Juan Palacios and his contributions to archaeology in Mexico. Palacios was recognized for his research and discoveries at archaeological sites such as Ameca, Tajín, and Yohualinchan. Although his main work, "En los confines de la Selva Lacandona," is not widely known, he also contributed to the monograph of Tenayuca in 1935. The article highlights the collaboration of eight scholars in a work on the archaeological site of Santa Elena Poco Uinick, encouraged by Enrique. It also mentions the importance of preserving the site in Zapatista territory and praises the contribution of Haydee López Hernández in reviving Enrique's memory. [Extracted from the article]

In this paper, I examine a case of dispossession that made land belonging to Indigenous Totonac residents of San Antonio Ojital part of the archaeological site of El Tajín. To do so, I examine the failure of a 2016 claim made to Mexico's Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos. Rather than this being a case of purpose-driven dispossession or an unintended consequence of well-meaning policies, I trace the ultimate causes to multicultural recognition, 19th-century land reforms, and the expansion of archaeological research in El Tajín. Liberal land reforms brought a private property regime into being through enrollment and inscription, and Totonac landowners around El Tajín used the regime to their benefit. As El Tajín expanded though excavation, archaeologists and landowners used the private property regime's conception of space to address conflicts in El Tajín. The resulting pragmatic accommodations would ultimately fail landowners when an archaeological megaproject came in. Ultimately, I argue for an historical and contextual understanding of archaeology and land tenure to understand the discipline's diverse relationships with dispossession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just before the lockdown caused by the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19, the archeological sites close to the Mexican Caribbean were having an exponential number of visitors. The restrictions on traveling due to the pandemic resulted in a decrease in the number of visitors; however, the visitor flow is rising again. This scenario provides a historical opportunity to carry out strategies towards the visitor's management as well as to awake consciousness of the damage caused by the excess of visitors in cultural heritage sites. Establishing limits on the number of visitors is a well-recognized strategy to achieve sustainability in a cultural heritage site. An excess of visitors has an impact on two elements: the cultural resource and the quality of the visitor experience. Crowding perception has been demonstrated to be an effective indicator to evaluate the visitor experience and to determine standards of quality in cultural and natural sites. The place of origin of visitors is among the sociodemographic factors that can affect crowding standards. This study used a quantitative questionnaire based on normative theory and a visual method to identify the crowding standards of national and international visitors at the Mayan archaeological site of Tulum located in the vicinity of the Mexican Caribbean resort of Cancun. The results show that general visitor acceptability decreases as the number of people increase. International visitors are less tolerant to crowding than national visitors as they show the most restrictive acceptable level of people at the same time at the archaeological site. Findings are discussed in terms of their management implications for the development of a tourism-carrying capacity framework for cultural sites, thereby contributing to the achievement of more sustainable cultural tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological excavations at Yaxnohcah have revealed a long sequence of sedentary occupation, from 1000 b.c. to a.d. 1400, with dynamic periods of growth occurring during the Middle (1000–400 b.c.) and Late Preclassic (400 b.c.–a.d. 200). Two of these complexes, Grazia and Helena, serve as case studies that reveal the transformative processes of this period, illustrating site evolution on a larger scale. The Grazia platform probably began as a residential area in the Middle Preclassic and acquired an increasingly public character throughout subsequent modifications, culminating in the construction of a triadic temple platform and a ballcourt. A long sequence of fire rituals and altars show the importance of the Grazia complex as a center for collective ritual. Helena also features Middle Preclassic domestic constructions, but was transformed into a ballcourt platform during the transition to the Late Preclassic. Both cases show that Yaxnohcah was founded as a widespread, loosely integrated settlement in the Middle Preclassic and evolved into a formally and centralized network of communities with their respective nodal centers in the Late Preclassic period. Placemaking and the rise of monumentality played an important role in this transformation and reflect the particular forms of community integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1921 to 1923, El Tepozteco appeared in Mexico City. A biweekly publication on religion, science, literature, Mexican linguistics and varieties. Organ of the Tepozteca Colony in Mexico (Mexihco, Tepozteca Nechicolli). Nochi ipampa totlacatiliztlal (All for our homeland), under the direction of Nahuatl Mexican language professor and translator Mariano Jacobo Rojas. This article investigates some aspects of this printed periodical such as the characterization of its main audiences, the development of one of its main sections dedicated to the teaching of the Nahuatl language and which are the preamble for the writing of the Manual de la lengua náhuatl. Método práctico para hablar, leer y escribir la lengua americana, by Rojas published in 1927; as well as its financing and circulation strategies in the capital and the states of the Mexican Republic. The discovery of this print at the Library of the National Museum of Anthropology and History will allow an approach to the printed periodicals of enlightened indigenous people who participated in the complex and tense cultural framework that defined the scenario of the formation of the post-revolutionary state and its indigenist debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El articulo discute sobre la excavación del placito del gobierno en San Lorenzo con el enfoque del trono, monumento 14 de San Lorenzo y

El articulo discute sobre la excavaciobn arquelogica en placion de rojo realizada por Michael coe con el enfoque de la monumentos de piedra como trinchera segmentada, monumento de piedra en el sitio con el megnetometro y Excavacian de dos cuartos en la parte occidental del Palacio Rojo.

In Mexico, archaeological heritage belongs to all members of society, according to section XXV of Article 73 of the Mexican Constitution and Article 27 of the federal law on monuments and archaeological sites. The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) was founded in 1939 as a federal government agency for the research, protection, and dissemination of archaeological heritage. Although this heritage belongs to all, stringent rules and procedures create an unequal relationship between career professionals and the diverse communities interested in the past (i.e., collectors, local museums, descendant communities). It is long due to begin practicing an inclusive archaeology that considers all the various knowledge systems (i.e., academic, technical, local, and traditional) of the communities interested in the past. Here, we describe case studies from Sonora, Mexico, to propose the implementation of several far-reaching activities with artifact collectors, Indigenous communities, researchers, archaeologists, and INAH Sonora authorities. Our pilot proposal needs to be implemented in other areas of Mexico that continue to prioritize archaeological narratives over other narratives about our past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Fin del Mundo is an archaeological site in Sonora, northwest Mexico, that contains a buried Clovis megafauna kill in a lowland area and concentrations of Clovis and later lithic materials scattered on the deflated surface of the surrounding uplands. The Clovis lithic assemblage from the site, identified by its technological and typological features, has been classified into three modes: bifaces, unifaces, and blades. The kill locality only contains Clovis points, whereas the assemblage from the uplands includes multiple bifaces reflecting diverse stages of the manufacture process from blank production to finished, highly reduced, and discarded broken Clovis points, numerous end scrapers, and blades and blade manufacture byproducts. This assemblage is indicative of a campsite where stone tool production and possibly other domestic tasks took place. In addition, a rhyolite outcrop near both the campsite and the kill was intensively exploited, as reflected in the high proportion of this raw material in the Clovis assemblage. Unequivocal association of the kill locality and the campsite is not confirmed; however, the configuration of the site indicates that the campsite was established in uplands near locations with water, game, and lithic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in palaeoecological studies is growing due to current climate change, then it would be expected that archaeological investigation would provide information on environmental changes that occurred in the past and that can be compared with the present. However, despite the development of technological tools based on biogeography and the ecological niche, its application in recent archaeology is scarce and null in Mexican studies. To show the scope that this kind of investigation may have, an analysis to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of the archaeological site La Malinche, Tenancingo, State of Mexico, was carried out, based on information from 13 recovered plant genera. Digital databases were used to obtain presence data, process an ecological niche model, and reconstruct the climate in different periods of La Malinche, using the mutual ecogeographic range method. The results suggest brief regional climate changes between Middle Classic and Middle-Late Postclassic, where conditions were warmer and wetter than other periods. This study supports a reliable environmental hypothesis to understand how the human being interacted with his environment in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we present evidence for the use of slingstones and other projectile stones among the ancient Maya peoples of the Usumacinta River region. Rounded stones are frequently found across Maya archaeological sites and are given a range of interpretations, including objects for flintknapping, cooking, ritual, divination, and less often as weapons. Here we provide new evidence for the identification of rounded stones as weapons based on their morphology as well as their context of recovery. We employ data from the sites of Macabilero, Guatemala, and Budsilha, Mexico, which strongly suggest rounded stones at these sites were manufactured to be used as weapons. These findings have implications for how we understand warfare and hunting in ancient Mesoamerica and inform our interpretation of how the Maya prepared for such activities. As a class of weapon potentially accessible to most members of Maya society, the results presented here show the importance of more inclusive perspectives on Maya warfare and the necessity of contextualizing artifact analysis within the occupation history of the broader site and region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological zone of Huexotla, east of Mexico Basin, was part of the Acolhuacan lordship, associated to the Mexica domain in the Postclassical period. In this site, several structures have been partially explored, some of which are open to the public. Recent explorations led to the hypothesis that the structures of La Estancia, the Wall and the Community were part of a more complex space that formed the Sacred Precinct of the city. In order to test this postulate, magnetometry was conducted in three areas of the site. By processing Total Field and Vertical Gradient magnetic data, we were able to identify and understand the distribution of underground features like walls, floors and platforms, aiding in the determination of potential excavation areas. Processing the magnetic data with the application of the analytic signal operator allowed more information to be acquired for the recognition of structures of interest. The geophysical results were correlated with the outcomes of archaeological excavations in three structures, confirming the existence of architectural patterns that were not previously detected and supporting the thesis proposed for the ceremonial enclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism activity in general, with the heritage tourism sector in particular, represented the second inflow of foreign currency to Mexico in 2019 (pre-pandemic), with more than USD 24 million. According to local polls, the main purpose of travel is leisure. However, more than half of tourists (local and foreigner) who visit Mexico enjoy/visit an archaeological site, a museum, and/or a local community. The latter illustrates that the heritage tourism sector is a vital axis within the national and local economy, as well as to promote its research, conservation, and diffusion. Researchers claim that it can also be an important component for the cultural revitalization of communities. However, how well does a community benefit from the tourist activity of any particular heritage/archaeological site? Can they feel any connection with it if only a handful of community members benefit from it? Using the Cancun example, we will talk about the concept of "heritage tourism", not only for its economic value but also for its potential for social/cultural assessments for local heritage. Secondly, we talk about how archaeology is performed and how pre-Hispanic sites play along as a tourist attraction, particularly from the Mexican perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the elements found on tin-glazed ceramics of Iberian tradition recovered from archaeological excavations in Mexico City are the potters' marks painted on the surface of the vessels. These were commonly placed on the external and internal surface of serving ware pertaining to the 17th and 18th centuries. Archaeological research on maiolica from Mexico has insufficiently addressed the significance of the marks in terms of changes in the pottery industry and culture within the colonial environment. Drawing from historical sources and archaeological samples the research of such elements allowed to observe changes that occurred inside the maiolica industry and the status of potters, and will argue that the marks are elements that embody the ideological realm. In the particular case of Mexico, these marks embody notions of the doctrine of 'blood purity' that permeated the craft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of GPR data multipath summation on data acquired over parallel study lines is presented here within the framework of a study on the effects of natural hazards on cultural heritage areas in order to image weak zones within carbonates, such as fractures and caverns. This study was realized at the archeological site of Xochicalco in Mexico, where fractures and caverns are potential sources of the degradation of the archeological remains. Dense parallel GPR study lines spaced every 0.25 m were surveyed using a 400 MHz monostatic antenna with the aim to image possible weak zones in three dimensions. We used a 2D imaging approach, namely, the method of multipath summation, which efficiently focused the scattered energy within the GPR sections. The study revealed, at depths of 1.6m and 1.8m, several linear events attributed to fractures, leading to the preliminary conclusion of this on-going project that cracks on the walls of the Quetzalcoatl Temple after a large earthquake in 2017 are prone to instability of carbonates rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hematophagous flies belonging to the families Culicidae and Tabanidae, have played an important role in human health and domestic/wild and animal health. We performed weekly collections of active-flying flies of dipterans form the families Culicidae and Tabanidae with Malaise, CDC and BG-Sentinel traps during September to October of 2017 among different vegetation types characteristic of the archeological site of X'cambó located at north coast of Yucatan. A total of 656 specimens were collected. Culicidae presented the highest abundance (97.5%) and species richness (73%) in 14 species. The CDC trap was the most effective regarding species richness. Shannon entropy index showed that number of species predicted and observed were not significant among traps. Two Anopheles and one Aedes species were dominant for each trap. Uranotaenia sapphirina is a new record for Yucatan. This information will be valuable for conservation and vector surveillance purposes considering that coastal zones are unique/fragile ecosystems in serious risk of fragmentation and environmental contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pasos: Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural is the property of Universidad de La Laguna, Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

El artículo analiza una pieza única de vasija encontrada durante las excavaciones arqueológicas en la región de Río Bec, México, con un enfoque en el diseño y simbolismo de la vasija.

This paper discusses how detailed analyses of archaeological contexts and macrobotanical remains are critical for building a high‐resolution chronology in archaeological research. While the application of Bayesian modelling has improved chronology‐building significantly, archaeologists have sometimes neglected different dates recovered from the same depositional layer without further scrutiny. Based on 78 radiocarbon samples, this problem is challenged by building a high‐resolution chronology of the Guzmán Group, a small plaza compound of the ancient Maya city of El Palmar, Mexico. The results permit a deeper understanding of relationships between dynastic interactions and the emergence of non‐royal elites in Classic Maya society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo analiza las excavaciones realizadas en el Palacio de Axa-yácatl en 2017 y el descubrimiento de losas de basalto y los restos de un edificio histórico prehispánico. El artículo también se centra en el Programa de Arqueología Urbana del Inah.

It is well known that the development of the ancient Maya civilization had significant and long-lasting impacts on the environment. This study assesses a large collection of faunal remains (>35,000 specimens) recovered over a span of several kilometers in and around the archaeological site of Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to determine whether the composition of animal resources was continuous throughout the site's history between 1000 BC and AD 1200, or whether there were any changes that could be attributed to sociopolitical or environmental causes. Results show a steep uniform decline in the number of freshwater mollusks across the site that occurred during the Preclassic to Classic transition, when large region-wide political changes, including the development of more complex and centralized political organization, took place throughout the Maya region. Evidence of species introductions (e.g., turkeys from central Mexico and possibly the Dermatemys river turtle from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) and variations in resource exchange (e.g. marine shells) over time indicate that Ceibal was one of likely many communities involved in long-distance animal exchange networks. The results of the faunal analysis at Ceibal show how the ancient Maya had a complex and ever-changing relationship with the local wildlife, with outcomes that can still be observed in the environment today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the excavation results of a funerary cave at the site of Moxviquil, located in the Jovel Valley of central highland Chiapas, Mexico. Diagnostic ceramics from funerary offerings suggest that the use of the cave spanned the principal occupation at the site, including Late Classic (a.d. 600–900) and Early Postclassic (a.d. 900–1250) periods. The offerings situate the Moxviquil cave within an extensive tradition of Mesoamerican sacred caves as funerary loci and situate the site itself within an extensive network of eastward- and westward-facing trade networks and political connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the interdisciplinary study of human notched bone idiophones (called omichicahuaztli in Náhuatl) which were excavated at the Teotenango archaeological site, located in Estado de México, Mexico, in the seventies. The analysis provided in this paper takes into account data that relates to the archaeological contexts where the bones were found, but also considers osteological, taphonomic, acoustical and linguistic analysis. Such an interdisciplinary approach offers a more relevant interpretation of the meaning and the significance of these instruments of matlatzincas prehispanic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novohispanic mestizo chronicles are characterized by their depiction of the origin, the past and the customs of their main towns and of the issues related to the conquest and evangelization of Mexico. Nevertheless, through a discourse tinged by the Christian rhetoric of the fall of Jerusalem, these chronicles also portray the ruins from which that new order emerged in an apparently harmonious way. In this paper I set out to highlight the themes of destruction and the world in ruins that underlie the subtle dissident criticism in the NovoHispanic mestizo chronicles. In order to do so, I give examples taken from Relación de Texcoco (1582) by Juan Bautista Pomar, an especially significant text because of its complex and shifting locus of enunciation, an element which is always present in mestizo chronicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies about the faunistic presence of felines in Mesoamerica are extensive. As a greater number place emphasis on jaguars over any other of the five species recorded in Mexico, we identify a clear absence of adequate protocols dealing with the osteological identifications and the application of biological criteria to recognize the species represented. In this paper we present the empirical data of the felines recovered in the archaeological site of Xochicalco (660-1175 n.e.), both in bone remains and artistic representations. Three species of felines are identified: lynxes, jaguars, and pumas, with a clear predominance of the latter. The number of felines skeletons and the detailed animal behavioral portrayed on some media suggest a high level of knowledge, meaning that the animals could have been kept in captivity in Xochicalco. This hypothesis could be further analyzed along with the outcomes from the analyses carried out in other Mesoamerican sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In spite of their potential significance to early human migrants and maritime foragers, small islands often are overlooked in archaeological research projects in favor of mainland coastal and large island counterparts. One excellent example of this is found off the northwestern coast of Baja California, México. Despite the wealth of data from islands to the north and south, the Coronados Islands, a group of four small islands clearly visible and only a short boat ride from the mainland, have seen little scientific archaeological investigation. As part of a collaborative bi-national research project, the first systematic archaeological reconnaissance of the Coronados Islands was completed in October 2016, resulting in the identification of 30 archaeological sites, the collection of diagnostic surface artifacts, and the radiocarbon dating of two prehistoric sites. We detail our efforts to build an island settlement chronology and occupational history and lay the foundation for future archaeological and historical ecological studies of the island group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocultural species enhancement within archaeological sites is particularly challenging because restoration goals and the preservation of cultural assets need to be met simultaneously. Biocultural restoration aims to reestablish the ecological components while preserving or restoring the cultural components of the site, as well as the relationships between them. Biocultural species enhancement is one component of these efforts. Biocultural species enhancement within archaeologically protected sites can establish multiple connections among nature and culture; yet, it can be complicated by the need to preserve the archaeological remains. Tzintzuntzan, in the State of Michoacan, Mexico, holds the remains of the capital of the Tarascan empire. Due to ecological degradation of Tzintzuntzan's landscape, hummingbirds are seldom seen within the archeological site. As part of a project that aims to restore habitat components for hummingbirds within the Tzintzuntzan Archaeological Site, we established patches of the native Salvia fulgens (Mexican red sage). Initially, potted S. fulgens plants were temporarily placed within the study site to test the feasibility of attracting hummingbirds by providing feeding resources. Five hummingbird species were recorded using the sage pots, with Cynanthus latirostris (Broad-billed hummingbird) being the most frequent. Results of this study show that at least 37 flowers per patch are needed to attract C. latirostris. A permanent S. fulgens plantation was established to provide this habitat at Tzintzuntzan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frente a los graves daños ocasionados por los sismos de septiembre de 2017 a los bienes muebles e inmuebles, históricos y arqueológicos de México, la Secretaría de Cultura y el Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia encabezaron una eficaz cruzada, la cual implicó la mayor movilización de recursos materiales y humanos de este Último en SUS ocho décadas de vida. Este artículo se centra en lo relativo al patrimonio arqueológico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]