Las Bocas is a minor
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
in the
Mexican state
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...
of
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
, whose name has become attached, often erroneously, to a wide-ranging type of
Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...
-style figurines and pottery.
The Las Bocas site, part of the
Balsas River
The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico.
The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Al ...
basin, was heavily plundered in the 1960s by looters looking for "Olmec" pottery and figurines. As the prestige associated with "Las Bocas" artifacts grew, that label was given to many similar artifacts – and occasional forgeries – of unknown origin. The high numbers of artifacts attributed to the site are "implausible at best", and as a result, the term "Las Bocas" has now little archaeological significance.
The first systematic archaeological investigation of Las Bocas was begun by
David Grove
David C. Grove (born 1935) is an American anthropologist, archaeologist and academic, known for his contributions and research into the Preclassic (or Formative) period cultures of Mesoamerica, in particular those of the Mexican ''altiplano'' an ...
in 1967. In 1997, the archaeologist Maria de la Cruz Paillés Hernández started the first of her three seasons at the site.
Field Seasons: 1997-2000
Funding
The first field season of Maria de la Cruz Paillés Hernández, in 1997, was funded that same year by INAH (
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, ''National Institute of Anthropology and History'') is a Mexican federal government bureau established in 1939 to guarantee the research, preservation, protection, and promotion of the ...
) in the amount of $30,000 pesos. The second field season, 1998, also funded by INAH, was supplied with $23,000 pesos and had to be shortened to 21 days. Originally, the third field season had been scheduled for 1999, but funding was not available that year. In 2000, FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.) gave $7,800 USD to Paillés Hernández for the third field season via INAH, but INAH delayed in relaying the funds for a month and a half, causing the third field season to take place during rains.
Archaeological Work
The second field season was intended to yield a general overview of the contexts of the Las Bocas site, and to determine areas to be explored later.
Paillés Hernández considered the Las Bocas site to include the nearby Caballo Pintado because of relevant sites found in the area.
The third field season continued the work of the second field season and referenced its findings for a greater understanding of context. Several pits were excavated during the third field season; some
stratigraphy
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.
Stratigrap ...
was found to be unreliable because of the facts that, the artifacts near the surface had mixed dates, and "the land surface was removed with heavy machinery back in 1994," almost completely destroying the
classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...
and
post-classic
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –  ...
artifacts. A looter's pit was also found while excavating.
Findings
Several ceramic pieces were found during the third field season of Paillés Hernández; these dated from as early as the Ayotla phase (1250-1000 B.C.) to the Manantial phase (1000-800 B.C.) of the
formative stage
Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include a Formative Period or Formative stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages.
The Formative is the third of five stages defined by Gord ...
. The pieces found included several fragments of figurines. The head of a "baby-face" figurine was found with a similar cranial deformation to an Olmec skull found at Pampa el Pajón.
Carved stone objects were also found during the third field season; they were composed of
obsidian
Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock.
Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...
and either
silex
Silex is any of various forms of ground stone. In modern contexts the word refers to a finely ground, nearly pure form of silica or silicate.
In the late 16th century, it meant powdered or ground up "flints" (i.e. stones, generally meaning the cl ...
or
chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...
.
The burial of an adult individual was uncovered during the third field season of 2000, it was the second burial found at the site. It was found with a ''cajete'', a small figurine of a dog, and fragments of a small box.
Las Bocas-style Figurines
Description
The term "Las Bocas-style" refers to a style of Olmec figurine allegedly found at the Las Bocas site.
The style is defined by looted materials that may or may not have actually come from the Las Bocas site.
Credibility of Origin
The term "Las Bocas-style" is based on a fallacy; the Las Bocas-style figurines were never connected to the actual Las Bocas site. They were only claimed to have been found on the site by those who sold them on the art market contemporaneously with the occurrences of looting at Las Bocas.
With their advertised origins, the figurines received higher market prices and considerably more interest – consequentially, those who sold them may have been motivated to misrepresent the origins of artifacts that were possibly found at other sites.
Because of the lack of contextual evidence to link the figurines with Las Bocas, and the high probability of improperly represented origins, the Las Bocas-style figurines cannot be attributed to the site of Las Bocas.
[Yates]
Notes
References
*Grove, David C. (2000) "Bocas, Las (Puebla, Mexico)", in ''Archaeology of Ancient Mexico & Central America: an Encyclopedia''; Routledge, London.
*Paillés Hernández, Maria de la Cruz;
Las Bocas, Puebla, Archaeological ProjectFoundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. accessed March 2007.
*Pool, Christopher (2007) ''Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica'', Cambridge University Press.
*Yates, Donna;
Las Bocas-style FigurinesTrafficking Culture accessed October 2013.
External links
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Olmec sites