Tlapacoya is an important

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 ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, located at the foot of the Tlapacoya volcano, southeast of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, on the former shore of

Lake Chalco Lake Chalco was an endorheic lake formerly located in the Valley of Mexico, and was important for Mesoamerican cultural development in central Mexico. The lake was named after the ancient city of Chalco on its former eastern shore. Geography L ...

. Tlapacoya was a major site for the

Tlatilco culture Tlatilco culture is a culture that flourished in the Valley of Mexico between the years 1250 BCE and 800 BCE, during the Mesoamerican Early Formative period. Tlatilco, Tlapacoya, and Coapexco are the major Tlatilco culture sites. Tlatilco cu ...

. Tlapacoya is known in particular for Tlapacoya figurines. These sophisticated earthware figurines were generally created between 1500 and 300

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

and are representative of the Preclassic Period. Tlapacoya was also a manufacturing center for so-called "Dragon Pots" (see photo below). These flat-bottomed cylindrical bowls have white or buff surfaces incised with almost abstract

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 drawings, generally of were-jaguars.

Evidence of Earlier Habitation

Mexican - Female Figure - Walters 20092050

In addition to the figurines and other artifacts from the 1500 - 300 BCE era, human and animal remains have been found, some of which could be as much as 25,000 years old. The most controversial findings in Tlapacoya are artifacts which have been dated by some researchers to as early as 25,000 BP. If verified, these would be some of the earliest dates for human habitation in the Americas and would discredit prevailing theories of the timing of settlement of the New World. The evidence for these much-earlier dates consists of the bones of black bear and two species of deer which appeared in

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

s associated with 22,000-year-old

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

s, as well as a curved obsidian blade which was found beneath a buried tree trunk. The bones were 24,000 years BP (± 4000 years) and 21,700 years BP (± 500 years). The obsidian blade was found under a tree trunk which dated to 24,000 years BP (± 1000 years) and was itself dated, using the obsidian hydration method, to between 21,250 and 25,000 years BP. The site was uncovered during the construction of a Mexico City-

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 ...

freeway and has since been almost obliterated by freeway construction. In 1955, Beatriz Barba, "the first Mexican woman to obtain the title of archaeologist", earned her master's degree with a study of the site. Her thesis, ''Tlapacoya: un sitio preclásico de transición'' (Tlapacoya: a pre-classic transitional site) evaluated the social development and religious practices of the

. Barba's evaluation of the site was one of the first to evaluate the socio-economic and political life of the inhabitants of Tlapacoya within the context of the history of the region, as well as their trade relationships and the influence of other groups upon the development of the Tlatilco people.

Human remains

Silvia González et al. have published research claiming that "one Tlapacoya skull is the first directly dated human in Mexico with an age of 9730 ± 65 years BP" (before present).Gonzalez, S., Huddart, D., Morett-Alatorre, L., Arroyo-Cabrales, J. and Polaco, O.J., 2001
Mammoths and Early Humans in the Basin of Mexico during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. (PDF)
The World of Elephants. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress, Rome. G.Cavarretta, P.Gioia, M.Mussi, M.R.Palambo (eds.), 704-706.

References

*Diehl, Richard A. (2004) ''The Olmecs: America's First Civilization'', Thames & Hudson, London. * Dixon, E.J. (1999) ''Bones, Boats & Bison: Archaeology and the First Colonization of Western North America''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. *Gonzalez, S., Huddart, D., Morett-Alatorre, L., Arroyo-Cabrales, J. and Polaco, O.J., 2001
Mammoths and Early Humans in the Basin of Mexico during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. (PDF)
The World of Elephants. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress, Rome. G.Cavarretta, P.Gioia, M.Mussi, M.R.Palambo (eds.), 704–706. * Lorenzo, Jose Luis, and Lorena Mirambell (1999) "The Inhabitants of Mexico During the Upper Pleistocene" in ''Ice Age People of North America'', edited by

Robson Bonnichsen Robson Bonnichsen (3 December 1940 – 25 December 2004) was an anthropologist who undertook pioneering research in First American studies, popularized the field and founded the Center for the Study of Early Man at the University of Maine (Orono) ...

and Karen Turnmire, pp. 482–496. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis. * Lorenzo, Jose Luis, and Lorena Mirambell, Coordinadores (1986) ''Tlapacoya: 35.000 aZos de Historia del Lago de Chalco''. México, D.F. I.N.A.H., collección Científica, Serie Prehistórica, pp. 296.

Notes

External links

Anthropologist K. Kris Hirst discusses Tlapacoya at about.comDiscussion of the pre-Clovis dating at Tlapacoya and further links

Links to figurine photos

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071007082507/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/scultpurePlastic/SculptureHistory/SculptureAmong/PreHispanicMexico/precfig1b.jpg A more primitive figurinebr>Standing Tlapacoya Pottery Female, Pre Classic Period, ca. 800 to 300 BCE
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in the State of Mexico Pre-Clovis archaeological sites in the Americas Tlatilco culture Oldest human remains in the Americas