Cueva de los Portales, nord du Michoacan (Mexique)

Abstract

Excavations undertaken in the Cueva de los Portales rockshelter, Michoacan, Mexico, leads to the identification of several levels from the archaic period, dated between 5200 y 2000 BC through 7 radiocarbon samples. The four preceramic phases are La Garza (5200-4500 BC), Palomo (4500-3100 BC), Portales (3100-2500 BC) y Salto (approximately 2500-2000 BC). All of them reflect the settlement of hunters-gatherers, who did not seem to have practiced any kind of horticulture or proto-agriculture. The results of this study are briefly synthesized in this paper.

Keywords

• archaic period
• lithic industry
• Mexique
• michoacan
• prehistory