A03_08

Pre-Columbian occupation chronology of southern coast of Nayarit, Mexico.

Solis C²

¹Dirección de Salvamento Arqueológico, INAH, Mexico City, Mexico, ²Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, México, ³Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México., Mexico City, México, ⁴Instituto Superior De Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de La Habana , La Habana, Cuba

The area of western Mexico has been little studied, mainly due to difficulties of access. Chronicles from the first half of the 16th century describe fertile plains and densely populated wetlands. The Directorate of Archaeological Salvage of INAH, conducts archaeological research when it comes to modern works, and undergoes studies of previously unknown Pre-Columbian occupation sites.  The present work deals with the study of the material recovered from two sites in Costa Canuva (Pacific Ocean), in the South of the state of Nayarit: Becerros (site mainly used for burials) and Naranjos (used for residence and burials). The majority of the ¹⁴C dating of materials recovered at Becerros provided a chronological framework of absolute dates for the occupation of the site from 217 cal A.D. to 1025 cal A.D., corroborating the ceramic studies in the sense that human settlement activities date from the Tombs of Tyre Tradition (300 B.C. to 600 A.D.) to the Early Postclassic (900 to 1100 A.D.). The dated materials from the Naranjos site, yielded ages correlated with the Classic period (500-750 AD), however, material dating from 1670-1780 was also found, associated with glazed ceramics, a technique introduced by the Spaniards. This indicates that rituals in these regions may have continued for another 100 years after the conquest of the altiplano. Finally, dates of charcoal and associated shell samples from the Naranjos Unit were compared to complement the dating of the occupation of the site.

Acknowledgments: Arcadio Huerta and Sergio Martínez for technical assistance, CONACyT 2022.