Direccion De Estudios Arqueologicos

... Molinero R., Cervantes P., Nieto-Obregón J., Lozano-Santa Cruz R., Mendoza-Rosales C, Silva-Romo G. (1998) - Xitle volcano in southern Mexico-City. A 2000 genetic volcano in an urban area. Revista Mexičana de Geológicas, 15 (2),115-131. Fergusson G J., Libby WF (1963 ...

The prehispanic societies of central and western Mesoamerica used obsidian in great quantities, as it was the primary material used for manufacturing domestic cutting tools and weapons and could also be fashioned into ornamental and religious items. Unlike in the Old World, utilitarian lithic industries were never supplanted by metallurgy, with the result that successive urban civilizations continued to exploit obsidian mines and leave exceedingly dense concentrations of production byproducts (or debitage) at quarry sites and workshops located within settlements. Aztec obsidian industries built upon millennia of earlier societies, including the Teotihuacano and Toltec, yet they significantly intensified and expanded obsidian extraction and exchange systems (Pastrana 2007; Pastrana and Domínguez 2009). Like their predecessors, the Aztecs were attracted to the physical properties of obsidian because it is a sharp, durable stone that fractures cleanly and predictably. The reductive and sequential nature of production activities and the chemical regularity of obsidian originating from the same volcanic flows are additional properties that have attracted archaeologists, because a wide range of economic activities can be discerned from the material. These include the stages of manufacturing represented in different contexts, knapper skill level, relative intensity of production, and exchange routes and zones of cultural contact. Aztec archaeological sites contain a wide range of types of obsidian artifacts, such as bifacial knives and projectile points used as weapons, pressure blades and unifacial scrapers used in many domestic activities , and polished bodily adornments, vessels, and mirrors used as status and ritual items. As a result, multiple dimensions of Aztec society may be addressed through obsidian analysis. This summary outlines the major raw material sources, artifact

The area designated as Metzabok in the northern sector of the Mexican state of Chiapas and within the Lacandon Jungle is the site of a series of karst lakes covering a region that collects a significant amount of rainfall. These factors have led to the formation of numerous lagoons in the area, in addition to the caves and cliffs on which rock art are located.
In terms of archeological research, the Metzabok lagoon has not been extensively studied, due perhaps to the monumentalism of the major sites of the Classic period, mainly Palenque, Bonampak, or Yaxchilán, among others, which, to some extent, have reduced interest in studying less monumental Mayan sites that are more closely linked to rural settings.
The objective of this paper is to explore the temporality of the rock art sites at Metzabok that, by means of a stylistic analysis of the motifs found there and their association with architectural sites, we have placed chronologically around the time when the area had the highest human population, that is, during the late Pre-Classic, late Classic, and Post-Classic periods and into the Historical period.
Further, we will present the first systematic register of rock art panels found on the cliffs surrounding the Metzabok lagoon that are the result of the initial stage of field work carried out in 2012 under the auspices of the “Registering Rock Art Found in the Area of Metzabok Lagoon, Ocosingo, Chiapas” archeological project. We shall also discuss ideas regarding who might have been the people behind the paintings, some of which date from the arrival of the first Lacandon Mayan peoples to the area.

Este libro compila diversos trabajos sobre arte rupestre en el mundo, desde diversos enfoques teórico-metodológicos y presentando un corpus sugerente sobre los diversos motivos rupestres localizados en diversos sitios arqueológicos. Una lectura necesaria para todo aquel interesado en el tema de la gráfica rupestre.

Este libro recopila varios artículos de diversos especialistas en el tema del arte rupestre. Se menciona sobre la importancia del registro, fechamiento e interpretación de los grafismos rupestres, abordados en ocasiones por áreas culturales y estilos de representación.

La presente tesis de licenciatura en Arqueología, retoma la categoría del espacio social para analizar la gráfica rupestre presente en un sitio zoque prehispánico de la región de la Depresión Central del Estado de Chiapas, denominado como la "Sima del Copal". Se presenta las características del sitio, los motivos rupestres, su tipología y cuestiones relativas a la arqueología del paisaje.

Se estudia el caso de las serpientes emplumadas asociada a cuerpos de agua durante el final de la época prehispánica, su supervivencia y transformaciones hasta la época contemporánea. Desde la arqueología se definen sus características iconográficas y se complementan con datos etnográficos y etnohistóricos de la serpiente de los nublados para demostrar la existencia de una variante del culto a la serpiente emplumada en la zona de Chiapas, Guatemala y El Salvador desde el Clásico Terminal. Los ejemplos presentados incluyen iconografía y datos etnográficos de las lagunas Mensabak, Pethá, Miramar, Tintonixac y Chuquiyaca en Chiapas, laguna Peten Itzá y río Teculxeyá en Guatemala y laguna El Espino en El Salvador además de ejemplos en Chichén Itzá y Xochitécatl-Cacaxtla, México. Se concluye con miras a profundizar en el estudio de la serpiente de los nublados y su persistencia en el culto a los cuerpos de agua en el sur de Mesoamérica.