DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10463845.

Abstract

Due to the fact that still no absolute chronological data are available to estimate the chronology of the Ihuatzio archaeological site, we carried out an archaeomagnetic and magnetic mineralogy study on two fragments of its most common pottery. The first analyzed sample belongs to the “Uacusecha polychrome” type, while the second corresponds to the “Tariacuri red” style. The main magnetic carrier is linked to magnetites or titanomagnetites poor in titanium. We note the presence of hematite, but its contribution to the remanent magnetization is insignificant. We obtained eight reliable determinations of absolute intensities, ranging from 36.8 to 61.03 μT. The most probable dating was achieved with the global models and local curves available for Mesoamerica by using the bootstrap statistics. Even with the limitation of using only one geomagnetic element (absolute intensity) and divergent dating patterns, it has been possible to relate the chronology of the studied pottery with the apogee of the Tarascan Lordship and the dominant position of Ihuatzio along the Lake Patzcuaro area.

Keywords

Chronology, pottery, Ihuatzio, Western Mesoamerica, Michoacan, Mexico, Late Postclassic, archaeointensity.

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Other Persistent Identifiers

PURL: purl.org/aia/5301. ARK: ark:/49934/322.

Publication date: January 7, 2024.