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Radiocarbon Dating of Underwater Archaeological Objects from the Nevado de Toluca, Mexico

2017; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 59; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/rdc.2017.106

1945-5755

Miguel Ángel Martínez‐Carrillo, C. Solı́s, I Hernández Bautista, Roberto Sánchez, María Rodríguez‐Ceja, María Esther Ortiz, E. Chávez-Lomelí,

Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

ABSTRACT The Nevado de Toluca is a stratovolcano located in the southwest of the Toluca Valley in central Mexico. At a height of around 4200 m there are two crater lakes: El Sol and La Luna. Since Precolumbian times, people in the surrounding valleys carried out rituals and deposited offerings into the lakes. After the Spanish conquest, these rituals were kept alive clandestinely. Currently, reminiscent of Mesoamerican rituals subsist. Due to the long duration of the ritual at the Nevado de Toluca, it is important to date the materials recovered in the underwater and terrestrial archaeological explorations. This article proposes a chronology of Prehispanic ritual activities performed in the Nevado de Toluca based on the characterization and radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating performed to materials from the volcano’s lakes.