The Site and Its Artifacts

Although Chupícuaro ceramics - vessels and figurines - are the most recognized artifacts from the site, the burials included many other artifacts that give clues to Chupícuaro life and values. These include dog skeletons, earplugs[1] (ceramic, stone, or shell), manos and metates[2], worked stone, trophy skulls (placed in the lap of other skeletons), bone rasps[3], necklaces made of shell beads or snail shells, bone punches[4], obsidian scrapers and points[5], ceramic ocarinas[6], crustacean and snail shells, single green beads, unworked stones, bird bones, stone balls, atlatl[7] finger loops, clay rattles (including effigy[8] rattles), shell tinklers[9], bone awls[10], effigy whistles, possible polishing stones, bone needles, stone tripod mortars, obsidian knives, worked pendants (bone, stone, or shell), antler tools, possible clay stamps, stone plumb-bobs[11], shell figurines, and turtle shells (“Appendix” 81-92). Offerings to the spirits of the dead, including ceramic figurines, were sometimes found inside ceramic vessels (81-92). Offerings were placed in a variety of configurations around the skeletons with the most common configuration being near the head (81-92). The skeletons also were lying in a variety of configurations, including a few urn burials (81-92). Most burials had offerings consisted simply of one to five ceramic vessels, figurines or other offerings (81-92). Another common occurrence was no offerings (81-92). Other burials included up to 27 vessels and multiple other offering items (81-92).

These offerings were valued items, either for their economic worth or for their necessity in the afterlife. For instance, in many parts of Mesoamerica, dogs were considered guides to the afterworld (Evans 69), so the dog burials were intended to provide the deceased with safe passage to their next life. Another example is the instances of single green beads. Greenstone was very valuable throughout ancient Mesoamerica (135), making the possession of even one bead a valuable token for the deceased. Other items, such as the manos and metates, or the atlatl finger loops (presumably the remains of entire wooden atlatls), may have been intended to provide more practical food-based necessities in the afterlife. It is speculated that the ceramic vessels found in most of the burials were used to provide offerings of food to the deceased, as ceramic dishes certainly were at other Mesoamerican sites (Butterwick 100). This hypothesis is also supported with the general association of the vessel forms found in tombs to uses in cooking and serving (Evans 123-125), though to my knowledge no residue testing has been done at Chupícuaro to confirm this hypothesis. The materials used in the production of grave goods also indicate the resources available to the people of Chupícuaro. Several types of bones, stone, and shell; frequent ceramics; and antler are all represented, indicating that these were all available, with varying levels of access indicated by their amounts, to the population of Chupícuaro. These varying rarity and number of grave offerings indicate social stratification at Chupícuaro. The large number of sites in the Lerma valley suggest a relatively large, dense population (Darras and Faugère, “Chupícuaro” abstract).

The Faugère and Darras project was able to increase the recognized sites associated with Chupícuaro to 176, only 12 of which displayed occupation after AD 200 (Darras and Faugère, “Proyecto” 4). They believe this desertion of the area occurred due to the gradual formation of a large valley lake as a result of excessive river flow (Darras and Faugère, “Chupícuaro” abstract). The sites covered a region stretching to over “the south Acámbaro valley, the Cuitzeo Basin and the northern fringe of Michoacán”, as well as areas to the north and east between San Juan del Río and Yuriria (par. 7). The majority of these sites are located in the Lerma River valley, on small elevations just outside the river’s flood bed (Darras and Faugère, “Proyecto” 4). This location would maximize agricultural productivity and minimize agronomic risks, even providing the potential for agricultural works similar to the chinampas[12] of the Basin of Mexico, though this possibility has not been addressed through archaeological excavation (Williams, par. 4-5). Settlements also tended to be located near one of the valley’s ten hot springs (five of which remain today) where they could gather resources such as carbonates used in construction, pigments, and food; warm waters and salts also used in food; and ferric oxides used to make red pigments (Darras and Faugère, “Proyecto” 4; Darras and Faugère, “Chupícuaro”, par. 7, 13). These sites appear to form a hierarchy ranging from isolated farms and villages to populated central and specialized sites (Darras and Faugère, “Chupícuaro”, par. 11). Of the significant individual sites excavated by this project, the most stunning was San Cayetano, which revealed an infant tomb in a rare state of excellent preservation, retaining the original placement of an offering assemblage of figurines and tools such as a chopper for the extraction of maguey fibers used to produce textiles (“Autoridades” 2).