This project has involved a team effort designed to explore the transition from foraging wild foods to farming domesticated plants on the part of ancient peoples once living on the south Pacific coast of Mexico.  The project was designed to investigate this issue in two locations: near Acapulco on the coast of Guerrero,  and in the Chiapas coast in the municipality of Acapetagua.  The ancient people of Guerrero are called the Ostiones people, whereas those of Chiapas are known as the Chantuto people. 

The senior scholars of archaeological team consisted of a palynologist (John G. Jones), geologist (Teresa Ramírez Herrera), and archaeologists (Douglas J. Kennett, Hector Neff, and Barbara Voorhies) along with student assistants and local assistants.  In January, 2003 we worked in Guerrero, whereas in January of 2005 we worked in Chiapas.  A quick review of the latest fieldwork is presented here.  Both field seasons were supported by a National Science Foundation grant to Douglas J. Kennett. 

My particular task during the 2005 field season was to excavate the El Chorro shellmidden.  This is the smallest of a group of five shellmiddens clustered around a linked chain of coastal lagoons.  This midden is now only 5.5 m high and rises to a single steep peak, suggesting that it has not had time to erode significantly (Voorhies 2004:Fig. 2.2).  Prior to our work, this shellmound had never been investigated archaeologically.   We dug two small test pits.  The first one was ended at the 5.40 m level because we hit the water table and it became too dangerous to continue.  The second small test pit was excavated to increase the artifacts from the upper stratum and was ended at the ….level.

A view of the El Chorro shellmidden

The Late Archaic period deposits, that consisted of almost pure bedded clam shell, contained very little in the way of other ecofacts or artifacts.  This paucity of contents was striking even in comparison with the other shellmounds in the area in which scarcity of bones and artifacts has been noted previously (e.g., Voorhies 2004). The only significant item in the Late Archaic deposits was vertebrae of small fish that have not yet been identified.   Bones from other animals were extremely rare and no artifacts were recovered except for small fragments of obsidian. 

In addition to the excavations, a sediment core was taken at the base of the mound.  This core yielded an additional …. m of material below the current basal level of the mound.  When completed, analysis of the contents of the core will give us additional data about the formation history of this mound. 

Coring at edge of the El Chorro site.