Cave Art and Archaeology at Oxtotitlán, Guerrero

Oxtotitlán Cave, renowned for a corpus of Formative polychrome murals, is the focus of recent NGS and NEH-funded collaborative research involving scholars from several US institutions, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and representatives of the archaeological committee from the modern community of Acatlán, Guerrero where the site is located. The cave, one element of a large Early to Late Formative settlement encompassing nearby terraced hillslopes and surrounding settlement zones, is a primary focal point of recent investigations. Research unites the high resolution photographic, computational, photogrammetric documentation, and technical drawings of the art with the archaeological study of the cave and larger site. Our current research builds on earlier work undertaken by David Grove, Paul Schmidt, Sandra Cruz Flores, and other UNAM and INAH-affiliated archaeologists and conservators. In this session, we discuss the on-going results of the mural documentation project, a program to date the art employing micro sample AMS radiocarbon dating, excavations both in association with the art and elsewhere at the site, and the drone-based photogrammetric survey of the entire complex within its geographical setting.