Paleoindians from the Basin of Mexico: How do they fit in the early peopling of the Americas?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Legacies of The Basin of Mexico: The Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization, Part 1" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Basin of Mexico is important in the debate on the early peopling of the Americas because several well preserved Paleoindian/Preceramic individuals have been found in the lake sediments/volcanic deposits surrounding the Late Pleistocene Lake. They include: Peñon Woman III, Tlapacoya Man, Metro Man, Chimalhuacan Man, Tlahuac Woman, Tepexpan Man and San Vicente Chicoloapan. Here we characterise them, discussing their stratigraphy, dating of the skeletons and preservation status together with their skeletal morphology and paleodiet information. We then compare their craniometric information against other Paleoindian/Preceramic human populations in Mexico (e.g. Pericues, Coahuiltecans) and elsewhere in the Americas (e.g. Arch Lake Woman, Kennewick Man, Prehistoric Chumash from Santa Cruz Island) to establish connections and migration pathways across the American Continent. Our data strongly support a Pacific Coast migration route passing through Mexico.

As with other Paleoindian skeletons found in the Americas, in Central Mexico there is an older "Paleoindian skull morphology" with long and narrow skulls for the Late Pleistocene individuals. This morphology changes to the "Amerindian skull morphology" with rounder and shorter skulls at around 9,500 years ago. The implications of these different skulls morphologies differences will be discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Legacies of The Basin of Mexico: The Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23998