Abstract
Although dendrochronological methods have the potential to provide precise calendar dates, they are virtually absent in Mesoamerican archaeological research. This absence is due to several long-standing, but erroneous, assumptions: that tree rings in this region do not reflect annual growth and environmental variability, that an adequate number of samples do not exist, and that tree-ring measurements cannot be useful without modern trees to link prehispanic chronologies. In this article we present data from the sites of La Quemada and Los Pilarillos, located in the Malpaso Valley, Zacatecas, to demonstrate that suitable archaeologically derived samples of dendrochronologically useful species do exist, that the samples from these sites are measurable and cross-datable, and that the tree rings can yield precise calendar dates using a method that “wiggle-matches” radiocarbon dates on tree-ring sequences. The work demonstrates the potential of these methods to address chronological, and, in the future, climatic questions, which have so far eluded archaeological work in the region.
Highlights
Dendrochronological methods have the potential to provide precise calendar dates, they are virtually absent in Mesoamerican archaeological research
With the noted exception of the Casas Grandes region in Chihuahua, Mexico (Bannister and Scott 1962; Scott 1966), and one other very recent exception focused on Maya chronology (Kennett et al 2013), there have been virtually no successful dendroarchaeological applications published from Mesoamerican archaeological materials
The 10 La Quemada samples that meet most of the preconditions discussed above represent two pine types, Types I and III, and five samples have more than 50 rings (Table 1)
Summary
Dendrochronological methods have the potential to provide precise calendar dates, they are virtually absent in Mesoamerican archaeological research This absence is due to several long-standing, but erroneous, assumptions: that tree rings in this region do not reflect annual growth and environmental variability, that an adequate number of samples do not exist, and that tree-ring measurements cannot be useful without modern trees to link prehispanic chronologies. In his study in conjunction with an archaeological project on the coast of Oaxaca, Naylor (1971) found that even though the environmental conditions seemed ideal, the tree rings he examined were complacent, which means they were not sensitive to environmental variability, an essential component to successful dendrochronology This pessimistic prognosis seemed to stall dendroarchaeological studies in Mesoamerica for a generation
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