Las Bocas
Encyclopedia
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Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
in the Mexican state of Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, whose name has become attached, often erroneously, to a wide-ranging type of Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
-style figurines and pottery.
The Las Bocas site, part of the Balsas River
Balsas River
The Balsas River is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, and Mexico. The river empties into the Pacific Ocean at Mangrove Point, adjacent to the city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán...
basin, was heavily plundered in the 1960s by looters looking for "Olmec" pottery and figurines. As the prestige associated with "Las Bocas" artifacts grew, that label was given to many similar artifacts – and occasional forgeries – of unknown origin. The high numbers of artifacts attributed to the site are "implausible at best", and as a result, the term "Las Bocas" has now little archaeological significance.
The first systematic archaeological investigation of Las Bocas was begun by David Grove
David Grove
David C. Grove is an American anthropologist, archaeologist and academic, known for his contributions and research into the Preclassic period cultures of Mesoamerica, in particular those of the Mexican altiplano and Gulf Coast regions...
in 1967. In 1997, the archaeologist Maria de la Cruz Paillés Hernández started the first of her three seasons at the site.