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High-resolution chronology for the Mesoamerican urban center of Teotihuacan derived from Bayesian statistics of radiocarbon and archaeological data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Laura E. Beramendi-Orosco ,
Galia Gonzalez-Hernandez ,
Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi ,
Linda R. Manzanilla ,
Ana M. Soler-Arechalde ,
Avto Goguitchaishvili  and
Nick Jarboe
Laura E. Beramendi-Orosco*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico D.F. 04510, Mexico
Galia Gonzalez-Hernandez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico D.F. 04510, Mexico
Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico D.F. 04510, Mexico
Linda R. Manzanilla
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico D.F. 04510, Mexico
Ana M. Soler-Arechalde
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico D.F. 04510, Mexico
Avto Goguitchaishvili
Affiliation:
University of California-Santa Cruz, Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Nick Jarboe
Affiliation:
Laboratorio Interinstitucional de Magnetismo Natural, Instituto de Geofisica, Sede Michoacan, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Campus Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:laura@geofisica.unam.mx
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Abstract

A high-resolution 14C chronology for the Teopancazco archaeological site in the Teotihuacan urban center of Mesoamerica was generated by Bayesian analysis of 33 radiocarbon dates and detailed archaeological information related to occupation stratigraphy, pottery and archaeomagnetic dates. The calibrated intervals obtained using the Bayesian model are up to ca. 70% shorter than those obtained with individual calibrations. For some samples, this is a consequence of plateaus in the part of the calibration curve covered by the sample dates (2500 to 1450 14C yr BP). Effects of outliers are explored by comparing the results from a Bayesian model that incorporates radiocarbon data for two outlier samples with the same model excluding them. The effect of outliers was more significant than expected. Inclusion of radiocarbon dates from two altered contexts, 500 14C yr earlier than those for the first occupational phase, results in ages calculated by the model earlier than the archaeological records. The Bayesian chronology excluding these outliers separates the first two Teopancazco occupational phases and suggests that ending of the Xolalpan phase was around cal AD 550, 100 yr earlier than previously estimated and in accordance with previously reported archaeomagnetic dates from lime plasters for the same site.

Keywords

Radiocarbon datingCalibrationBayesian statisticsOutliersChronologyTeotihuacanTeopancazco
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 99 - 107
Copyright
University of Washington

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