Pollen Analysis and Mexican Archaeology: An Attempt to Apply the Method

Abstract

The studies reported here were made during a brief field trip to Mexico in the summer of 1941, when two weeks were spent in Mexico City and one week was spent in Michoacán. In so far as archaeological material was touched, they represent a venture into a field of research in which the author possesses no competence or previous training. The main object of the trip was limnological, and financial resources were meager. How blind the resulting gropings were was fully appreciated only after the trip, when a better acquaintance with the literature on Middle America was possible. Although some definite results were achieved in the form of a respectable pollen sequence 6.2 meters in length, obtained from deposits of the modern Lake Patzcuaro, the pollen analyses from cultural sites in the Valley of Mexico and at Tzintzuntzan were negative. Nevertheless, it is felt that their publication is justified, since the method, if properly applied, holds distinct promise, and future workers will undoubtedly wish to know what was done and wherein the failure lay.