ABSTRACT
The study area is located within central-west Mexico in the state of Michoacán, a zone of rare freshwater lakes, rivers, and over 40,000 volcanic cones (Hasenaka and Carmichael 1985). 1 The Late Postclassic Phurépecha Empire developed in this ecologically diverse region as the virtually impenetrable western rival of the Mexica, or Aztec Empire (Williams and Novella 1994). High in the Meseta Phurépecha (western highlands), the Comunidad Indígena of Nuevo Parangaricutiro (CINSJP) is located about 200km west of Morelia.
