ABSTRACT
The tierra caliente , the tropical mountainous country that stretches along the different tributaries of the Balsas River from southeastern Jalisco to southwestern Puebla, has long been pointed to as the promised land of Archaic archaeology. It is no wonder then that many researchers, particularly those with a strong background in biology, have long clamored for archaeologists to excavate in the Balsas drainage. This chapter aims to add another grain of sand to the people rudimentary knowledge of the Archaic tierra caliente by reporting the preliminary results of excavations at Las Estacas, a site in the Yautepec Valley in the state of Morelos. There are essentially two categories of features in the early Archaic occupational levels of Las Estacas, all contained within Zones 4 and 5. There was neither charcoal nor fire-altered earth in the middle of the circle, but about half the cobbles appeared fire-cracked. Inorganic cultural materials at Las Estacas consist overwhelmingly of stone.
