ABSTRACT
Evidence recovered during surveys, excavations, and analyses indicates that the site contains evidence of early human activity starting as early as 12,000 bp to 10,500 CAL. The study of Cueva de los Portales opened new directions in the studies of Michoacan prehistory. The focus of the project does not specifically address the first settlers of Michoacan. The few artifacts present included a few chipped stone tools that the people believe were used for cutting, and animal bones. Based on lithic materials alone, he people postulate that different social groups occupied the shelter over a span of time. The objective was to obtain pollen or other organic microfossils that would help the reader reconstruct, or at least better understand, the regional paleoenvironment during the Terminal Pleistocene. The site of Cueva de los Hacheros offers a view into a world that was previously unknown in Michoacan archeology.
