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Reproduction of shaft-tomb figurine,
by Soledad Garcia Baron and her brother
Rodrigo, from San Antonio Tlayacapan

Lake Chapala Area Prehistory

Did early man live in the Lake Chapala area? Some people think so, believing that people arrived in the New World between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, they may have camped on the shore of Lake Jalisco. If so, perhaps their remains will be found on the lake-cut terraces on the mountains on the south side of the lake (the north side is less likely, as those would have been islands in Lake Jalisco). But archaeological evidence for people anywhere in the Americas prior to 12,000 years ago has been so sparse that some researchers are not even convinced there were people on these continents that early. The odds of finding such evidence are slight, but intriguing.

Moving forward to a mere 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, we are on firmer ground. There is plenty of evidence for human occupation in North and South America from that time forward, though we have nothing in the Chapala basin quite that old, beyond some scattered projectile points of uncertain provenance. There is evidence of man in the Mexico valley at that era, and a possible example in the vicinity of Guadalajara, so it is likely that the big-game hunters of that age were in this valley as well.

Early style obsidian projectile points from the Mezcala Museum, probably used on spears.

Whether due to climatic change, hunting pressure, or other forces is unknown, but about that time the large animals began to become extinct. The mastodon and mammoth, horse and larger camelids, along with giant ground sloths and saber toothed cats all became extinct. The hunters of North America turned to smaller game, fish and shellfish, and a greater reliance on plant foods.

A short time later, about 9,000 years ago, some of these enterprising hunter-gatherers began to experiment with growing their own food, and agriculture as born in the New World. Southern Mexico was one of the primary locations where food cultivation began, with peppers, squash and beans among the first crops. One researcher even suggests the Sayula basin, just 25 miles southwest of Chapala (another remnant from Lake Jalisco) may have been the place of origin for cultivation. Later corn was added to the menu, though the initial wild varieties were not very impressive. Some 6,000 years ago the ancestor of modern maize began to be cultivated. About 4,000 years ago the Mexican corn was crossed with varieties from South America, and the hybrid proved to be much better, with larger ears and kernels.

With the cultivation of crops people became more sedentary, developing permanent villages. From these settlements came the great Meso-American cultures, including the Olmecs, Mixtecs, Mayans and Aztecs. Although Lake Chapala seems to have been on the periphery of the home territories for these well known cultures, it was firmly in the classical Meso-American tradition. There is at least one example of a Shaft Tomb in the Chapala valley, a burial site characteristic of pre-classic cultures in Jalisco and Colima for a couple centuries before and after the time of Christ. And there are classic sites in nearby Taquila and Sayula valleys that have the typical ball-court and temple mound structures. There may have been such a structure on Mezcala Island at one time, but it was destroyed by the locals building defenses when they occupied the island in 1812-1816. It may be that the lakeside topography is more limiting in the number of favorable settlement sites available, and any classic-period sites have been obscured by subsequent occupation.

Pottery and other artifacts from the Classic period have been found at the east end of the lake, and can be seen in the museums in Mezcala and Ocotlan. There are also pictographs in the mountains in that area. (see photos below)

The Coca tribe of Indians are said to have arrived in the Chapala basin about 1400 A.D., after conflict with the Purépecha (or Tarascans) -- the dominant group in Michoacán. They settled at Cutzatlán (modern San Juan Cosala) and founded settlements at Axixic (Ajijic) and Xilotepec (Jocotepec). We know from ethnographic reports that they made offerings to the rain god Tlaloc by cutting themselves and placing the blood in a tiny pot that was thrown into Lake Chapala. Many of these little offering pots have been found; our illustration below shows some from the Mezcala Museum that are especially detailed.

Other artifacts from the Mezcala Museum, and pictographs from the mountains in that area: (mouse-over for description, click on images to enlarge)