Las Bocas

Las Bocas is a minor archaeological site in the Mexican state of Puebla, whose name has become attached, often erroneously, to a wide-ranging type of Olmec-style figurines and pottery.

The Las Bocas site, part of the Balsas River basin, was heavily plundered in the 1960s by looters looking for "Olmec" pottery and figurines. As the prestige associated with "Las Bocas" artifacts grew, that label was given to many similar artifacts – and occasional forgeries – of unknown origin. The high numbers of artifacts attributed to the site are "implausible at best", and as a result, the term "Las Bocas" has now little archaeological significance.

The first systematic archaeological investigation of Las Bocas was begun by David Grove in 1967. In 1997, the archaeologist Maria de la Cruz Paillés Hernández started the first of her three seasons at the site.

The first field season of Maria de la Cruz Paillés Hernández, in 1997, was funded that same year by INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) in the amount of $30,000 pesos. The second field season, 1998, also funded by INAH, was supplied with $23,000 pesos and had to be shortened to 21 days. Originally, the third field season had been scheduled for 1999, but funding was not available that year. In 2000, FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.) gave $7,800 USD to Paillés Hernández for the third field season via INAH, but INAH delayed in relaying the funds for a month and a half, causing the third field season to take place during rains.

The second field season was intended to yield a general overview of the contexts of the Las Bocas site, and to determine areas to be explored later.

Paillés Hernández considered the Las Bocas site to include the nearby Caballo Pintado because of relevant sites found in the area.

The third field season continued the work of the second field season and referenced its findings for a greater understanding of context. Several pits were excavated during the third field season; some stratigraphy was found to be unreliable because of the facts that, the artifacts near the surface had mixed dates, and "the land surface was removed with heavy machinery back in 1994," almost completely destroying the classic and post-classic artifacts. A looter's pit was also found while excavating.

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Wikipedia