Chupícuaro

Chupícuaro is an important prehispanic archeological site from the late preclassical or formative period. The culture that takes its name from the site dates to 400 BC to 200 AD, or alternatively 500 BC to 300 AD., although some academics suggest an origin as early as 800 BC. Although often included with the cultures of the Mexican West, Chupícuaro is both close to the Valley of Mexico and the northern edge of Meso-America. Information on the eponymous site, composed of several burial grounds, remains fragmentary, since most of it was flooded when the Presa Solis dam was built in the 1940s. An INAH excavation was able to salvage a little before that happened. Other excavations took place beginning in 1998, by the CEMCA, CNRS and l'INAH, and also contributed to knowledge of Chupicuaro culture. On the northern border of Mesoamerica, west of the Mexican Plateau, just seven kilometers from Acámbaro, in Guanajuato State, México, it lies in hills near the Lerma River and its tributary the Coroneo or Tiger River.