Reseña

This guide is designed as a companion for a three days long fieldtrip to the basins of Zacapu and Pátzcuaro in the highlands of northern Michoacán. It is aimed at providing greater insight into the complex interplay between volcanic activity and the history of human settlement in this lacustrine environment.
Most of the volcanoes in the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field formed well before the arrival of Early Human to this area, but dozens of them erupted during the Holocene impacting directly the environment and early populations. A prime example is the Malpaís de Zacapu cluster of volcanoes at the western margin of Zacapu lake, where large cities (e.g., El Palacio, Malpaís Prieto, etc.) were constructed on the rugged surface of Late Holocene lava flows in pre-Hispanic time. Subsequent eruptions induced temporal abandonment and resettlement of the area, as revealed by the recent application of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) imagery and modern dating techniques. These studies allowed to gain greater insight into the prehistory of this area, which holds the roots of the Tarascan empire that flourisched during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521) of Mesoamerican archaeology around its capital Tzintzuntzan at the shore of Lake Pátzcuaro.
The itinerary and different stops are described in detail and include maars and springs of the Zacapu lacustrine basin (1st day), archaeological sites (pre-Hispanic ancient cities) on the young andesite lava flows of the Malpaís de Zacapu monogenetic cluster (2nd day), and to the archaeological sites of Tzintzuntzan (the capital city of the Tarascan empire) and Angamuco (built on young lava flows of Rancho Seco volcano), both located at the SE margin of the Pátzcuaro lake basin (3rd day). The trip starts and ends at Morelia with overnight stays at the town of Naranja, near the modern city of Zacapu.