OBJECTS FROM CERRO DEL TORO: GEOPOLYMERS OR NATURAL STONES?

This paper offers a preliminary critical analysis of the material nature of the artifacts found at the Cerro del Toro site (Jalisco, Mexico). In particular, it examines the hypothesis formulated by Trevor Hawke (Harmonic Research Group, San Diego) in the study “Prehistoric artifacts of Mesoamerica, anthropological evidence of ET paleocontact” (May 2026) [1], according to which the entire collection would be made up of ancient geopolymers, extending this classification to both stone and earthenware finds. Without a priori excluding the isolated use of geopolymeric technologies at the site, this work introduces a necessary methodological verification by expanding the investigation to a significant statistical sample. The results of our review highlight that almost all of the artifacts catalogued as stone are made of natural stone of local provenance. Similarly, the analyses indicate that the earthenware finds respond to the characteristics of traditional thermally sintered terracotta, reducing the geopolymeric hypothesis to rare and documented exceptions. We therefore propose an interpretative approach based on geology and classical archaeometry, integrating and scaling down the conclusions of the aforementioned study.