Excavations undertaken in the Cueva de los Portales rockshelter, Michoacan, Mexico, leads to the identification of several levels from the archaic period, dated between 5200 y 2000 BC through 7 radiocarbon samples. The four preceramic phases are La Garza (5200-4500 BC), Palomo (4500-3100 BC), Portales (3100-2500 BC) y Salto (approximately 2500-2000 BC). All of them reflect the settlement of hunters-gatherers, who did not seem to have practiced any kind of horticulture or proto-agriculture. The results of this study are briefly synthesized in this paper.