Teotihuacan (Other Keyword)
1-25 (41 Records)
The Teotihuacan-style censers from Guatemala have received relatively little attention since the 1980s. Following upon earlier suggestions for a merchant-warrior presence in the Escuintla region, this study examines the butterfly imagery on a group of Teotihuacan-style censers in the national collections of Guatemala. This group of unprovenanced artifacts has research value because (1) its original imagery is intact, and (2) all have been sampled for paste analysis (instrumental neutron...
Archaeological Reconnaissance at Fracción Mujular: A Small Site with Big Connections (2016)
Located on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, the site of Fracción Mujular is best known for three carved stela bearing Teotihuacan associated stylistic elements, first identified by Carlos Navarrete in the 1960s. The relatively modest architecture of the site, combined with evidence for long-distance connections, makes Fracción Mujular an interesting place to investigate the impact that inter-regional political and trade relationships during the Early Classic had on the lives of common people. ...
The Art of Noise at Teotihuacan: The Conch Shell Motif in the Classic Period (2015)
Teotihuacan was a major cosmopolitan city located in the Basin of Mexico during the Classic Period (100-700 CE). The artwork has long fascinated but bewildered scholars, and despite the emulation of Teotihuacan’s recognizable artistic styles across Mesoamerica, we still understand relatively little about their artistic styles today. This paper aims to examine the conch shell motif from artwork at Teotihuacan, particularly visible in extant mural paintings. It will focus on investigating the...
A City in Decline: Insights on the Collapse of Teotihuacan from the Southern Basin of Mexico (2016)
In this paper I discuss the urban decline and political breakdown of Teotihuacan from the vantage of Chicoloapan Viejo, an agrarian settlement situated in the Basin of Mexico hinterland, 40 km south of the capital city. Fieldwork in the southeastern Basin, including settlement survey led by Jeffrey Parsons in the 1960s and excavations at Chicoloapan in 2013 and 2014, shows that population numbers in this area grew dramatically in the years surrounding the state’s dissolution. As a settlement...
Diet and in-migration in the Tlajinga District of Teotihuacan: New insights from stable isotope analysis and AMS radiocarbon dating. (2017)
Thirty years ago, the apartment compound known as Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) in the southern district of Teotihuacan was extensively excavated, resulting in the recovery of over 100 individuals. A paleodemographic study of these individuals indicated that chronic morbidity was a serious health issue among residents. Additionally, previous geochemical analysis from 25 of these individuals suggested that at least 29% of residents grew up outside of Teotihuacan. Due to chronic health issues, the...
Distribución temporal de la cerámica teotihuacana en el valle intermontano de Maltrata, Veracruz (2015)
Entre Teotihuacán y la Costa del Golfo, bajando el Altiplano Central y el valle Puebla-Tlaxcala, existe un pequeño valle enclavado en la Sierra Madre Oriental, habitado desde el 800 aC hasta la actualidad. Su ubicación geográfica permitió formar parte de una ruta de tránsito, comunicación e intercambio, entrelazando la Costa del Golfo de México y el Altiplano Central, permitiendo la interacción entre grupos olmecas, zapotecos, teotihuacanos, mixteco-poblanos, aztecas y habitantes locales,...
Employing micromorphology at the Tlajinga district in Teotihuacan to investigate site formation processes and household activities (2015)
Recent excavations of the PATT (Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga, Teotihuacan) have explored two residential zones and the southern extension of the Street of the Dead in the Tlajinga district, located in the southern periphery of Teotihuacan. Excavations at the residential zones are directed at investigating neighborhood dynamics including social organization, craft specialization and domestic ritual. Excavation at the Street of the Dead are directed at evaluating the processes of urbanization at...
Entangled Ideologies on the Pacific Coast: the Teotihuacan-style Maya censers from the Department of Escuintla, Guatemala (2017)
Teotihuacan-style censers from the Pacific Coast of Guatemala are seminal markers of "international" interaction and ideology during the Early Classic Period (250-550 CE). But the paucity of archaeological data for this artifact class and the lack of recent in-depth analysis of their iconographic narratives leave unexplored a potential body of material concerning interaction, identity, and ideological shifts in this gateway region of southern Mesoamerica. Data from archaeological investigations,...
First Results of the Archaeological Prospection at the N2E1 and N2E2 Quadrants (Barrio del Río San Juan) at Teotihuacan (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Teotihuacan: Multidisciplinary Research on Mesoamerica's Classic Metropolis" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the years 2017–2020, the UNAM and the University of Barcelona carried out an international and interdisciplinary project in the N2E1 and N2E2 quadrants of Millon’s map at Teotihuacan (Barrio del Río San Juan). This very central location had not been deeply investigated until then. The project aimed to...
Formal Open Space at Teotihuacan (2017)
The lack of large plazas at Teotihuacan has led archaeologists to claim that Teotihuacan was a city with very little public open space. There are, however, many smaller assembly areas distributed around the city. The Teotihuacan Mapping Project identified a large number of "plazas" in the city but the criteria were subjective and the data were never analyzed. I have filtered these data by applying a more formal definition of plaza than the initial field criteria used by the Mapping Project....
The Function of Candeleros and the Enigmatic Relationship between Teotihuacan and Honduras (2017)
The ceramic vessel known as Candeleros, which is commonly associated with Teotihuacan, is problematic for several reasons. Candeleros are generally small ovoid vessels with one or more chambers, often associated with domestic use and believed to be a type of incense burner. However, residue analysis that has been conducted to date does not always find materials associated with burning. Candeleros are most often associated with Teotihuacan, but are also found in Northern Honduras at sights such...
Geographical isotopes, migration and the Tlajinga District of Teotihuacan (2016)
The Tlajinga district was a possible southern entrance for visitors to the city of Teotihuacan. It was also a locus of craft specialization, especially of San Martin Orange ceramics in the later periods, yet was a cluster of common status neighborhoods. The Tlajinga 33 compound (33:S3W1) was extensively excavated 30 years ago, and recent excavations in two other compounds located along the southern Street of the Dead by the Tlajinga Teotihuacan Archaeological Project (PATT), have added to our...
Handmade or mass-produced: ritual objects and the making of identity in the Teotihuacan region (2017)
A hallmark of the material culture of Teotihuacan, the largest city of its time in Mesoamerica (ca. 1-600 CE), is the wide circulation of a variety of mass-produced goods, including objects used in household ritual. Items made from molds included masks, figurines, ceramic vessels, and decorative attachments to large incense burners, which are often found in domestic refuse and in ritual contexts such as burials. Although such artifacts appear alike, they were not uniformly distributed across the...
A High-Resolution Chronology for the Palatial Complex of Xalla Combining a Bayesian Radiocarbon Model with Archaeomagnetic Ages (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Palace of Xalla in Teotihuacan: A Possible Seat of Power in the Ancient Metropolis" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A high-resolution chronology for the palatial complex of Xalla, excavated by L. R. Manzanilla from 2000 to 2019, was constructed combining archaeomagnetic dates, a Bayesian radiocarbon model, and detailed information about sample type and archaeological context. The Bayesian model, calibrated using...
Interaction as Movement, Movement as Interaction: The Tripod Vessel in the Maya Region (2015)
Interaction between the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan and the Maya region, and the subsequent influence of Teotihuacan on Maya material culture, has been much discussed. Although many scholars have noted the tripod cylindrical vessel as a diagnostic trait of Teotihuacan and as evidence of interaction and/or influence in other areas of Mesoamerica, further examinations of the tripod ceramic vessels and their imagery found in the Maya area have not been fully developed. The tripod vessel...
Lapidary Crafting in the Tlajinga Barrio at Sites 17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, Teotihuacan (2016)
Fine screened (1 mm mesh) samples obtained from the heavy fractions of flotation samples at the recent excavations in the Tlajinga barrio of Teotihuacan have revealed evidence of extensive lapidary crafting of slate and greenstone. Sorting of the sediments from these samples results in the recovery of minute fragments of lapidary debitage as well as more typical domestic refuse. Evidence will be presented on the types of artifacts being produced, the materials being crafted, and the intensity of...
Life on Floors: The Archaeometry of Teotihuacan´s Living Surfaces (2017)
Archaeometric studies promote interdisciplinarity. Therefore, through this framework we can analyze other materials which facilitate the understanding of the society which created, modified, and used them. To sum up, with this methodology we seek to comprehend the characteristics of the materials used to build the city of Teotihuacan. Currently, there are archaeomagnetic studies underway which intend to discover the Sun Pyramid Square’s chronology of occupation. Furthermore, we are also...
Maya-Teotihuacan Relations Viewed from Front D at the Plaza of the Columns (2018)
Two distinct excavation contexts from Front D in the Plaza of the Columns Complex yielded pictorial representations in different artistic media that strongly suggest the presence of Maya artists in Plaza 50, decades prior to the famous Teotihuacan "Entrada" of 378 C.E. in the Petén. Excavations at this civic-administrative structure at the heart of the ceremonial core of Teotihuacan have revealed a sequence of numerous plaster floors in Plaza 50 associated with Structure 44, whose form is...
New Insights into Teotihuacan’s Year Sign Headdress and Its Olmec Origins (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study will explore the origin and meaning of the Teotihuacan’s year sign headdress and its connection to the Storm God (Tlaloc). Several scholars have noted the first appearance of the year sign worn by the Storm God starting from the Early Classic period at Teotihuacan. Evidence suggests a fair amount of interaction between Teotihuacan and other parts of...
New research on ceramics and chronology from the Tlajinga district (2016)
The Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga Teotihuacan (PATT) undertook two excavation seasons in the southern district of the city known as Tlajinga. These have provided new information concerning the growth of the city southward and life in residential apartment complexes. Tlajinga comprises a group of residential neighborhoods where commoners lived and engaged in both local and city-wide interactions. Analysis of ceramics from the project provides an understanding of the temporality of household...
Obsidian craft production at Teotihuacan: A view from Tlajinga 17 (2016)
In 1986 John Clark published a seminal article that questioned the scale of obsidian craft production at Teotihuacan as reconstructed by the Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP). Clark argued that many of the areas identified as obsidian workshops from surface materials were concentrations of production refuse deposited as fill and eroding out of residential and public architecture. Excavations by the Projecto Arqueologico Teotihuacan-Tlajinga (PATT) in 2013 explored the stratigraphic relationships...
Of Mud and Magnets: Archaeometric Prospection at the Site of Altica (2017)
The Formative Period site of Altica in the Patlachique range poses many problems when designing an excavation strategy. Three millennia of erosion, and centuries of chisel plowing have eviscerated the site, removing any traces of architecture and in situ remains above the tepetate (local bedrock). As such, in the early stages of the Altica Project, the primary concern was the detection and identification of sub-surface remains inside intact bedrock-incised pits. In most archaeological sites, the...
Plaza of the Columns at Teotihuacan: Scope, Goals and Expectations of a New International Project (2016)
Summer 2015, the Plaza of the Columns Project began a multi-year collaborative investigation of two large residential/ceremonial complexes that remained unexplored at Teotihuacan’s ceremonial core: Plaza of the Columns and its symmetric counterpart called Plaza North of the Sun Pyramid. The former comprises the largest three-temple complex with the fourth highest pyramid, a main plaza (11,408 m2) larger than the Sun Pyramid plaza, and deep occupational layers that could provide information about...
Prehispanic landscape and agriculture in the Teotihuacan Valley: the Tlaijnga área (2016)
Archaeological evidence indicates occupation in the Tlajinga área of the southern Teotihuacan Valley throughout the Classic and Postclassic (ca. 200-1500 DC) as well as the Colonial period. Excavations as well as soil profiles in this sector provide macro- and microbotanical remains that, together with stable carbón isotope values (δ13C) provide new insights with respect to agricultural activities, conforming evidence for maize (Zea mays) and opportunistic flora associated with food production....
Primacy of the Cave at the Sun Pyramid, Teotihuacan (2015)
Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the cave determined the definition of the Sun Pyramid. As the earliest monumental construction at Teotihuacan, it is hypothesized that the Pyramid/cave was built within a pan-Mesoamerican worldview that valued the mountain cave, including acknowledging artificial caves as caves, pyramids as mountains, and sacred space as created via engineered spatial relationships. Ceramics and radiocarbon dates indicate contemporaneous construction of and modification...