Jalisco (State / Territory) (Geographic Keyword)
201-225 (338 Records)
Ceramics and radiocarbon dates indicate that Teotihuacanos ceased using the cave beneath the Sun Pyramid around the middle of the third century CE, at a time when the city was only just entering its "Classic" period florescence. A reverential termination seems quite likely. Evidence also indicates that post termination use of the cave occurred. As there were approximately 1700 years in between cessation of initial use and modern discovery of the cave in 1974, this paper explores the question of...
Mesoamerican Ballgame, Human Sacrifice, Ritual Decapitation, and Trophy Taking: Variations in Ways of Displaying (2021)
This is an abstract from the "New Perspectives on Ritual Violence and Related Human Body Treatments in Ancient Mesoamerica" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The purpose of this collaboration is to present the results of the analysis of a human skull located at the center of the ball court of Santa Rosa, Chiapas, and to review the implications it presents for the study of the Mesoamerican ball game and its relationship to human sacrifice. It is a...
The Metallurgists from Jicalán in the Colonial Period: An Ethnohistorical Approach (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Technological Transitions in Prehispanic and Colonial Metallurgy: Recent and Ongoing Research at the Archaeological Site of Jicalán Viejo, in Central Michoacán, West Mexico" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A thorough exploration of the available historical documents from the colonial period demonstrates that Jicalán was one of many prehispanic settlements inhabited by copper mining, smelting, and smithing specialists...
A Methodological Challenge: Understanding the Population Dynamics in the Lerma Floodplain through the Case of Tres Mezquites, Michoacan (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Regional and Intensive Site Survey: Case Studies from Mesoamerica" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Alluvial plains in Mexico are still little explored. At first glance their archaeological potential is difficult to appreciate because they are areas of both sedimentary accumulation and destruction caused by intensive agriculture. To compensate these limitations in the Lerma alluvial plain (Michoacan, Guanajuato), we...
Methods of LiDAR Mapping in Urban Landscapes: Introducing the Teotihuacan LiDAR Map (2018)
In the 1970s, systematic and expansive survey techniques enabled Million to create the first map of Teotihuacan, establishing the limits and density of the city. In this presentation we introduce a newly developed 2.5 dimensional map based on a LiDAR landscape model overlaid with a high-precision architectural map of the city drawn in AutoCAD covering 174 km2 area that extends the Million map by 131 km2. LiDAR technologies have greatly aided archaeological research in many landscapes with high...
Mica in Xalla: A Glittering Archaeological Indicator of Power and Specialized Production (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. Mica, a shiny silicate mineral with a layered structure, was highly valued by the Teotihuacan people. Mica has unique physical properties, but we propose that the most striking one was of an optical nature, owing to the fact that it is a multicolored, specular material. The Teotihuacan elite groups...
Microscopic and Spectrometric Techniques Applied to Identify Luxury Materials in a Fifteenth-Century Aztec Shield (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Materials to Materiality: Analysis and Interpretation of Archaeological and Historical Artifacts Using Non-destructive and Micro/Nano-sampling Scientific Methods" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the collections of the world, only six aztec feathered objects exist: three shields and a headdress in Europe, and two shields in Mexico. Mexico’s National Museum of History conserves one shield, made of mammal hide,...
The Miniaturization of Lithic Artifacts within the Offerings at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Ceremonial Lithics of Mesoamerica: New Understandings of Technology, Distribution, and Symbolism of Eccentrics and Ritual Caches in the Maya World and Beyond" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The offerings at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan contain several lithic artifacts that were miniature versions of ornaments, weapons and attire, which were used to produce religious images. For the Mexicas, the act of placing...
Mirrors of Time: Figurines in the New World Order (2019)
This is an abstract from the "After Cortés: Archaeological Legacies of the European Invasion in Mesoamerica" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Small ceramic figurines are ubiquitous in the preconquest central highlands of Mexico and are seemingly tied to household ritual. The arrival of the Spanish caused immense change at some levels, some reflected in these small objects. Archaeological evidence shows figurines briefly transitioning, but their...
Mobility, Ethnicity, and Ritual Violence in the Epiclassic Basin of Mexico (2018)
Within Mesoamerica, ritual violence and human sacrifice have long been topics of anthropological inquiry. In this study, we investigate how the perception of social difference contributed to the selection of victims of ritual violence at an Epiclassic (600-900 CE) shrine site in the Basin of Mexico. The Epiclassic was a period of dramatic political upheaval and social reorganization. In such a volatile geopolitical climate, aspects of individuals’ social identities, such as their residential...
A Monte Carlo Approach to Estimating Plausible Ceramic Similarity Values from Fabric Characterizations (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Scaling Potting Networks: Recent Contributions from Ceramic Petrography " session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ceramic characterization studies often depend on estimates of similarities and differences in assemblages drawn from relatively small samples to address questions regarding a range of social patterns and processes. In most cases, such characterizations do not consider uncertainty due to sampling error nor do they...
Monumental Architecture in Central Mexico during the Terminal Formative: New Findings from the Tlalancaleca Archaeological Project, Puebla (2018)
Tlalancaleca was one of the largest settlements before the rise of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico and has been known for the presence of early talud-tablero facades (a combination of sloping walls and vertical panels) and other cultural elements inherited by Teotihuacan. This paper presents preliminary results of excavations, which were carried at monumental structures at Tlalancaleca. It examines the construction techniques used for monument building (including talud-tablero facades), the degree...
Moving Beyond Drone Technology: Comparing and Interpreting Architecture and Power at Chalcatzingo, Cuicuilco, and Teotihuacan through Volumetric Measurements Obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (2018)
Drone technology has become widely available, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive over the last four years, and archaeologists have embraced it eagerly. Apart from the technological breakthroughs of the UAV platform and its assortment of sensors, we need to interpret these data beyond the beautiful models and topographic measurements. In this paper, we use the concept of monumentality and compare three iconic sites in Central Mexico to understand how their architectural expression correlates...
The Multiplicity of Murals: Translating Landscapes 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. The murals at Teotihuacan have become a common source of fascination in the archaeology and scholarly considerations of the site. Although the site itself may need no introduction, the murals that decorate its walls have been studied with a level of uncertainty. Often depicting complex and abstract...
Music and Sound Practices in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Advances in Puebla/Tlaxcala Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. More than a means for communication, sound, and music contributed to the formation of identities in the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley during the Late Postclassic to early colonial period. In particular, sonic assemblages contain multisensorial data that can be used to identify how knowledge and musical practices are shared among communities. These...
The Nature of Leadership and Community Cohesion at Postclassic Xaltocan, Mexico (2018)
Immediately after the consolidation of the Aztec Empire, Itzcoatl, the king of Tenochtitlan, ordered the destruction of the ancient codices from newly incorporated territories. By erasing these alternative histories, Itzcoatl paved the way for the construction of an official imperial history that bolstered the political aims of Aztec leaders. Nearly a century later, a second wave of erasures occurred when Spanish conquerors destroyed indigenous books and idols in an effort to eradicate...
Near-Surface Geophysics in Jicalán, Mexico (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Technological Transitions in Prehispanic and Colonial Metallurgy: Recent and Ongoing Research at the Archaeological Site of Jicalán Viejo, in Central Michoacán, West Mexico" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Near-surface geophysics has been widely used as a tool to determine the distribution of objects at depth with archaeological targets. To identify more specific objects, such as ovens and associated structures, the...
A Network Model of Co-Rulership and Community Ritual in Teotihuacan: From Neighborhoods to Districts (2018)
Experts remain divided about the nature of the sociopolitical system of ancient Teotihuacan, which was one of the earliest and largest urban civilizations of the Americas. Excavations hoping to find compelling evidence of a powerful dynasty of rulers, such as a royal tomb, keep coming away empty-handed. However, the alternative possibility of a corporate or collective government, perhaps headed by a small number of co-rulers, also remains poorly understood. A third option is that the city’s...
New Isotopic Research from the La Ventilla Neighborhood of Teotihuacan: Demography, Migration, and Diet of Two Socioeconomic Groups (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The neighborhood of La Ventilla in the city of Teotihuacan was extensively excavated in the 1990s, during which the largest skeletal collection was recovered at this great urban center. However, it was not until the last several years that stable and radiogenic isotope analysis were conducted on a large-scale at this site. New strontium and oxygen isotope...
Night Falls on Tenochtitlan (2019)
This is an abstract from the "After Dark: The Nocturnal Urban Landscape & Lightscape of Ancient Cities" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cortes escaped from Tenochtitlan on "La Noche Triste" in the summer of 1520, but many in his entourage did not – a Mexican woman awake in the night saw them heading across the causeway to the mainland and roused the city to pursue them. The intruders had been under siege by the Tenochca, whose daytime prowess as...
A Nineteenth-Century Furnace in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Tonalá and Tlaquepaque are the main centers of traditional glassblowing in Mexico today. While there are records of one glass furnace in the sixteenth century in Jalisco, the industry did not take root in the area until the early nineteenth century. The analysis of archaeological glass from colonial Mexico City shows that glassmakers followed the tradition...
Nomadic Charters: Mimicry and Heterotopia in the Nahua Festival of Quecholli (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Anthropological discourse has placed concerted attention on the role of “axis mundis” in configuring Mesoamerican socio-cosmology. However, in this paper, I highlight the emphasis that many Central Mexican creation-foundation narratives placed on alterity rather than centrality in rendering the boundaries of altepetl “communities.” Nahua cartographic...
Not Only an Archaeological Rescue: Canal de Ohtenco, Case Study of Iztacalco’s Agricultural System (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. "Chinampas" typically are associated with Xochimilco’s agricultural system. However, recent work by INAH’s ‘Dirección de Salvamentos Arqueológicos’ was undertaken at Iztacalco due to modern population growth. Iztacalco is 15 km from Xochimilco but no information existed about the preHispanic population or the site’s economic activities. Therefore, this...
Not Only of Obsidian: The Chert Assemblage in Late Postclassic Tlaxcallan (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Surface survey and excavations of Late Postclassic Tlaxcallan at the site of Tepeticpac recovered various lithic artifacts in addition to the chipped obsidian assemblage. Although the chipped non-obsidian artifacts were far fewer than obsidian artifacts, they were still found throughout the site in both surface domestic and excavated public...
An NSF Broader Impact Story in the Teotihuacan Valley of Mexico: 60 Years in the Making (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For many, the “broader impact” of a grant proposal frequently involves outcomes that will happen somewhere between immediately and the next five years. Yet, the scope of the broader impact is often unexpected, unknown, and/or will take place many decades later. In 1960, when Eric...