The Rise and Decline of Teotihuacan: Urbanism, Daily Life, and Regional Relations through Time

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

This session assembles current research on urbanism and daily life in the city of Teotihuacan and neighboring communities in the Basin of Mexico during the Classic and Epiclassic periods (ca. 1-800 CE). The evolution of Teotihuacan society through time is emphasized, including transformations in the urban landscape, the lives of commoners, and the relations of the capital city to surrounding settlements and resources. Papers include the results of new research on the Tlajinga district, a lower status group of neighborhoods in the south of the city, which illustrates the attractions and detractions of urban life for commoners and the processes by which the city grew southward. The creation of the first LiDAR map of the city; results of an initial season at the Plaza of the Columns; and new investigations at the Moon Plaza are also presented. Outside of the city, papers examine exploitation of the Sierra de Las Navajas obsidian mine and the growth of Epiclassic communities such as Chicoloapan, in the southern Basin, amidst the demographic decline of the city and the erosion of its central political institutions.