Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Anthropological theory has expanded the parameters of study, including alternative schemes of social complexity and the formation of states that allow research on political units at a regional level for which collective action and cooperation were key sociopolitical strategies that penetrated local social units and, therefore, were reflected in urban organization. We know from historical research, systematic archaeological prospecting, and recent excavations that the pre-Hispanic settlement of Tlaxcallan was organized in neighborhoods each centered on an open plaza accessible by well-constructed roads and residential areas located on terraces, with the absence of any central complex of civic-ceremonial buildings, especially palaces. The foregoing indicates a particular settlement pattern for Tlaxcallan during the Postclassic period, offering an opportunity to conduct research into the degree to which collective government impacted the daily lives of citizens in the ancient state. The project's research hypothesis focuses on documenting to what extent the collective policies instituted by Tlaxcaltecan political architects influenced daily life in the Postclassic city of Tlaxcallan, and shaped its settlement pattern as well as the form of its buildings. To evaluate the hypothesis, excavations on a sample of the site's residential terraces were carried out. This session reports on the initial results of this research.
Other Keywords
Highland Mesoamerica: Postclassic •
Craft Production •
Lithic Analysis •
Archaeometry & Materials Analysis •
Geoarchaeology •
Spindle Whorls •
Chert •
Built Environment •
Trade and exchange •
Household Archaeology
Geographic Keywords
United Mexican States (Country) •
North America (Continent) •
Colima (State / Territory) •
Michoacan (State / Territory) •
Jalisco (State / Territory) •
Nayarit (State / Territory) •
Aguascalientes (State / Territory) •
Guanajuato (State / Territory) •
Hidalgo (State / Territory) •
Queretaro (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)
- Documents (7)
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El papel del suelo en la conformación del contexto arqueológico en el área de El Fuerte en la antigua Tlaxcallan (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Este trabajo de investigación se desarrolló en el actual estado de Tlaxcala en un área denominada "El Fuerte", que formó parte del Estado tlaxcalteca en época prehispánica, y se inserta dentro del "Proyecto Arqueológico del Tlaxcallan. Hogares, Terrazas y Gobernanza en el Posclásico Tardío". El presente trabajo es un acercamiento a la...
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Embodying Collective Identity: Analysis of Late Postclassic Facial Ornamentation Practices in Tlaxcallan, Mexico (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In pre-Hispanic central Mexico, communities practiced various forms of embodying social identity through the use of facial adornments. Ornaments were placed in the ears, nose, and lips to materialize aspects of both self and collective identity, such as age, gender, status, kinship, and ethnicity. Recent research at the Late Postclassic (AD...
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Enriched Spatial Syntax Analysis of Two Late Postclassic Terraces in Tlaxcallan, Mexico (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The work studies, from a human ecology perspective, the process of adapting the environment to the needs of the pre-Hispanic population of Tlaxcallan during the period of 1250-1519 A.D. It is proposed that the construction of the environment is the result of the interaction among ecological, historical, political, economic and symbolic factors...
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Estudios Químicos sobre la Cal de Tlaxcallan del Posclásico Tardío (1250-1519 d.C.) (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La cal fue uno de los principales cementantes en Mesoamérica y es considerada un rasgo clave para identificar niveles de complejidad social debido al alto costo energético que conllevó su producción artesanal en sociedades preindustriales. La cal también fue utilizada ampliamente en la antigua Tlaxcallan durante el Posclásico Tardío (1250-1519...
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Not Only of Obsidian: The Chert Assemblage in Late Postclassic Tlaxcallan (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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...
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The Organization of Prismatic Blade Production at Late Postclassic Tlaxcallan, Central Mexico (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Systems of craft production and exchange in Mesoamerica are often correlated with the socio-political circumstances in which they formed, and such discussions are frequently applied to the organization of lithic industries, including the production of prismatic blades. Systems correlated with direct or centralized distribution networks are...
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Thread Production in Ocotelulco, Tlaxcallan, Mexico (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological excavations undertaken by the Tlaxcallan Archaeological Project have recovered an important sample of spindle whorls from Late Postclassic – Early Colonial (1420 -1540 A.D.) domestic contexts in Ocotelulco, a subsection of the urban site of Tlaxcallan, Mexico. In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of identified whorl...