Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Although prominently located in central Mexico between the Basin of Mexico, the Gulf Coast, and Oaxaca, Puebla/Tlaxcala has nevertheless been under-represented in regional syntheses. This despite the fact that archaeological research in the region has been ongoing for well over 100 years with several major projects, the ethnohistorical record is replete with numerous Colonial sources, visual culture (such as murals and polychrome ceramics) from pre-Contact sources tie into prominent pan-regional themes, and extensive ethnographic research connects living descendents with their indigenous ancestors. This session brings together scholars working at such sites as Cholula, Tlalancaleca, Cantona, Tehuacan el Viejo, and Valsequillo, as well as ethnohistorians and art historians investigating pre-Contact and early Colonial themes. The objective is explore the inter-relationships between sites and time periods while integrating them into larger regional dialogues.

Other Keywords
Ceramic Analysis • Ethnohistory/History • Mesoamerica: Central Mexico • Cultural Resources and Heritage Management • Iconography and epigraphy

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)

  • Documents (10)
Documents
  • Custody of Archaeological Sites in Puebla: The Tehuacán el Viejo Proposal (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mauricio Cuevas.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The legal and technical custody of archaeological sites in Mexico is entrusted by law to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). This responsibility presents a significant challenge for researchers due to the vast number of sites across the country. Recently, a pilot...

  • El cerro-agua hecho a mano: Cosmovisión sobre la naturaleza en la ciudad de Cholula, épocas prehispánica y actual. (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Maria Del Socorro Gámez Espinosa.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Los cerros y montañas son formaciones y elevaciones más sobresalientes del paisaje e históricamente han sido lugares privilegiados para la construcción de múltiples significados. Generalmente son considerados lugares sagrados y corazones de los territorios, que guardan los mantenimientos de...

  • The Human Population of Cantona, Puebla, During the Formative and Classic Periods of Ancient Mexico (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alondra Trejo Ordoz.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> Cantona had human occupation from approximately 2,950 to 900 BP (Middle Formative to Early Classic) with two peaks, the first between the Terminal Formative and Early Classic (2,300 to 1,500 BP) and the second during the Late Classic after the fall of Teotihuacan (1300 to 1150 BP)....

  • Las unidades habitacionales de Santo Nombre, Puebla. Aproximación a su distribución (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Blas Castellon Huerta.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En esta comunicación se presenta un avance del estudio sobre la distribución espacial de asentamiento del periodo Clásico de Santo Nombre, Puebla. En particular, se muestran algunos indicadores arqueológicos constantes en las unidades domésticas cercanas al núcleo o epicentro del...

  • Meanings and Meanderings at the pinche pirámide: Reflections on 50 frustrating years at Cholula’s Great Pyramid (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Geoffrey McCafferty.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I first ‘discovered’ Cholula’s Great Pyramid as a first-year student at the University of the Americas in the early 1970s when, with pilfered light bulbs from the dorms, we would explore the eight kilometers of darkened tunnels beyond the official tourist path. Since that time the pinche...

  • The Middle Formative Lithic Economy of Tlalancaleca, Puebla: Recent Findings from Obsidian Technological Analysis and pXRF Sourcing (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexander Jurado.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Tlalancaleca was a major urban center in Puebla-Tlaxcala during the Middle to Terminal Formative periods (1000 BC-AD 250). To better understand its formation, it is necessary to study the economic activities and provisioning networks of inhabitants during the onset of urbanization in the...

  • "Nuevos aportes para la arqueología de la región de Valsequillo, Puebla. Hallazgo de una unidad doméstica del Posclásico en Zacachimalpa" (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alberto Diezbarroso.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Los recientes estudios de unidades domésticas en arqueología, han aportado nuevas interpretaciones para aproximarnos a entender las dinámicas sociopolíticas regionales en diferentes escalas de análisis, sean éstas a nivel local o incluso suprarregional. En el área de Valsequillo, en los...

  • Proyecto Arqueologico Sur del Estado de Puebla, Area Central Popoloca-Nguigua, Tehuacan (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Noemi Castillo.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Corresponde a un proyecto de investigación a largo plazo que se inició en los años 90 y continua con temporadas anuales hasta la fecha. Por ser un proyecto de continuidad de área, tenía como intención de limitar desde el punto de vista arqueológica la zona en que habitaron los pobladores...

  • A Rural Community within an Urban Center: The Postclassic Occupation at the site of Tlalancaleca, Puebla (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Diego Matadamas-Gomora.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The site of Tlalancaleca, located in the western portion of the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley, is recognized as one of the earliest urban centers in Central Mexico. Archaeological evidence indicates that this long history started with its foundation during the Middle Formative period (c. 750 BCE)...

  • What a Relief:How to Display an Idol in the Early Colonial Atlixco Valley (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Savannah Esquivel.

    This is an abstract from the "Disentangling Puebla/Tlaxcala: Recent Advances in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Visual Culture" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This talk examines the preservation of contentious objects during moments of regime change. Focusing on a pre-Hispanic god image embedded in the wall of a monastic church in early colonial Mexico, I argue that Nahuas selectively preserved idols in plain sight to craft new lithic narratives...