Early Urbanism and Intermediate-Scale Social Interaction in Formative Central Mexico: Ritual Practice and Socio-spatial Organization at Tlalancaleca, Puebla

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Tlalancaleca was one of the largest settlements before the rise of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico. Our ongoing research indicates large-scale urban transformations in the transition from the Middle to Late Formative period. Tlalancaleca during the later Formative is characterized by a multi-centric spatial organization consisting of multiple monumental architectural complexes of different scales. This spatial configuration was not shared by contemporaneous Formative urban centers in Central Mexico, where a principal pyramid-plaza complex constituted the civic-ceremonial core. Our excavations at intermediate-scale complexes at Tlalancaleca have revealed possible feasting assemblages that show some similarities and differences in ritual practices between different complexes. In this paper, we will discuss the implications of varying ritual practices at intermediate-scale architectural complexes for understanding the nature of social integration and differentiation at Tlalancaleca during the Terminal Formative (ca. 100 BC-AD 250). We will contextualize Tlalancaleca’s urban transformations in the broader sociopolitical processes in Central Mexico and discuss the significance of intermediate-scale social interaction for urban development.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25456