A Preliminary Study of Epiclassic Human Mobility at La Mesa in Tula, Mexico Using Stable and Radiometric Isotope Analyses and Radiocarbon Dating

Summary

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

In this poster, we present preliminary mobility data for individuals recovered from La Mesa, an Epiclassic hilltop settlement in Tula, Mexico. For decades it has been hypothesized that the Tula area may have experienced an influx of immigrants from northwestern Mexico during the Epiclassic period, and that these newcomers played an important role in the rise Tula Grande. Results presented here provide an important step forward towards testing the long-held migration hypothesis. Analyses of modern and archaeological faunal remains were conducted to establish local baselines for oxygen (δ18O) and radiometric strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and lead (20nPb/204Pb) ratios for the Tula Grande region. These baseline values were then compared to human δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr, and 20nPb/204Pb values, derived from the analysis of tooth enamel, to identify individuals who may have migrated to the Tula Valley during the Epiclassic. For all individuals included in this study, bioarchaeological, mortuary, AMS radiocarbon dating and stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) data are also assayed to contextualize the migration data. These new mobility data, in conjunction with other bioarchaeological results, will provide further insight into the population patterns of the pre-Toltec Tula Valley, especially when compared with data from other Epiclassic sites.

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): 25499