The Beginnings of Archaeological Administration and Labor at El Tajín, Veracruz, 1900-1938

Summary

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

In the history and ethnography of archaeology, only recently has archaeological labor – both administrative and physical – become an area of interest. In the Mexican context, recent historical research has dated the emergence of institutional archaeology to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911). However, there are few site-scale studies that explore the emergence of a heritage management bureaucracy and the labor involved therein. In this paper, I draw upon rarely-consulted institutional archives to discuss the beginnings of administration and labor at the Epiclassic urban center of El Tajín, Veracruz. I argue, first, that the key concerns of conservation and development through tourism date from this period, and are not a result of archaeological research alone. Second, I posit that the mundane exchange of materials, reports, and funds do not just reflect but instantiate the government’s interest in the management of the pre-Hispanic past. Third, I discuss the labor of site guards as critical intermediaries between Mexico City and other users of the site. I conclude by arguing for the importance of labor and management in historical terms as a necessary compliment to histories of excavation and interpretation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26077