The Palace of Xalla at Teotihuacan: An Overview of a Multifunctional Palace

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Palace of Xalla in Teotihuacan: A Possible Seat of Power in the Ancient Metropolis" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The palace of Xalla is located between the pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. It is a 55,000 m2 palatial complex with plazas, structures, rooms, porticoes, and patios, surrounded by a double wall for patrol walk. It has been excavated extensively by Linda R. Manzanilla and her team from 2000 to 2020, particularly in the central portion of the palace. Different functional sectors have been individuated: (1) An important ritual sector in the center of the palace, with four equivalent structures surrounding a temple. Each of these structures is dedicated to a different deity: the Thunder God, the Fire God, the Mountain God, and the Goddess of Flowing Waters; (2) To the south, there is a huge plaza devoted to craft-production, and in the northeast, to the military guard of the palace; (3) An important domestic sector was individuated from 2012 to 2019 between the ritual sector and the craft-production sector; (4) To the northwest, there is an important ritual tumulus that displays a wide variety of faunal remains, as well as many sumptuary goods. It also displays the treasuring of mica plaques. I will emphasize the possibility that this palace housed two of the co-rulers of Teotihuacan.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• The Palace of Xalla in Teotihuacan: A Possible Seat of Power in the Ancient Metropolis

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 29857