Exploring the Roots of Cerro Acozac: New Investigations in Cholula’s Ceremonial Center

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Puebla/Tlaxcala Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Despite being one of ancient Mexico’s largest and most enigmatic ceremonial centers, Cholula has often been overlooked in regional interpretations. Research has been conducted intermittently for over 200 years, yet much of it has never been reported. Furthermore, the 2,500-year history of the ceremonial center has created a jigsaw puzzle of dispersed remnants of multiple construction phases from the Great Pyramid, Tlachihualtepetl. This paper will present information from new investigations in the center, specifically from the Cerro Acozac, located southwest of the Great Pyramid. Cerro Acozac exists as an adobe nucleus of about 20 m in height. The research methodology will identify the subsurface edge of the original building and then excavate to expose and document preserved remnants of the facade below the modern ground surface. The architectural style of the Cerro Acozac facade will then be compared with existing architectural details of the Great Pyramid to correlate it with the larger building sequence. Analysis of diagnostic ceramics and archaeometric dating will provide further information on the ceremonial center’s chronology. Finally, by incorporating Cerro Acozac into larger interpretations of the ceremonial center, we will add new puzzle pieces to reconstruct Cholula’s symbolic landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Puebla/Tlaxcala Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35947.0