“Las tomas de posesion”: A Useful Instrument to Understand Early Colonial Archaeological Landscape in the Teotihuacan Valley

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Much of the knowledge on Teotihuacan and its surroundings has been produced almost exclusively through archaeology as the main discipline. These archaeological studies have focused mainly on Teotihuacan during the Classic period. However, it must be considered that the population of the Teotihuacan Valley did not begin and end with the classical city of Teotihuacan, but rather its occupation continues until today. There is not recent interdisciplinary research on colonial archeology in the Teotihuacan Valley. This paper presents the first steps in an interdisciplinary investigation of landscape change in the Teotihuacan Valley during the early colonial period. In this sense, we explore the possibility of using the documentation known as “tomas de posesión.” These “tomas de posesión” were part of the entire ritual that took place at the time a cacique took possession of his land after the death of his predecessor. This administrative documentation provides descriptions of lands but also of the remains of abandoned buildings. Looking at these documents with an archaeological approach allows us a better understanding of the abandonment of Teotihuacan in Postclassic to early colonial times.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37323.0