Ritual, Material Culture, and Interaction in the Epiclassic Basin of Mexico: Contextualizing a Temple Assemblage from Chicoloapan

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Interactions during the Epiclassic and Early Postclassic (AD 650–1100) in the Central Highlands: New Insights from Material and Visual Culture" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Central Mexico’s Epiclassic period (550–850 CE) was a time of significant social change, marked by the breakdown of the Teotihuacan state, political fragmentation, the migration of large numbers of people, and the adoption of new practices and institutions. In the Basin of Mexico, macroscale shifts in regional settlement are well documented, including the formation and growth of settlements that persisted for multiple centuries. Less is known, however, about the everyday lives, changing practices, and interactions among people living across the region during this time. In this paper, we examine community-scale ritual and associated material culture at Chicoloapan, a large settlement in the southern Basin that flourished after Teotihuacan’s decline. We present an analysis of artifacts and features associated with a temple complex at Chicoloapan and consider the activities that took place in civic-ceremonial spaces among Epiclassic communities in this area. The assemblage includes diverse objects, from censers to musical instruments, that represent the material traces of events and interactions that shaped social relations, power structures, and concepts of identity among residents. This research sheds light on the internal dynamics of an Epiclassic community and examines shifting local practices and material culture within the broader context of regional sociopolitical change.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Interactions during the Epiclassic and Early Postclassic (AD 650–1100) in the Central Highlands: New Insights from Material and Visual Culture   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38345.0