Tlaloc, Ritual Economy, and Interaction: A View from Los Horcones, Chiapas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Mountains, Rain, and Techniques of Governance in Mesoamerica" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Located on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, the Early Classic site of Los Horcones is known for being an important gateway community where goods and ideas are distributed. Teotihuacano merchants established a strong presence that included exchanges of commodities and ideas. In this presentation, I would like to look more closely at the intertwined relationship of economic exchanges and ritual practices and how these might have served to help establish and maintain long-distance relationships. At the center of these relationships is Tlaloc, the Central Mexican deity along with a larger sacred mountain complex. Los Horcones' location on Cerro Bernal, a mountain that is not only strategically located but also deeply sacred and reminiscent of Tlalocan, may have served to reinforce some of these ritual economic principles on the Pacific coast of Chiapas. This ritual economy with a Teotihuacan origin served to support local authority and expand economic networks into the SE Maya region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Mountains, Rain, and Techniques of Governance in Mesoamerica   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40284.0