Revisiting Eastern Morelos and Teotihuacan: Recent Research at San Ignacio, A Regional Center in Teotihuacan's Rural Countryside.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

San Ignacio is located in the Amatzinac Valley of Morelos, approximately 10 kilometers south of the Formative site of Chalcatzingo, where it was the regional center and largest site in Eastern Morelos during the Classic period (300 - 600 CE). Previous studies argued based on regional settlement data that San Ignacio was a possible Teotihuacan administrative center. The Proyecto Arqueologico Mapeo y Prospeccion de San Ignacio (PAMPSI) began in 2019 to investigate this hypothesis and the nature of San Ignacio's relationship with Teotihuacan. In this paper, we summarize initial findings from the first two seasons of fieldwork undertaken in 2019 and 2023, which entailed site mapping, surface collections, stratigraphic test excavations, and ceramic analysis. We present preliminary interpretations of San Ignacio's occupation, internal organization, and relationship with Teotihuacan. We propose directions for future research as long-term study of San Ignacio will be key for understanding Classic period societies outside of the Basin of Mexico, particularly those of Morelos, and Teotihuacan's local impact on social identities, ritual practices, and political-economic activities around Central Mexico. Initial findings and future research by PAMPSI will further discourse on Teotihuacan interaction and contribute new data to theories of Teotihuacan polity organization and urbanism.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39420.0