Our Ancestor’s Hands Made These Ceramics: A Comparative Ceramic Analysis in the Coca-Nahua Community of Mezcala, Jalisco, Mexico

Summary

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

The Lago de Chapala region during the Postclassic Period (900-1520 CE) was a borderland where the P'urhépecha Empire in Michoacán expanded into the territories of the smaller, but resistant Coca, Tecuexe, and Cazcan kingdoms, and nomadic Chichimeca groups in Jalisco, Mexico. Archaeologists from the United States excavated in this region from about 1950 to 1970, filling in gaps in the archaeological timeline, but left with more questions than answers. After a 50-year period of stagnant research in the region, my interest in learning more about my ancestors led me to work with the neighboring community of Mezcala, which is experiencing a resurgence in Coca identity reclamation and interest in its own cultural heritage. My master’s thesis research aids these community interests by analyzing ceramics from the town and island of Mezcala and comparing them to ceramic assemblages from across Jalisco and Michoacán. My results point to strong regional similarities in the production of ollas and bowls, which I hypothesize indicates a shared regional identity separate from P’urhépecha influence. This project is an example of how Indigenous Archaeology is allowing local communities to reclaim, rediscover, and write their own history.

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): 41630.0