Classic to Postclassic Eastern Nahuatl Movements from Central Mexico to Southeastern Mesoamerica

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust: The Archaeology of El Salvador" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

According to Nahuatl linguists, especially Dakin and Pharao, Proto-Nahuatl split into Eastern Nahuatl (EN) and Western Nahuatl (WN) dialects as early EN groups moved from central West Mexico into the Teotihuacan Valley. Many specialists argue that EN was the dominant language of Teotihuacan during the Classic period. Archaeological and linguistic evidence indicates Teotihuacan-related EN (TREN) movements to Guerrero, the Huasteca, the Sierra de Puebla, and the southern Gulf Coast by around 300 CE. TREN militaristic intruders of the 11 Eb episode (378 CE) in the Peten lowlands are well-known. TREN groups also moved southward across the Isthmus and down the Pacific slope of Chiapas and Guatemala during the fourth and fifth centuries. After the collapse of Teotihuacan around 550 CE, Epiclassic EN groups moved from the Bajío into the Mezquital Valley to establish Tula Chico and later Early Postclasssic Tula Grande from which a series of Toltec-related, large-scale migrations occurred, mostly following earlier routes and patterns. Large-scale EN migrations into western and central El Salvador, former hinterland of the Lowland Maya state of Copan which expired around 830 CE, contributed to the establishment of several Toltec-derived EN enclaves and city-states, notably the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic urban center of Cihuatan.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust: The Archaeology of El Salvador

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50966