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Excavations at the Southern Neighborhood Center of the Tlajinga District, Teotihuacan, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2021

David M. Carballo Open the ORCID record for David M. Carballo [Opens in a new window] ,
Luis Barba ,
Agustín Ortiz ,
Jorge Blancas ,
Daniela Hernández Sariñana ,
Maria C. Codlin ,
Alfredo Saucedo  and
Gloria Dolores Torres Rodríguez
David M. Carballo*
Affiliation:
Anthropology Department and Archaeology Program, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 347, Boston, MA02215, USA
Luis Barba
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, 04510, Mexico
Agustín Ortiz
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, 04510, Mexico
Jorge Blancas
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, 04510, Mexico
Daniela Hernández Sariñana
Affiliation:
Anthropology Department and Archaeology Program, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 347, Boston, MA02215, USA
Maria C. Codlin
Affiliation:
Anthropology Department and Archaeology Program, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 347, Boston, MA02215, USA
Alfredo Saucedo
Affiliation:
Programa de Posgrado en Estudios Mesoamericanos, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, 04510, Mexico
Gloria Dolores Torres Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Zona de Monumentos Arqueológicos Teotihuacan, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Carretera México–Pirámides 46.5 Teotihuacán, Estado de México, Mexico
*
(carballo@bu.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

Investigations of the Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga Teotihuacan (PATT) in 2019 focused on the southern neighborhood center of this cluster of non-elite residences in the southern periphery of the ancient Mexican metropolis. Our objective was to better understand the social infrastructure of public space within the district and how it tied its inhabitants together. Our methods included excavations at two large architectural complexes, geophysical prospection of these and adjacent structures and plazas, and chemical residue analysis of floors and sediments. They revealed architecturally elaborate complexes decorated with mural painting that appear to have been the loci of civic-ceremonial activities. Materials from the excavated portions of the complexes are inconsistent with residential uses, although it is possible that local elites lived elsewhere in the complexes or in others located nearby. The investigations therefore demonstrate that the semipublic spaces of neighborhood centers were distributed as distantly as this periphery of Teotihuacan and could be as elaborate as those in the urban epicenter, underscoring the city's more muted social inequality.

Las investigaciones del Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga Teotihuacan (PATT) realizadas en el 2019 se enfocaron en la parte sur de un centro de barrio localizado en la periferia sur de la antigua metrópoli, en un contexto residencial no elitista. Entre los objetivos principales se incluyen el mejorar nuestra comprensión de la infraestructura social de los espacios públicos dentro del distrito y cómo éstos vinculaban a sus habitantes. La metodología de estudio incluyó excavaciones en dos complejos arquitectónicos de gran tamaño, el estudio geofísico con técnicas electromagnéticas de los mismos y de estructuras y plazas adyacentes, así como el estudio de residuos químicos en pisos. Los resultados revelaron conjuntos arquitectónicos bien elaborados y decorados con pintura mural, por lo que parecen haber sido el centro de actividades cívico-ceremoniales. Los materiales que se recuperaron de las excavaciones de estos complejos no son compatibles con un uso residencial, aunque es posible que las élites locales vivieran en otras áreas del complejo o en otro cercano. Los resultados de nuestras investigaciones demuestran que los espacios semipúblicos de los centros de barrio se encuentran presentes aún en la periferia de Teotihuacan y podían ser tan elaborados como los del epicentro de la ciudad, lo que nos muestra menos niveles de desigualdad social en la gran urbe.

Keywords

urbanismneighborhoodssocial infrastructuremuralsexcavationfloor chemistryCentral MexicoClassic periodurbanismovecindariosinfraestructura socialmuralesexcavaciónestudios químicosAltiplano Central mexicanoperiodo Clásico
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 557 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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