Abstract:The Formative-period site of Altica in the Patlachique Range poses many methodological problems when designing an excavation strategy. Three millennia of erosion, twentieth-century chisel plowing, and modern reforestation efforts have destroyed or disturbed most surface architecture above the local tepetate bedrock. As such, in the early stages of the Altica Project, the primary concern was the detection and identification of subsurface features, especially deep pits as found at other Formative sites. Although… Show more
“…Further, the offset positioning of Compound 18, away from the eastern edge of the avenue, is suggestive of more relaxed urban planning, consistent with Sugiyama's characterization of it as a utilitarian thoroughfare and possible conduit of water to the San Lorenzo River during the rainy season. Mejía Ramón's (2016:141–146) topographic data for the Street of the Dead south of Tlajinga is further consistent with this hydraulic association, suggesting that the cut comprising the Street of the Dead continues for approximately one kilometer farther south until it connects with the Barranca del Patlachique. Figure 11.Composite of profiles depicting cut tepetate for southern Street of the Dead running through the Tlajinga district.…”
Section: Excavations Along the Southern Street Of The Deadmentioning
Teotihuacan's Tlajinga district is a cluster of neighborhoods on the southern periphery of the city best known for earlier investigations at Compound 33:S3W1. New research includes excavations at two other apartment compounds and along the southern extension of the Street of the Dead. Excavation contexts, major finds, chronology, and preliminary interpretations are the subject of this article. We highlight evidence attesting to a major obsidian-blade workshop at Compound 17:S3E1, offerings, and other features at that compound and Compound 18:S3E1, and the tempo and processes of urbanization viewed through well-recorded stratigraphic sequences of the compounds and the Street of the Dead. We conclude that significant occupation began in the Miccaotli phase, but it was not until some point in the Early Tlamimilolpa phase that the dominant housing type became apartment compounds; the continuation of the axis of Street of the Dead in the district was accomplished by excavating in the volcanic tuft substrate (tepetate) and could have been undertaken by the inhabitants of the district themselves; and the presence of items such as a sculpted stone face, marine shell, and polychrome pottery demonstrates that commoners at Teotihuacan enjoyed some access to finer items within the interregional economy.
“…Further, the offset positioning of Compound 18, away from the eastern edge of the avenue, is suggestive of more relaxed urban planning, consistent with Sugiyama's characterization of it as a utilitarian thoroughfare and possible conduit of water to the San Lorenzo River during the rainy season. Mejía Ramón's (2016:141–146) topographic data for the Street of the Dead south of Tlajinga is further consistent with this hydraulic association, suggesting that the cut comprising the Street of the Dead continues for approximately one kilometer farther south until it connects with the Barranca del Patlachique. Figure 11.Composite of profiles depicting cut tepetate for southern Street of the Dead running through the Tlajinga district.…”
Section: Excavations Along the Southern Street Of The Deadmentioning
Teotihuacan's Tlajinga district is a cluster of neighborhoods on the southern periphery of the city best known for earlier investigations at Compound 33:S3W1. New research includes excavations at two other apartment compounds and along the southern extension of the Street of the Dead. Excavation contexts, major finds, chronology, and preliminary interpretations are the subject of this article. We highlight evidence attesting to a major obsidian-blade workshop at Compound 17:S3E1, offerings, and other features at that compound and Compound 18:S3E1, and the tempo and processes of urbanization viewed through well-recorded stratigraphic sequences of the compounds and the Street of the Dead. We conclude that significant occupation began in the Miccaotli phase, but it was not until some point in the Early Tlamimilolpa phase that the dominant housing type became apartment compounds; the continuation of the axis of Street of the Dead in the district was accomplished by excavating in the volcanic tuft substrate (tepetate) and could have been undertaken by the inhabitants of the district themselves; and the presence of items such as a sculpted stone face, marine shell, and polychrome pottery demonstrates that commoners at Teotihuacan enjoyed some access to finer items within the interregional economy.
“…Mejía-Rámon, Barba, Ortiz, and Blancas (Mejía Ramón et al 2019) conducted magnetometer survey at Altica to identify potential intact features. We had intended to conduct electrical resistivity as well, but water saturated the ground during our entire field season, rendering any electrical technique of little use.…”
Section: Survey Excavation and Site Formation Processesmentioning
The Altica Project that began in 2014 is an important step in addressing over two decades of limited problem-oriented research at Formative sites in the Basin of Mexico. Through this research, we demonstrate that Altica is the earliest known settled village in the Teotihuacan Valley and one of the only first-farming village sites in the Basin of Mexico that has not been engulfed by the urban sprawl of Mexico City. It represents the northward spread of settled village life in a time that people of the region were transitioning from a mobile foraging lifestyle to one more reliant on food production. Despite its small size and remote location, Altica was an important part of Early and Middle Formative exchange networks, as it imported multiple types of goods from distant places in Mesoamerica and may have played a role in the early trade of Otumba obsidian. This paper leads the Special Section by framing the research project and outlining its major goals. Survey and excavation results are introduced. Finally, we preface each of the presentations to situate them within the framework. Altica spans a transitional period in Mesoamerica that began around 1000 cal b.c. We establish Altica as a proxy to understand broader Mesoamerican processes at that time.
“…Dozens of mines and quarries have been opened in the piedmont, destroying significant swaths of land, threatening vulnerable archeological research sites like Altica, and further polluting the valley's little remaining water. The construction of Mexico City's new airport has dramatically accelerated these threats (Fernández, ; Mejía Ramón et al, in press) with the new President of the Republic indicating that he will move construction to the Santa Lucia military base in Tecámac (López Ponce )—significantly closer to the valley. Marginal hillside lands with denuded tepetate are now chiseled with machinery to create arable soils, but usually without the construction of associated terrace infrastructure.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It should be noted that there is a potential irrigation canal at Altica within three dozen meters of verified Formative‐period contexts. Nevertheless, its antiquity has not yet been verified through excavation, and the nearby presence of an Aztec site and contemporary terracing efforts complicate dating the feature by proximity (Mejía Ramón et al, ).…”
Section: The Formative Period: 1500 Bc–ad 100mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Nevertheless, legal historic documentation suggests that permanent irrigation was absent at the springs themselves until 1818 when the Puxtla spring wetlands were purposely constructed (B. Skopyk, personal communication April 4, 2016 in Mejía Ramón, , pp. 44–45).…”
Section: The Aztec/late Postclassic (Ad 1400–1521) and Colonial (Amentioning
The Teotihuacan Valley has witnessed the rise and fall of various civilizations since it was first inhabited by sedentary societies 3,500 years ago. Given its location in a semi‐arid environment, Teotihuacan has featured prominently in debates about the role of water and water management in the development of sedentism, culture, primary states, and large, complex societies. While many previous discussions tended to echo Wittfogel's “hydraulic hypothesis,” focusing on the ability of an elite few to monopolize water resources, we instead turn to a growing corpus of research showing varied water management strategies through time potentially resulting in distinct patterns of social organization. In this palimpsest landscape hydraulic and agricultural strategies were constrained not merely by present environmental conditions, but also by very real and material legacies of previous behavior. We discuss the state of research regarding these adaptations (and social responses) to water scarcity from the Early‐to‐Middle Formative Period (1250–650 B.C.) through the independence of Mexico (A.D. 1810), noting how previous fundamental assumptions about agriculture and hydraulic management in the Teotihuacan Valley have led to a significant number of neglected concepts and potential adaptations. If we are to address the current destruction of the Teotihuacan Valley's ecological and cultural resources in response to national development and climate change, a historical‐ecological perspective is necessary to disentangle the relevant processes that have shaped the landscape—and the cultures residing within it—to this day.
This article is categorized under:
Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change
Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented
Engineering Water > Planning Water
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
