The Ceramics of Huistla, a West Mexican Site in the Municipality of Etzatlán, Jalisco

Abstract

Test excavations at the site of Huistla in Jalisco, Mexico, yielded a series of ceramic types which is similar to types or wares found in the coastal lowland strip of Nayarit and Sinaloa. These affiliations indicate an occupation during a period sometime between about A.D. 800 and 1200. A reappraisal of the Aztatlán complex, recently divided into a series of local phases by Kelley, Winters, and Grosscup, leaves the impression that, while subdivision of the complex is justifed in light of their new data, certain continuities in ceramic design styles between these phases still give substance to the Aztatlán complex.

Pre-Hispanic-to-Colonial Dietary Transitions at Etzatlan, Jalisco, Mexico

“…Long (1966) completed a description of mortuary artifacts as his dissertation, but because of his untimely death, broader aspects of the site were neither studied nor documented. Glassow (1967) described pottery from the nearby community of Huistla. All materials, including bone collected from the Etzatlan project, were curated at UCLA but remained unstudied until the present.…”

“…In general, western Mexico has received less attention than areas with monumental remains of epic civilizations (Beekman 2010:41; Heredia Espinoza 2008:1; Nance et al 2008:1). Nevertheless, the Etzatlan Basin has a lengthy, if sporadic, history of archaeological exploration and study (Bell 1974; Foster and Weigand 1985; Gennis 1999; Glassow 1967; Kelly 1945; Long 1966; Long and Taylor 1966; Nicholson 1962; Weigand 1974). This research focused either on reconstructing culture history or recording and systematizing the traditional archaeological treasures of pre-Hispanic cultures—elaborately decorated ceramics and figurines, habitational or monumental structures, and elaborate tombs and their contents.…”

Volcán las Navajas: The chemical characterization and usage of a West Mexican obsidian source in the Aztatlán tradition

“…In Postclassic contexts, we find diagnostic Aztatlán artifacts, architecture, and symbolism spread across much of western and northwestern Mexico (Ekholm, 1942;Foster, 2001;Glassow, 1967;Mountjoy, 2000Mountjoy, , 2001. During this time, the southern portion of Sinaloa, Nayarit, and northern Jalisco arose as the Aztatlán core as goods such as copper bells, spindle whorls, ceramics, shell jewelry, and obsidian were spread far and wide (Mountjoy, 2001;Scott and Foster, 2000).…”

Archeological Evidence for Dietary Use of Bigfoot Leopard Frog (Lithobates megapoda) in Postclassic and Colonial Central Mexico

“…The Etzatlán Basin has a lengthy but rather erratic history of archeological exploration and study (e.g., Bell 1974; Foster and Weigand 1985; Glassow 1967; Kelly 1945; Long 1966; Long and Taylor 1966; Nicholson 1962; Weigand 1974). These projects concentrated either on establishing ethnohistory or recording the traditional archeological treasures of prehispanic cultures: elaborately decorated ceramics and figurines and their typology, habitational or monumental structures, and elaborate tombs.…”

“…The Etzatlán sites excavated by the UCLA team produced a combined collection of scientifically significant mortuary artifacts, ceramic potsherds, and vertebrate remains. While the mortuary artifacts were documented with some approximate chronological control by Long (1966) and pottery from nearby Huistla was described by Glassow (1967), the majority of the ceramic potsherds and the faunal remains remained unstudied. That unfortunate situation is no longer true.…”