Teotihuacan, an exceptional corporate society of Mesoamerica

This talk will review what I believe are the exceptional characteristics of the city of Teotihuacan in Mesoamerica of the Classic period: a huge planned settlement with an urban grid, a multiethnic society, a corporate organization. Teotihuacan, in Central Mexico, stands out as one of the largest pre-industrial urban sites, with characteristics that set this site apart as an exception in Mesoamerica. One of these characteristics is life in multifamily apartment compounds. Through my thorough ..

Genetic Evidence Supports the Multiethnic Character of Teopancazco, a Neighborhood Center of Teotihuacan, Mexico (AD 200-600)

Multiethnicity in Teopancazco, Teotihuacan, is supported by foreign individuals found in the neighborhood center as well as by the diversity observed in funerary rituals at the site. Studies of both stable and strontium isotopes as well as paleodietary analysis, suggest that the population of Teopancazco was composed by three population groups: people from Teotihuacan, people from nearby sites (Tlaxcala-Hidalgo-Puebla), and people from afar, including the coastal plains. In an attempt to understand the genetic dynamics in Teopancazco we conducted an ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis based on mtDNA. Our results show that the level of genetic diversity is consistent with the multiethnicity phenomenon at the neighborhood center. Levels of genetic diversity at different time periods of Teopancazco's history show that multiethnicity was evident since the beginning and lasted until the collapse of the neighborhood center. However, a PCA and a Neighbor-Joining tree suggested the presence of a genetically differentiated group (buried at the Transitional phase) compared to the population from the initial phase (Tlamimilolpa) as well as the population from the final phase (Xolalpan) of the history of Teopancazco. Genetic studies showed no differences in genetic diversity between males and females in the adult population of Teopancazco, this data along with ample archaeological evidence, suggest a neolocal post-marital pattern of residence in Teopancazco. Nevertheless, genetic analyses on the infant population showed that the males are significantly more heterogeneous than the females suggesting a possible differential role in cultural practices by sex in the infant sector. Regarding interpopulation analysis, we found similar indices of genetic diversity between Teopancazco and heterogeneous native groups, which support the multiethnic character of Teopancazco. Finally, our data showed a close genetic relationship between Teopancazco and populations from the "Teotihuacan corridor" and from Oaxaca and the Maya region, in agreement with previous archaeological evidence

Zooarchaeology, manufacture and ritual clothing at the ancient city of Teotihuacán, Mexico

La ciudad de Teotihuacan (siglos I-VI d.C.) es el centro urbano del México prehispánico más estudiado a nivel arqueológico y arqueozoológico, lo cual permite conocer la forma en que eran manejados los recursos animales. Generalmente los lepóridos, perros, venados, anátidos y pavos constituyen la gran mayoría de los restos arqueo­zoológicos descubiertos, involucrados principalmente con actividades de alimentación. En el centro de barrio de Teopancazco, excavado extensivamente de 1997 a 2005 por Linda R. Manzanilla y su equipo, fue descubierto un grupo de cuartos adyacentes (particularmente C251A) cuya abundancia de restos faunísticos y diversidad de especies rebasa por mucho lo que generalmente se observa, condición complementada por la abundancia de he­rramientas de hueso, principalmente agujas de costura e instrumentos para el trabajo de pieles. El análisis de esta colección llevó a la propuesta de que en este espacio se confeccionaban vestimentas rituales que utilizaba la elite intermedia que regía el centro de barrio, opción apoyada por la existencia de murales en donde aparecen persona­jes ataviados con indumentarias que portan gran cantidad de elementos de origen animal, particularmente marino (el “sacerdote del océano”, según Kubler). El análisis de esta colección permitió proponer que esta actividad de confección y costura había abarcado un espacio de dos siglos (350-550 d.C.).The city of Teotihuacan (I-VI centuries AD) is the most studied Prehispanic urban center in Mexico from the archaeological and archaeozoological points of view. This allows us to know how faunal resources were managed. Generally leporids, dogs, deer, ducks and turkeys are the most frequently found, particularly related to food consumption activities. In the Teopancazco neighborhood center, which has been extensively excavated from 1997-2005 by Linda R. Manzanilla and her team, a series of adjacent rooms (particularly C251A) show faunal abundance and species diversity way beyond what is generally observed at that site. This fact is complemented by the abundance of bone instruments, particularly needles and instruments for hide preparation. The analysis of all the data allowed us to propose that this space was used as part of the tailoring activities of attires and headdresses used by the intermediate elite that administered the neighborhood in their ritual activities, an option backed by the mural paintings at the site, which represent the “ocean priests”, as Kubler once mentioned. With the spatial analysis of the adjacent rooms, we may propose that the “tailors’ shop” was used as such during two centuries (AD 350-550).

Ciudades emblemáticas del pasado: de la ciudad primigenia (Uruk-Warka) a la megalópolis arquetípica (Teotihuacan)

This paper addresses a particular huge urban settlement which was an exception in its area, and constituted an archetype in Central Mexico, experimenting precocious processes of change in what V. Gordon Childe named “the urban revolution”. When comparing Teotihuacan (during the Classic Period of Mesoamerica, 100-650 CE) with the first urban settlements in Lower Mesopotamia during the Late Uruk period (3500-3100 BCE), such as Uruk-Warka, the respective qualitative transformations that these processes entailed created innovative forms of civilized life, a new type of site in each region, and new forms of social interactions and specializations within the urban population. Nevertheless, there are differences between these two regions which should be pointed out. The developed settlement hierarchy with four tiers which is characteristic of Lower Mesopotamia, is not present in Central Mexico; the urban grid and the multiethnic society of Teotihuacan is a new phenomenon not shared by the Lower Mesopotamian early cities, although seen some centuries afterwards in the Indus Valley.Este trabajo aborda un tipo particular de asentamiento urbano que fue excepcional en su área, y constituyó un arquetipo en el centro de México; se trata de un asentamiento que experimentó procesos precoces de cambio en lo que V. Gordon Childe denominó “la revolución urbana”. Cuando se compara Teotihuacan (durante el periodo Clásico de Mesoamérica, 100-650 d.C.) con los primeros asentamientos urbanos de la Baja Mesopotamia durante el periodo Uruk tardío (3500-3100 a.C.), como Uruk-Warka, las respectivas transformaciones cualitativas que implicaron estos procesos crearon formas innovadoras de vida civilizada, un nuevo tipo de sitio en cada región, y novedosas formas de interacciones sociales y especializaciones en la población urbana. Sin embargo, existen diferencias entre estas dos regiones que deben ser enumeradas. La jerarquía desarrollada de asentamientos con cuatro niveles que es característica de la Baja Mesopotamia no está presente en la cuenca de México durante el periodo Clásico; la retícula urbana ortogonal y la sociedad multiétnica de Teotihuacan son nuevos fenómenos no compartidos por las ciudades tempranas de la Baja Mesopotamia, aun cuando probablemente se presentaron en el valle del río Indo algunos siglos después

Multiethnicity and cultural diversity in Teotihuacan, Central Mexico

En este trabajo expondremos un caso de sociedad multiétnica y corporativa excepcional: Teotihuacan, en el centro de México, durante el periodo Clásico (200-550 d.C.). Albergó una de las sociedades urbanas más heterogéneas del mundo antiguo, con migrantes de Oaxaca, Michoacán y Veracruz en la periferia de la ciudad; en contraposición, en el núcleo urbano pudieron haber existido unos 22 barrios (algunos multiétnicos) posiblemente organizados en cuatro distritos. El estudio interdisciplinario de Linda R. Manzanilla en el centro de barrio multiétnico de Teopancazco en el sector sureste de la ciudad permitió distinguir a artesanos migrantes multiespecializados de diversas procedencias. Por medio de estudios antropofísicos, isotópicos y genéticos se determinó que la población de este centro de barrio era muy heterogénea: procedían de la cuenca de México, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Veracruz y posiblemente Chiapas. En Teopancazco coexistieron prácticas funerarias teotihuacanas con otras de Veracruz, así como objetos, materias primas y bienes suntuarios alóctonos. Asimismo se replicaron objetos de Veracruz para reforzar el vínculo con el océano, que es patente en el mural famoso hallado en el siglo XIX.In this article, an exceptional multiethnic and corporate society will be described: the metropolis of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico, during the Classic period (AD 200-550). This settlement housed one of the most heterogeneous societies of ancient times, with foreign neighborhoods of migrants from Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Veracruz in the periphery of the site; ca. 22 neighborhoods with their coordination centers may have been set in the urban core, many of which were multiethnic. There may have been a four-district division in this settlement. The interdisciplinary project headed by Linda R. Manzanilla in the multiethnic neighborhood center of Teopancazco, in the southeastern sector, will serve as an example of multiethnic ‘house’ organizations, which fostered multispecialized migrant craftsmen devoted to the confection of garments and headdresses for the intermediate elite. Through osteological, isotopic, trace element, genetic, and forensic analyses, this diverse population was characterized; the origins of the craftsmen were defined in the Basin of Mexico, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Veracruz, and possibly Chiapas. At Teopancazco, local and foreign funerary practices were defined, as well as allochthonous objects and raw materials. The symbolic relation to the ocean is stressed not only by the famous mural painting found at the site, where two priests dressed with attires showing marine shells and stars, walk towards the altar with a net, but also by the replication of lacquered pottery from Veracruz with local clays.Fil: Manzanilla, Linda R. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas; México

La zona occidental en el Posclásico

International audienc

Can government be self-organized? A mathematical model of the collective social organization of ancient Teotihuacan, central Mexico.

Teotihuacan was the first urban civilization of Mesoamerica and one of the largest of the ancient world. Following a tradition in archaeology to equate social complexity with centralized hierarchy, it is widely believed that the city's origin and growth was controlled by a lineage of powerful individuals. However, much data is indicative of a government of co-rulers, and artistic traditions expressed an egalitarian ideology. Yet this alternative keeps being marginalized because the problems of collective action make it difficult to conceive how such a coalition could have functioned in principle. We therefore devised a mathematical model of the city's hypothetical network of representatives as a formal proof of concept that widespread cooperation was realizable in a fully distributed manner. In the model, decisions become self-organized into globally optimal configurations even though local representatives behave and modify their relations in a rational and selfish manner. This self-optimization crucially depends on occasional communal interruptions of normal activity, and it is impeded when sections of the network are too independent. We relate these insights to theories about community-wide rituals at Teotihuacan and the city's eventual disintegration