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A GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE STREET OF THE DEAD AT THE TLAJINGA DISTRICT, TEOTIHUACAN, MEXICO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2019

Mareike C. Stahlschmidt ,
Emily McClung de Tapia  and
Ma. del Carmen Gutiérrez-Castorena
Mareike C. Stahlschmidt*
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, School of Archaeology, Room K004, Newman Building, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Emily McClung de Tapia
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Paleoetnobotánica y Paleoambiente, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Ma. del Carmen Gutiérrez-Castorena
Affiliation:
Génesis, Morfología y Clasificación de Suelos, Programa de Edafología, Colegio de Postgraduados, Carretera México, Texcoco km 36.5., Texcoco 5623, Mexico
*
E-mail correspondence to: mareike_stahlschmidt@eva.mpg.de
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Abstract

Archaeological investigations undertaken by the Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga Teotihuacán are focused on understanding urban expansion and household economies in this southern district of the city. Our geoarchaeological research addresses similar topics through examination of relevant microstratigraphic and botanical signatures as well as those relevant to reconstructing paleoenvironment. We investigated four different contexts at Tlajinga: the southern extension of the Street of the Dead, an obsidian working area outside Compound 17:S3E1, anthropogenic and natural layers below Compound 18:S3E1, and a soil profile at the San Lorenzo river. We employed micromorphological, pollen, and phytolith analyses as well as standard soil analytics to study the various deposits in these contexts. Our analysis demonstrates artificial lowering of the tepetate for continuing the axis of the Street of the Dead, microdebitage from obsidian working outside Compound 17:S3E1, and the preservation of in situ burning activities at Compound 18:S3E1. Further, we reconstruct alluvial infilling of the Street of the Dead with pedogenetic overprinting and present further evidence on the occurrence and variability of the Black San Pablo Paleosol and its agricultural significance.

Type
Special Section: Urban Life on Teotihuacan's Periphery–New Research at the Tlajinga District
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , Spring 2019 , pp. 129 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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References

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