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NEW RESEARCH AT TEOTIHUACAN’S TLAJINGA DISTRICT, 2012–2015

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2019

David M. Carballo ,
Kenneth G. Hirth ,
Daniela Hernández Sariñana ,
Gina M. Buckley Open the ORCID record for Gina M. Buckley [Opens in a new window] ,
Andrés G. Mejía Ramón  and
Douglas J. Kennett
David M. Carballo*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Kenneth G. Hirth
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Daniela Hernández Sariñana
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Gina M. Buckley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Andrés G. Mejía Ramón
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Douglas J. Kennett
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
*
E-mail correspondence to: carballo@bu.edu
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Abstract

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.

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. 95 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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