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Suprahousehold consumption and community ritual at La Laguna, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

David M. Carballo ,
Luis Barba ,
Agustín Ortiz ,
Jorge Blancas ,
Nicole Cingolani ,
Jorge H. Toledo Barrera ,
David Walton ,
Isabel Rodríguez López  and
Lourdes Couoh
David M. Carballo
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA (Email: carballo@bu.edu)
Luis Barba
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, México D.F., Mexico
Agustín Ortiz
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, México D.F., Mexico
Jorge Blancas
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, México D.F., Mexico
Nicole Cingolani
Affiliation:
College of Information Sciences & Technology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16803, USA
Jorge H. Toledo Barrera
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, C.P. 72810, Mexico
David Walton
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA (Email: carballo@bu.edu)
Isabel Rodríguez López
Affiliation:
Independent researcher, Mexico
Lourdes Couoh
Affiliation:
Posgrado, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, México D.F., Mexico
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Abstract

Recent work at La Laguna in Central Mexico provides an excellent illustration of the way in which information from architecture, food remains, ceramic vessels and chemical signatures can be brought together to demonstrate communal feasting associated with specific structures and public spaces. Structure 12M-3 contained a range of evidence indicative of food preparation and consumption. Ritual effigy vessels depicted deities connected with food and fertility, and fire and the hearth. Taken together, the several lines of evidence indicate that Structure 12M-3 was a special building, located directly behind the main temple and devoted to the preparation and production of communal feasts that were held in the adjacent plaza. This provides new insights into community life in the urban centres of early Mesoamerica.

Keywords

MesoamericaMexicoLa LagunaFormative Periodfeastingritual
Type
Research articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 339 , March 2014 , pp. 141 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014

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