Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico

Paul Tolstoy, Suzanne K. Fish, Martin W. Boksenbaum,

Kathryn Blair Vaughn
Queens College and Graduate Center
City University of New York
c. Earle Smith
University of Alabama
Excavations and survey since 1970 have produced data on many aspects of human
occupation in the Basin of Mexico between 1200 B.C. and 500 B.C. (un calibra ted
radiocarbon dates). We attempt here to summarize our current understanding of
the communities of that period in the Basin, with respect to chronology, stylistic
affinities of their material remains, subsistence patterns, craft production, trade
relationships, socio-political aspects, and the possible religious beliefs of their in-
habitants. We urge in conclusion that even-handed attention be provided to both
the historical and the processual aspects of the evidence in the interest of a more
complete understanding of the past in our region.
Introduction
We review below some of the progress recently
achieved in the understanding of early settled life in the
Basin of Mexico, a region which later became the heart-
land of Mesoamerica itself and the seat of Aztec power.
The present paper is thus a sequel to an earlier sum-
mary.1 Inevitably, we shall dwell primarily on the find-
ings of the Queens College-CUNY Preclassic Project.
Important contributions, however, have been -made and
are being made by others. We cite such other work to
the extent that it is known to us and that it appears rele-
vant, though we realize that we cannot do it full justice.
It should also be understood that some recent in-
vestigations, when presented more fully by their
authors,
2
may affect our reconstructions in important
ways.
The investigations of the Queens College-CUNY
Preclassic Project
3
since 1970 are proceeding mainly in
1. Paul Tolstoy and Louise I. Paradis, "Early and Middle Preclassic
Culture in the Basin of Mexico," Science 167 (1970) 344-351.
2. Cristina Niederberger, "Cinco milenios de ocupaci6n human a en
un sitio lacustre de la Cuenca de Mexico," INAH, Coleci6n Cient(fica
(in press).
3. The work summarized in this paper has been made possible by
grants GS-720 and GS-28609 from the National Science Foundation,
three directions: 1) excavations and surface studies at a
limited number of key sites; 2) the gathering and
analysis of surface material from other pre- Ticoman
sites, including those found by William T. Sanders, J ef-
frey R. Parsons, and Richard E. Blanton in the course of
comprehensive regional surveys since 1960;4 and 3) a
as well as grants from the Canada Council and the CUNY Research
Foundation. It has benefitted from the collaboration of numerous par-
ticipants, only some of whom can be thanked here. In the field, we
have had the much-appreciated assistance of Gary S. Vescelius, then
of the Queens College-CUNY faculty, who did most of the mapping
and surface sampling. Dr. Robert Bettarel helped at Coapexco and
Leonard Foote has contributed his efforts at the Queens College
laboratory. For their help in fieldwork, we wish to thank the following
students and other participants: E. Abraham, H. Ball, N. Cevallos, J .
Chu, P. Fish, C. Gelber, J . Giniger, R. Godley, W. Grimmel, J .
Gumbs, D. J oralemon, A. Krebs, S. Milbrath, V. Mikijanic, J . Miller,
J .H. Nazarian, J .P. Nazarian, W. Perry, A. Roosevelt, P. Tiscione and
G. Wessen. The following students have made special contributions to
the processing of our data in laboratories here and in Mexico: F.
Azaria, P. Caruso, J . Chu, L. Durand, R. Gianno, E. Fisch, S.
Getrajdman, W. Grimmel, S. J ayson, L. Katzoff, T. Lagace and M.
Veale. Finally, we are most grateful to several generations of students,
too numerous to mention, who earned a few credits through the usage
of an exceptionally arid ceramic code and the preparation of data for
key-punching.
4. P. Tolstoy, "Settlement and Population Trends in the Basin of
Mexico from 1500 B.C. to 650 B.C.," JFA 2 (1975) 331-349.
92 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
Figure 1. Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco sitesintheBasinof Mexico, keyed to showphase of earliest occupation presently
known: (1) Coapexco and Ayotla phases; (2) Manantial phase; (3) Bomba and EI Arbolillo phases; (4) Early LaPastora
phase; (5) Late LaPastora and Cuautepec phases; (6) Altica phase(Sanders); (7) Chiconautla phase (Sanders); (8) uncer-
tain, probably post-Manantial. Areas above 2500m. elevation and belowConquest lakewater level areshaded. Rainfall and
temperature after Enriqueta Garcia, "Clima actual deTeotihuacan," inMateriales para la Arqueologia de Teotihuacan, J . L.
Lorenzo, ed., Investigaciones 17(INAH, Mexico 1968). [Note: Siteno. 50should bekeyed as(1) rather than (2).]
continuing study of data on the graves at Tlatilco,
assembled through the courtesy of participants in work
at that site.
5
Investigations at individual sites since 1970 have aimed
primarily at the exposure of structural features and at
the understanding of the sites as once-functioning com-
munities. Such investigations were carried out in 1971
and 1972 at the site we are calling Santa Catarina, 2
kms. east of Tlaltenco, D.F., on the north shore of Lake
Chalco; in 1972 at EI Terremote, 1km. west of Tlalten-
co; and in 1973 at Coapexco, 2 kms. east of the town of
Amecameca, in the extreme SE corner of the Basin, on
the pass which leads into Morelos. A shaft was also sunk
in 1972 at EI Arbolillo, near our eastern test of 1965
(FIG. 1).6
Santa Catarina is a small multi-component site found
in 1969 by Richard E. Blanton.
7
The combined extent of
late Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco refuse on its surface
appears to be about six hectares. Zacatenco materials
later than Bomba in date are scarce, though the site
becomes important again in Ticoman times. The ex-
posure of a rock-strewn surface as well as extensive
trenching at Santa Catarina did not produce unam-
biguous evidence of Bomba or, earlier dwellings. That
work did lead, however, to the excavation of 13 storage
pits (such as also occur at Tlatilco), bell-shaped or cylin-
drical in vertical section, a cubic meter or larger in
volume, and containing abundant debris of one and, in a
single case, both of the two subphases we recognize at
the site: Bomba, and the earlier Manantial (see below).
Ceramic lots from 12 pits have been seriated (the largest
pit, no. 7, was stratified), and the sequence thus ob-
tained has been buttressed with five radiocarbon dates
(these will appear in a forthcoming list from Rikagaku
Kenkyusho laboratory). Plant macro-remains and
pollen from both phases have been recovered. Four
burials, though disturbed, suggest that grave accom-
paniments at the site were usually modest in quantity
and quality.
EI Terremote consists of two low mounds (0.45 m.
and 1.30 m. in height, 20 m. and 30 m. in diameter) and
traces of a third, destroyed by the plow. A surface
scatter of Ayotla sherds extends over some 4.5 hectares.
The site was found and first sampled by J effrey R. Par-
sons in 1972. Unlike Santa Catarina, situated on a rocky
shelf 3-4 m. above the Conquest shoreline, El Terremote
5. P. Tolstoy, "Recent Research into the Early Preclassic of the Cen-
tral Highlands," Cont., UCARF 11(1971) 25-48.
6. Sites enumerated here are keyed on FIG. 1,respectively, as Nos. 48,
51,34 and 4.
7. Richard E. Blanton, "Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Ix-
tapalapa Peninsula Region, Mexico," Occasional Papers in
Anthropology 6(Pennsylvania State University 1972).
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 93
lies within the former bed of Lake Xochimilco, in azone
where even today ground water rises to 0.35 m. below
surface in the rainy season. In Aztec times, with water
level at or near the 2240 m. contour,
8
El Terremote
would have been in awetland of reeds, sedges, and water
plants. Such also appears to have been its setting in
Ayotla times. As a result, perishable materials, such as
logs and reed steIns are well preserved. On the other
hand, radiocarbon dates seem too recent, probably from
prolonged immersion in water.
Trenching and clearing revealed the mounds to be ar-
tificial platforms of mud and clay, bearing alignments of
dry masonry that are probably the remains of retaining
walls. On the eastern of the two mounds, these
alignments, which run N-S (magnetic), outline two rising
stages. The SW corner of a sloping, mud-plastered riser
and some loose rocks were all that remained of a third
stage, which must have supported a residence. Both
tested mounds contain not only alternating strata of
black mud and yellow clay, but also ~ayers of cut stems
of sedges and grasses, some of them perhaps woven
together as mats. The laying down of "carpets" of
aquatic vegetation to bind together layers of mud fill
conforms both to Aztec and to modern practice in the
region. It is done to raise plots of ground above water
level to support dwellings and chinampa gardens.
9
A
wooden post sunk vertically into the edge of the western
mound offers a further parallel to recent building prac-
tice. Associated material, which includes offerings, iden-
tifies the inhabitants as users of Ayotla subphase
pottery, indistinguishable from that recovered in 1968
from Ayotla-Tlapacoya, 12 kms. to the east. Unfor-
tunately, circumstances beyond our control prevented
the resumption after 1972 of excavations at this most in-
teresting site.
The test excavation at, El Arbolillo in 1972, which
reached a depth of 7.6 m., had the limited goal of secur-
ing flotation samples and additional radiocarbon dates
for the subphases represented at El Arbolillo East. Its
results complement our excavations at Santa Catarina
and raise interesting questions that bear on the diet and
ecology of Zacatenco times.
Coapexco, where we worked in 1973, is in some
respects the most remarkable of our sites. Like EI
Terremote, it was found in 1972 by the survey team of
J effrey Parsons. Four aspects are especially notable. 1)
It is located at the 2600 m. contour line, an elevation
where permanent settlement is rare at any period in
8. Pedro Armillas, "Gardens on Swamps," Science 174 (1971) 653-
661.
9. Ibid., 659; Michael D. Coe, "TheChinampasofMexico," SAm211
(1), (196:4) 93.
94 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
Mesoamerica. 2) Surface scatter is extensive, covering
an estimated 50 hectares.
lo
3) It provides abundant
evidence on dwellings and community pattern. 4)
Material found there suggests a brief occupation (some
two centuries) by users of an early variety of Ixtapaluca
pottery. The latter makes it possible to define a Coapex-
co subphase, the early position of which is indicated
both by intrinsic features of ceramic style and by an
associated radiocarbon date. Our work at the site so far
has consisted of the exposure of four Ixtapaluca struc-
tures and of intensive surface collecting. The latter has
led, in particular, to plotting of individual concen-
trations of refuse which we believe mark the locations of
dwellings on a portion of the site. I I
The inventory, sampling, and phasing of other Ix-
tapaluca and Zacatenco sites in the Basin has been dis-
cussed in another paper.I
2
Its primary goal has been to
integrate the yield of surveys conducted by others as well
as by ourselves with the results of excavations. We shall
point out here only that ceramics from most of the 23
sites of the Texcoco and Teotihuacan subregions
omitted from the 1975 study have now been examined
through the courtesy of Rene Millon, J effrey Parsons,
and William Sanders. No essential changes in our
previous conclusions are indicated by this new informa-
tion. However, as is evident from a recent report by
Sanders and others}3 several Zacatenco occupations
previously postulated in the Teotihuacan valley now
appear doubtful. Of these, Sanders' site TF 106 (FIG. 1,
NO. 87)14 on the periphery of Teotihuacan should
perhaps still be included among possible Zacatenco oc-
cupations, and two of the other Teotihuacan sites (FIG.
1, NOS. 85,86;Sanders' TF 108and TF 111) cannot yet be
eliminated with complete certainty. It may also be noted
that the total number of known Zacatenco sites in the
Basin is due to increase shortly as a result of recent work
by Sanders and his team on the other side of the lake, in
the region of the Guadalupe Hills.
The compilation of data on 379 of the graves ex-
cavated at Tlatilco since 1947 is now complete. This in-
formation, made available through the generosity of
10. Coapexco is shown as two sites in J effrey R. Parsons, "The
Development of a Prehistoric Complex Society: a Regional Perspec-
tivefromtheValley of Mexico," JFA 1(1974) 81-108.
11. P. Tolstoy and Suzanne K. Fish, "Surface and Subsurface
Evidence for Community Size at Coapexco, Mexico," JFA 2 (1975)
97-104.
12. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote4).
13. William T. Sanders et aI., "The Formative Period Occupation of
theTeotihuacan Valley," Occasional Papers in Anthropology 10(Penn-
sylvania State U. 1975)Table 43.
14. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 6).
Muriel Porter Weaver, Arturo Romano Pacheco, and
J ose-Luis Lorenzo, has been of considerable value in un-
derstanding some of our excavated materials, with
which these graves are clearly contemporary. A seriation
of 73 grave lots
15
has been carried out by visually fitting
selected modes of vessel shape and decoration to a
"Petrie matrix."16 The order obtained appears to match
the refuse sequence. Presently, nonchronological aspects
of this grave information are under study. A more com-
plete presentation of these investigations, however, must
await the completion of doctoral research presently in
progress at the Escuela National de Antropologia under
the direction of Professor Romano.
Significant advances in our knowledge of pre-
Ticoman periods in the Basin were also gained in 1969
by C. B. Niederberger's trenching of deposits at
Zohapiloc- Tlapacoya, some 50 m. north of our own
1968 "Ayotla" test pits. The results, soon to appear in
monograph form,17 include not only the discovery of
previously unsuspected preceramic levels at the site,
but also a much more complete picture of the subse-
quent lxtapaluca and early Zacatenco occupations.
Niederberger's work should lay to rest any lingering
suspicions as to the relative ages of Ixtapaluca (Ayotla-
Manantial) and Zacatenco remains in the Basin.
Another recent contribution is that of Harold McBride
l8
who has reported his 1968 excavations at the site of
Atlamica near Cuautitlan, in the NW area of the Basin.
These have clarified the style changes that mark the clos-
ing century of the Zacatenco phase. More recent work at
the same site by William Sanders and Rosa Reyna
Robles promises a more complete view of the site as a
whole.
It is thus evident that considerable information has
accumulated since 1970 pertaining to the early ceramic
periods in our region. Below, we examine the bearing of
this information on our understanding of the activities
and way of life of the Basin's early inhabitants.
Chronology
Radiocarbon dates and other evidence have con-
firmed portions of the sequence earlier outlined by
Tolstoy and Paradis
19
and have required revisions of
15. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 5).
16. See D.G. Kendall, "Some Problems and Methods in Statistical
Archaeology," W A 1(1), (1969) 68-76.
17. Niederberger, op.cit. (innote 2).
18. Harold W. McBride, "Formative Ceramics and Prehistoric Settle-
ment Patterns in the Cuauhtitlan Region, Mexico," Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation (UCLA 1974).
19. Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1).
others. These revisions, for the most part, have been
outlined elsewhere.
20
At the base of the ceramic sequence, Niederberger's
work at Zohapilco- Tlapacoya has added the Nevada
phase as the possible local equivalent of the Tierras
Largas and Oc6s phases of highland Oaxaca and the
Isthmus, respectively.21 Indirectly, this ill-defined com-
plex appears to strengthen the case for the still earlier
"Tlalpan" phase. Heizer and Bennyhoff2
2
identify the
latter in fill at the site of Cuicuilco and link it to several
very early radiocarbon dates from that site. Earlier still,
the Zohapi1co phase (ca. 2300 B.C., radiocarbon time),
with its single crude figurine, and the Playa phase (5500-
3500 B.C.), entirely preceramic, represent the transition
from hunting-gathering to farming on the shore of Lake
Chalco.
It is debatable whether or not Nevada must be in-
cluded in the larger Ixtapaluca phase. There is less doubt
for the phases and subphases that follow (Coapexco,
Ayotla, Manantial) which share such basic markers as
plow-eyed figurines, flat-bottomed dishes, red-on-buff
decoration and gadrooned vessels. Eleven radiocarbon
dates bracket these units between 1180 B.C. 160 (N-
1992, uncalibrated, Libby half-life), the earliest date for
Coapexco, and 890 B.C. 110 (N-1985), a date on
charcoal from Feature Pit 8 at Santa Catarina and the
latest associated with Manantial ceramics. A considera-
tion of all dates together suggests a combined range of
1200 B.C. to 950 B.C. in radiocarbon time, or about 1500
B.C. to 1150 B.C. on the bristlecone pine scale.
23
In
ceramics and figurines, San Lorenzo-like attributes are
more prominent at Coapexco than at other sites, and
such features as the goggled-eyed K and "pretty-lady"
D-I and D-2 figures, for which Tlatilco is noted, and the
incised design we have called "Tlatilco panel"24 are en-
20. P. Tolstoy, "The Archaeological Chronology of Western
Mesoamerica before 900 A.D.," in Chronologies in New World
Archaeology, C.W. Meighan and R.E. Taylor, eds. (in press); Tolstoy,
op.cit. (in note 4).
21. Niederberger, op.cit. (in note 2); idem, "Paleoecologia humana y
playas lacustres post-pleistocenicas en Tlapacoya," Boletin [NAH 37
Mexico (1969) 19-24; idem, "Excavaciones en Zohapilco-Tlapacoya,
Mexico," Paper delivered at 41st IntI. Congo of Americanists (1974)
Mexico; idem, "Inicios de la vida aldeana en la America Media," in
Historia de Mexico, Editores Salvat, 1(1974) 5-6.
22. Robert F. Heizer and J ames A. Bennyhoff, "Archeological
Investigations at Cuicuilco, Mexico," Natl. Geographic Soc. Repts.,
1955-1960 Projects (1957) 93-104.
23. Hans E. Seuss, "Bristlecone-pine Calibration of the Radiocarbon
Time-Scale 5200 B.C. to the Present," Nobel Symposium 12, LD.
Olsson, ed. (New York 1970) 303-311.
24. R. Pilla Chan, Tlatilco 1(lNAH, Mexico 1958), fig. 33, h, n, r; fig.
35, f, g, j.
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 95
tirely absent, though well represented in Ayotla and
Manantial. The latter phase, defined by Niederberger on
the basis of over 48,000 sherds from the Zohapilco
trench, replaces the "J usto" subphase of our earlier for-
mulation. Manantial, in addition to the markers already
mentioned, sees the relative abundance, for the first
time, of white ware decorated with the so-called
"double-line-break" motif on the rim and with complex
designs on the interior of the base.
25
Some, but not all,
of the trends in refuse are matched in the Tlatilco burial
sequence. Exceptions include white wares, well
represented in Ayotla and Manantial debris, and
differentially-fired ware, abundant in Coapexco and
Ayotla, both of which are curiously scarce in the graves.
Yet "Tlati1co panels" and punched-pupil D figurines oc-
cur at Tlatilco in grave lots probably contemporaneous
with the Coapexco and Ayotla subphases. Both
elements are absent at Coapexco and panels are also
completely lacking at El Terremote. These discrepancies
imply variation which is related not only to time, but is,
in all probability, a function also of geographic location
and of context (funerary vs. domestic).
The appearance of the "bird-faced" C-l and C-2
figurines, the hallmarks of Vaillant's "Copilco-
Zacatenco" phase, is an event that can now be observed
in refuse not only at Tlapacoya but at Santa Catarina as
well. There, the earlier pits contain D and K figurines,
red-on-buff dishes and bowls, gadrooned vessels,
differentially-fired ware, and bowls incised with
"Tlatilco panels." These features fade out in later pits
and in general fill, which contain brown composite-
silhouette bowls, incised white bowls with expanded and
ledge lips, and figurines of the C-2 and, sometimes, C-7
types. The four relevant radiocarbon dates and the
carryover of many attributes indicate a continuous oc-
cupation over a period of one to two centuries, when the
transition from Manantial to Bomba takes place. Bom-
ba now seems unambiguously within the Zacatenco
phase.
Additional dates from El Arbolillo generally confirm
previous estimates, and indicate an initial occupation as
early as 900 B.C. (samples N-1991, N-1811). Relatively
rare diagnostics (e.g. the Stiff Geometric style as found
at EI Arbolillo) and quantitative estimates for shared
characters (e.g. red ware, basal shapes, and interior
designs in white) are needed to discriminate between
Bomba and EI Arbolillo. For this reason, it remains un-
certain whether Bomba, as distinct from EfArbolillo, is
confined to the southern Basin or its presence at EI Ar-
bolillo ca. 900 B.C. is masked by sampling inadequacy.
At the later end of the sequence, McBride's work
reveals sequential divisions within the La Pastora and
25. Niederberger, op.cit. in Historia de Mexico (in note 21) 117.
96 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
Table 1. Periods and cultural units of the Basin of Mexico sequence prior to500 B.C. (radiocarbon time).
Dates B.C.
Major period Minor Dates B.C. (Suess Major Minor
period C-14years calibration) phases phases
First Intermediate 4 425-510* 750-650 Zacatenco A-C
First Intermediate 3 750-425 875-750 Zacatenco T-P
First Intermediate 2 850-750 1050-875 Zacatenco I-A
First Intermediate 1 950-850 1150**-1050 Zacantenco I-A
Early Horizon 4 1000-950 1300-1150 Ixtapaluca Manantial
Early Horizon 3 1100-1000 1400-1300 Ixtapaluca (not named)
Early Horizon 2 1200-1100 1500-1400 Ixtapaluca (not named)
Early Horizon 1 1400-1200 1700-1500 Ixtapaluca (1) Nevada
Initial 2400-1400 3000-1700 Tlalpan,
Zohapilco
(*) The Suesscurveshows radiocarbon time reversed here relative to sidereal time, as
measured onthebristlecone pine scale.
(**) The Suess curve shows three points in sideral time (e.g. ca. 1125, 1150and 1210
B.C.) which may correspond to a radiocarbon date of 950 B.C. The second and
third are compatible with the evidence for the EH-FI boundary. The definition of
time periods proposed here, however, is in terms of radiocarbon dates, and does
not depend onan assumed calibration.
Subphases
Late Cuautepec
Early Cuautepec
Late LaPastora
(Atoto)
Early LaPastora
(Totolica)
EI Arbolillo
(Iglesia)
Bomba
Ayotla
Coapexco
Cuautepec subphases. The upper levels of the EI Ar-
bolillo east test of 1965 now appear to represent only an
early portion of the La Pastora subphase, matching
Vaillant's Levels 9-7 at Zacatenco and Levels 12-11 of
McBride's pit 2 at Atlamica. A Late La Pastora sub-
phase follows. It is not identifiable from primary refuse
in our tests at EI Arbolillo, but occurs abundantly in
Levels 10-8 of McBride's Pit 2 and in Level 6at Zacaten-
co. Very similar material is found at many sites
elsewhere in the Basin, where it is identifiable from the
abundance of red-on-white painted decoration and of a
form which Blanton has called the "interior ledge
rim."26 McBride's Pit 3 (Levels 10-6) indicates, in addi-
tion, the existence of a late variant of the Cuautepec sub-
phase, in which the lacquer-like "yellow-white" ware
virtually vanishes, A-type figurines prevail, and a red-
on-buff (Cuautepec Red-on-Buff) becomes prominent.
This, the latest segment of the pre- Ticoman sequence,
evidently postdates the latest refuse from our EI Ar-
bolillo west excavation of 1965, but may be represented
26. J . R. Parsons, "Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Texcoco
Region, Mexico," Memoirs, Mus. of Anthropology, U. of Mich. 3
(1971) fig. 52: a, b.
in Zacatenco refuse (in Level 4 of Trench D, and
perhaps in other trenches).
In dealing with chronology in our area, there is some
agreement now to use separate schemes to identify time
segments, on the one hand, and cultural entities on the
other.
27
It has been proposed to abandon such content-
laden terms as "Prec1assic" and "Formative" and to
replace them by units referring to time only ("Early
Horizon," "First Intermediate"). Cultural phases may
then be assigned to them as the evidence may suggest. A
sequence of time segments is proposed for the time
range under discussion here and cultural units are
assigned to them in Table 1.
The periods tend to match the cultural units assigned
to them in one-to-one fashion primarily because, in a
publication now in press,28 the Basin of Mexico is
proposed as the locus of a "master sequence" for
western Mesoamerica.
29
We thus recommend that dis-
cussions of dating in other regions be conducted in
27. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10)88-108; Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 20).
28. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 20).
29. For a discussion of this concept, seeJ ohn H. Rowe, "Stages and
Periods inArchaeological Interpretation," SWJA (1962) 40-54.
terms of contemporaneity with one or more segments of
the sequence in the Basin of Mexico. The advantages of
this are threefold: 1) chronological statements can be
brief, unambiguous, comparable in form and meaning,
and explicit in their degree of precision; 2) age and
cultural content can be discussed separately; and 3)
revisions and amendments are easier to make even
within the master sequence itself. It is thus possible, with
the aid of a yardstick of this kind, to ask whether or not
the EI Arbolillo subphase extends back into FI -1 in the
northern Basin, or whether or not the occupation of
Coapexco lasts beyond EH-2.
Traditions
The distributions of empirically associated sets of
cultural elements, in time and in space, can be effectively
systematized by "genetic" correlation as advocated by
Rouse.
3o
The durability in time and/or the cohesive dis-
tribution in space of some of these sets are acknowl-
edged under a variety of labels, the more common ones
being "style" and "tradition."3) In the sequence con-
sidered here, at least three broad styles or traditions can
be singled out on the basis of interesting time-space dis-
tributions. Like many such units, these are "of less than
whole cultural scope,"32 and do not embrace a full range
of evidence in a given segment of time or space. One of
their functions is to raise questions which further in-
ference may then attempt to answer.
One such question is raised, for the Ixtapaluca phase,
by the presence of the oft-discussed San Lorenzo -
"Olmec" complex of vessel shapes (dishes, with or
without bolstered rims; cylinders; "thin" neckless jars or
tecomates), wares (e.g. whites), decorative techniques
(differential firing, excision, rocker-stamping), design
motifs (crossed bands, zoned crosshatching, brackets,
opposed scrolls, paw-wings, flame eyebrows and
others"), figurines (plow-eyed and baby-face), projectile
points (small pointed-stem forms) and lapidary items
(iron ore mirrors, greenstone beads and figures, mica
sheets). This San Lorenzo tradition is strongly
represented at Coapexco and at San Lorenzo itself on
the Gulf coast
33
in EH-2 times, and lasts into EH-3 times
in both regions. It is also in evidence at sites ranging
from Honduras to Morelos and Guerrero, in roughly
30. Irving Rouse, "On theCorrelation of Phases of Culture," AmAnth
57(4) (1955) 718-720.
31. Gordon R. Willey and P. Phillips, Method and Theory in American
Archaeology (Chicago 1958)36-39.
32. Ibid., p. 38.
33. M.D. Coe, "The Archaeological Sequence at San Lorenzo
Tenochtitlan, Veracruz, Mexico," Cont., U. of Calif. Arch. Research
Facility 8(1970) 21-34.
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 97
contemporaneous phases.
34
Such far-flung affinities
suggest contacts of an essential and sustained nature,
and have provoked much speculation.
35
It has been
shown that trade was involved.
36
Other aspects of this
interaction remain hypothetical, though they may have
been more important. If the southern Gulf at that time
was ahead of the rest of Mesoamerica in productivity
channeled toward socio-political ends, then it is there
that we must seek the principal center of the network
which pooled and redistributed goods and information
to other less developed regions. Such redistribution may
have occurred through a variety of interactions which
need not have been the same from region to region. Nor
should we prejudge the ultimate sources, perhaps equal-
ly diverse, of the goods and ideas being circulated. There
are now hints, for example, that human representations
in "Olmec" style may be earlier in Guerrero than
elsewhere,37 a possibility foreseen some years ago by
Miguel Covarrubias.
A second tradition may be defined from a set of
ceramic attributes which, while highly distinctive, are
not shared to any extent with Gulf coast or San
Lorenzo-related pottery elsewhere. Compared to the
latter, this pottery, which we shall call the "Tlatilco
style" (it has also been referred to as the "Rio Cuautla"
complex, the "Red-on-Brown bottle" complex, the
34. C. F. Baudez and P. Becquelin, "Archeologie de los Naranjos,
Honduras," Etudes Mesoamericaines, 2 (1973); Robert R. Sharer and
J . C. Gifford, "Preclassic Ceramics from Chalchuapa, EI Salvador,
and Their Relationships with the Maya Lowlands," AmAnt 35 (4)
(1970) 441-462; D. F. Green and G. W. Lowe, "Altamira and Padre
Piedra, Early Preclassic Sites in Chiapas, Mexico," Papers of New
World Arch. Foundation 20 (Utah 1967); M. D. Coe and K. V.
Flannery, "Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal
Guatemala," Smithsonian Inst. Cont. to Anthropology 3 (Washington
1967); K. V. Flannery, "The 01mec and the Valley of Oaxaca: A
Model for Interregional Interaction inFormative Times," inDumbar-
ton Oaks Con! on the Olmec, Elizabeth P. Benson, ed., (1968) 79-117;
D. C. Grove, "The Highland and Olmec Manifestation: A Considera-
tion of What It Is and Isn't," in Mesoamerican Archaeology and New
Approaches (Austin 1974) 109-128.
35. A. Caso, "Existi6 un imperio Olmeca?" Mem. El Colegio Nacional
5(Mexico 1964); M. D. Coe, America's First Civilization (New York
1968) 95; Flannery, op.cit. (in note 34); Green and Lowe, op.cit. (in
note 34); Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1).
36. R. H. Cobean et aI., "Obsidian Trade at San Lorenzo
Tenochtitlan," Science 174(1971) 666-671; J . W. Pires-Ferreira, "For-
mative Mesoamerican Exchange Networks with Special Reference tn
the Valley of Oaxaca," Mem., Museum of Anthropology 7 (U. of
Michigan 1975).
37. L. I. Paradis, "The Tierra Caliente of Guerrero: An Archae-
ological and Ecological Study," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation
(Yale 1974); E. S. Brush, "The Archaeological Significance of
Ceramic Figurines from Guerrero, Mexico," Unpublished Ph.D. dis-
sertation (Columbia University 1968).
98 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al,
"Amacuzac" style, and as the tertium quid at Tlatilc0
38
)
is not particularly distinctive in ware attributes (its bur-
nished surfaces come in several shades of brown and
red), and it is limited in its vocabulary of decorative
designs, which are mainly rectilinear elements such as
chevrons and pendant triangles. It has, however, an ex-
tremely varied range of vessel forms, unparalelled at this
time in Mesoamerica (bottles of many kinds, effigies,
pedestal cups, jarras [concave-sided goblets], stirrup-
spout jars, tripods, and tetrapods) and a distinctive
array of decorative techniques (gadrooning, ribbing,
lobing, modelling, and painting in red-on-buff,
sometimes enhanced with smoky resist). Associated
figurines (the D and K types) are also distinctive.
The distribution of this tradition defies simple
generalization. In the Basin, it is most visible in the
Tlatilco burials, particularly those of EH-3 and EH-4
times, i.e. those contemporary with Manantial. Some of
its markers, however, occur in refuse at all sites of EH-2,
3, and 4 date. It is therefore an integral, though fluc-
tuating, ingredient of the Ixtapaluca phase. Its weakest
expression in these periods is at Coapexco, where it is
manifest only as gadrooning, as occasional bottle forms
(bearing, however, San Lorenzo-style excised designs)39
and as red-on-buff painting (mainly on flat-based dis-
hes, rarely on ollas or bottles as at Tlatilco). Outside the
Basin, in Morelos, it is strongly represented in graves
40
but seemingly less so in refuse. Recent work in
Michoacan
41
and in Colima
42
indicates its existence in
West Mexico in the Early Horizon, perhaps as early as
EH-l. Its continuing importance is evident in West
Mexican grave pottery of later times at Chupicuaro and
in Colima. In the Basin and perhaps outside of it, time,
spate and context thus all appear to affect the repre-
sentation of this tradition.
David Grove
43
and one of us (P.T.) have proposed
that the Central Highlands, in EH times, may have been
astride a boundary between two spheres of influence:
one of them that of the San Lorenzo Olmec tradition,
centered to the east and including the rest of
38. Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1).
39. M. D. Coe, The Jaguar's Children (NewYork 1965)fig. 36.
40. D. C. Grove, "San Pablo, Nexpa and the Early Formative
Archaeology of Morelos, Mexico," Vanderbilt University Publications
in Anthropology 12(1974) 36.
41. J . A. Oliveros, "Nuevas exploraciones en El Opeiio, Michoacan,"
in The Archaeology of West Mexico, Betty Bell, ed., (Ajijic 1974) 182-
201.
42. I. Kelly, "Stirrup Pots fromColima: SomeImplications," inibid.,
206-211.
43. Grove, op.cit. (innote 34) 109-128;Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 5).
Mesoamerica and the Gulf coast; the other, that of the
Tlatilco style, basically western, perhaps with distant af-
finities in the Andean area.
44
Nevertheless, the precise
reality behind the evidence in the Basin of Mexico
remains obscure. A distinct social or ethnic identity of
the principal bearers of the Tlatilco tradition seems one
possibility. Perhaps, as Sanders and Price imply, 45the
users of Tlatilco-style pottery have a better claim to be
indigenous to the Central Highlands than those who
promoted there the adoption of San Lorenzo-style
goods.
Our third tradition owes its recognition, again, to a
distribution outside the Basin. Michael D. Coe
46
was
among the first to note the significance of a kind of
white incised pottery shared by a number of early
Mesoamerican phases. Its hallmarks are the "double-
line-break" motif incised on or near the lip, which is
often flattened and ledge-like, and geometric designs
("sunbursts" and "panels") incised on the interior of the
base. The composite-silhouette bowl is sometimes,
though not always, associated with this decoration. In
the Isthmus and some other regions, figurines with large
punched pupils co-occur, e.g. in Morelos, though in the
Basin they are missing until the appearance of Type A
late in the Cuautepec subphase. As atradition, this com-
plex is thus narrower in scope, being essentially an
association of attributes of white ware, though further
search and comparison may reveal additional markers.
The remarkable aspect of this association, which we
shall term the "Double Line Break" tradition, is that,
like the San Lorenzo style, it occurs as a broad horizon
over much of Mesoamerica, from coastal Guatemala to
Guerrero and the Huasteca. Its position in time has
become more definite since Coe's original observations,
and it now firmly occupies a time-band centered on
periods FI-l and FI-2. It thus perpetuates the unity of
nascent Mesoamerica beyond the time when the
monuments were mutilated and buried at San Lorenzo.
If La Venta then replaces San Lorenzo as the hub of a
Mesoamerican exchange network, Lowe may be right in
calling this style "Late Olmec."47 If Grove is correct in
linking such pottery and punched-eye figurines (Type C-
8) to the reliefs and the jade at Chalcatzingo, the case for
such a label is further strengthened. Unfortunately, it is
44. Green and Lowe, op.cit. (innote 34) 70; Grove, op.cit. (innote 34)
109-128;Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 5).
45. WilliamT. Sanders and Barbara J . Price, Mesoamerica, the Evolu-
tion of a Civilization (NewYork 1968) 119.
46. M. D. Coe, "La Victoria. An Early Site on the Pacific Coast of
Guatemala," Papers of the Peabody Museum 53 (Harvard University
1961).
47. Green and Lowe, op.cit. (innote 34) 65.
not certain that the reliefs or jades at La Venta and
Chalcatzingo were carved after 950 B.C., particularly
since we know jades on other occasions to have been
heirlooms (as Cerro de las Mesas).48 The legitimacy of
the "Olmec" label is thus not certain. In this light, the
absence of Olmec-style jades and monuments in
Zacatenco contexts in the Basin may be significant. Vet
it does seem clear that the Double Line Break tradition
succeeds the San Lorenzo style as a unifying element of
Mesoamerica for two or three centuries, until it fades
away and regional diversity becomes mOre pronounced.
The phases that foHow, at least until Ticoman, are less
easily broken down into subsets of elements with dis-
crete and cohesive histories. McBride may be correct,
though,49 in seeing in A-type figurines and perhaps in
cursive-style incision another episode of contact
between the Basin and the Gulf coast.
The source of the Double Line Break tradition
remains obscure. The motif itself and interior-base inci-
sion both go back to EH -2 times in the Basin, but occur
then in low frequencies and only on brown burnished
dishes. White ware with these attributes first becomes
abundant in Manantial, at a date 'which seems earlier
than the end of the San Lorenzo phase in Veracruz. The
combination is also found on "Progreso White," in the
contemporary or possibly earlier Ojite phase of the
north-central Gulf coast. 50 Finally, orange-brown
pottery of the Sesame 1 phase at San Miguel Amuco,
Guerrer0
51
exhibits these features at perhaps an even
earlier date, ca. 1500 B.C. The Double Line Break
tradition may thus have emerged and spread on the
northern and western peripheries of the San Lorenzo
sphere before it came to prevail in the Olmec heartland.
Subsistence
The subsistence basis of Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco
communities is gradually becoming better known, both
through the direct evidence of food remains and through
the indirect evidence of settlement pattern, viewed in
ecological perspective.
Plants of which we have macro-remains from our sites
include maize (Zea mays), from virtually all levels of all
sites; the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), from EH-3,
48. Philip Drucker, "The Cerro de las Mesas Offering of J ade and
Other Materials," Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American
Ethnology 137 (Washington, D.C. 1955) 29-68.
49. H. W. McBride, "Middle Formative Ceramics from the
Cuauhtitlan Region, Valley of Mexico," Papers Read at Meetings of
Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, Jalapa (1973).
50. S. J effrey K. Wilkerson, "An Archaeological Sequence from San-
ta Luisa, Veracruz, Mexico," Contributions, U. of Calif
Archaeological Research Facility 18(1973) 37-50.
51. Paradis, op.cit. (in note 37).
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 99
EH-4 and FI-I-2 refuse from EI Terremote, Santa
Catarina, and EI Arbolillo, respectively; the sieva bean
(P. lunatus), known from a single EH-4 specimen from
Santa Catarina and previously reported only from
deposits some 2,000 years younger;52 amaranth
(Amaranthus sp.), of which seeds were recovered in large
numbers in Feature Pit 8 at Santa Catarina; and prickly
pear (Opuntia sp.), of which seeds occur in Zacatenco
refuse at Santa Catarina and EI Arbolillo. The first three
plants are demonstrably cultigens, the last two mayor
may not be. Squash (Cucurbita sp.) and chayote
(Sechium sp.) should probably be included among
cultivated plants known in EH and early FI times, since
they occur in much earlier deposits at Tlapacoya. 53
The three 25-28 mm. long cobs recovered in 1967 at
Ayotla- Tlapacoya (one from each of the subphases at
the site) bore 10 to 14 rows of kernels and have been
described as tripsacoid by Paul Mangelsdorf. 54 Our
later corn gives some indications of improving its
characteristics over time (thus, La Pastora kernels show
flattening due to crowding). The fact that the variety of
maize grown in EH times would have had a low yield
and might today represent a questionable investment of
planting time and effort
55
suggests three possibilities,
none of them exclusive of the others. 1) As in the valley
of Oaxaca, water-table farming, suggested by the
lakeshore position of most of the earliest sites, may have
been the main choice of a very few economically sound
possibilities for the farmer of EH 1-3 times. 2) Year-
round cropping may have been practiced to bring yield
up to needed levels. Year-round cultivation is not
general practice in the Basin today, but occurs in
chinampa settings.
56
3) Other resources (domesticated or
wild) may have been more important relative to corn
than they are later.
The third possibility receives some support from a
consideration of food bones, based on identifications
kindly provided by Kent V. Flannery.57 Taking the ma-
jor sources of meat represented in our refuse (e.g. deer,
52. L. Kaplan, "Archaeological Phaseolus from Tehuacan," in The
Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, D. S. Byers, ed., (Texas 1967) 201-
211.
53. Niederberger, op.cit. (in note 21).
54. Paul Mangelsdorf, personal communication.
55. Anne V. T. Kirkby, "The Use of Land and Water Resources in the
Past and Present, Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico," Memoirs, Museum of
Anthropology, U. of Michigan 5(1973) 127, fig. 48.
56. J ose Luis Lorenzo, "Clima y agricultura en Teotihuadm," in
Materiales para la Arqueologia de Teotihuaccin, J . L. Lorenzo, ed.,
Investigacions 17, INAH (Mexico 1968) 68; Armillas, op.cit. (in note
8); Tolstoy, op.cit. (in note 4).
57. K. V. Flannery, "Archaeological Systems Theory and Early
Mesoamerica," in Anthropological Archaeology in the Americas
100 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
Table 2. Sherds and food bones at Ayotla- Tlapacoya, EI Arbolillo and Lorna deAtoto.
Site Period Sherds Deer Turtle Water All bone
bone bone bird bone
Lorna deAtoto FI-4 13,000 (22).002 (4).000 (1).000 (50).004
Lorna deAtoto FI-3 6,000 (15).002 -.000 (3).001 (30).005
EI Arbolillo FI-3 330,000* (28).000 (53).000 (55).000 (307).001
EI Arbolillo FI-2 20,000* (32).002 (8).000 (2).000 (111).005
Ayotla- Tlapacoya FI-l 7,700 (15).002 (45).006 (17).002 (100).013
Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-4 9,000 (39).004 (151).017 (30).003 (323).036
Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-3 6,000 (31).005 (31).005 (13).002 (125).021
Sherd counts include body sherds and arerounded off. Bonecounts givenumbers of specimens in
parentheses and ratios to sherds expressed in thousandths. Sherd counts marked * areestimates based on
partial counts.
mud-turtle and water birds) separately or together, we
find that the ratio of food bones to potsherds through
time drops from the EH to FI periods (TABLE 2). This
ratio seems particularly significant in the case of deer,
which is both the largest and most abundantly repre-
sented land animal at these sites, and whose remains
seem a promising general index of meat consumption. In
this connection, it would seem that the frequency of deer
would be affected negatively, if at all, by the lakeshore
ecology of Ayotla- Tlapacoya, where mud-turtle and
aquatic birds can be expected to cut into the meat diet.
Another indication of the importance of hunting
relative to other subsistence pursuits comes from the
relative representation of coot (Fulica americana), a
year-round resident of the Basin, compared to that of
other water birds, which are winter immigrants. 58
Though coot represents only 30/0 of waterfowl residing in
winter on neighboring Lake Texcoco, it accounts for
about 340/0 of all bird bone in Ixtapaluca deposits at
Tlapacoya (TABLE 3). This may point to more fowling
outside the winter season and thus to a greater year-
round importance of fowling than in later times. By
suggesting a more uniform annual cycle of subsistence
activities, it may also support the second possibility
stated earlier, that of continuous agricultural cropping.
Such an inference is symmetrical to Flannery's argu-
ment that winter fowling implies the scheduling of
agricultural labor in the summer growing season, which
it presumably does from Bomba onward. 59
The implications of site numbers and distribution for
(Washington, D. C. 1968) 67-68, and personal communication;
Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1).
58. Flannery, op.cit. (innote 57) 83-85.
59. Flannery, op.cit. (innote 57).
understanding subsistence practices in EH and early FI
times in the Basin have been examined at some length
elsewhere
60
and will not be reviewed here in any detail. It
will be enough to recall that a strong concentration of
settlement on the shores of the southern lakes was found
to exist prior to Manantial. From Manantial onward,
the proportion of piedmont sites increases, first in the
zone of higher rainfall, then in drier settings. By FI -3,
some small-scale irrigation may have been practiced on
the Basin floor, as it almost certainly was in FI -4. The
movement of some groups away from the lakes onto the
hillslopes, and, in some cases, their eventual retreat, may
have paralleled a decline in effective moisture from
Manantial onward, reinforced perhaps by man-caused
erosion. Responses to these trends may have included
irrigation in a few inland locations, further investment
of labor in lakeshore plots, and the growth of Cuicuilco.
Renewed colonization of the piedmont takes place in
60. Tolstoy, op.Ctt. (innote 4).
Table 3. Coot vs. other water birds at Ayotla-Tlapacoya, EI
Arbolillo, and Lorna deAtoto.
Site Period Coot Winter Total
Migrants
Lorna deAtoto FI-4 1 1
Lorna deAtoto FI-3 3 3
EI Arbolillo FI-3 (7 (12%) 51 58
EI Arbolillo
FI,;.2
3 3
Ayotla- Tlapacoya FI-l 2 (10%) 18 20
Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-4 7 (19%) 30 37
Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-3 8(57%) 6 14
Table 4. Obsidian and other chipped stone at sites in the Basin of Mexico.
Period Coapexco Tlatilco EI Terremote Santa Catarina EI Arbolillo
57.8 kms 55.5 kms 48.9 kms 46.5 kms 44.5 kms
FI-4 79% .0138 61% .0018
FI-3 93% .0204 71% .0007
84% .0264
FI-2 84% .0055
FI-l
EH-4 63% .0496
EH-3 60% .0342
EH-2 53% .0062
The percentage in each column refers to the percentage of chipped stone constituted by obsidian. The four-
decimal ratio is the ratio of obsidian to sherds in that unit. The distances with the site names are straight line
distances from the Otumba flow, uncorrected for terrain.
Ticoman times
61
and may reflect another cycle of pop-
ulation growth. As Blanton suggests,62 new varieties of
maize may have fueled this expansion.
It should be noted, finally, that a decline in the stan-
dard of living in the Basin after Manantial times is
hinted at by three kinds of admittedly questionable
evidence. One is the drabness of the bulk of material
remains in refuse at all known Zacatenco phase sites as
compared to the more ornamented and more varied Ix-
tapaluca materials. Another is the poverty of burial
goods in FI times.
63
The third is a possibly greater
reliance on hardship foods. This could be the meaning
of an increase in human bone, some of it charred, in
domestic refuse in FI-3 deposits at EI Arbolillo. It may
also be indicated by the occurrence' of carbonized Opun-
tia seeds in FI -1 and FI -2 trash, but not earlier, at Santa
Catarina and EI Arbolillo. Fruit debris and wet trash in
general need to be discarded in relatively large amounts
to be preserved in the manner that dry material more
commonly is. Today, Opuntia is a supplementary food,
and is normally consumed in modest amounts.
Production and Exchange
Our best information on these topics at present relates
to obsidian. It is the outcome of a study still in progress
61. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10) 88-108; Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 20).
62. R.B. Blanton, "Prehispanic Adaptation inthe Ixtapalapa Region,
Mexico," Science 175 (1972) 1321.
63. G. C. Vaillant, "Excavations at Zacatenco," AnthPap AMNH
32:1 (1930) 188: ibid., Excavations at El Arbolillo, AnthPap AMNH
35:2 (1935) 185.
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 101
Tlapacoya
42.2 kms
82% .0666
72% .0364
67% .0142
by one of us (M. W.B.) of the attributes of our excavated
lithic materials. These number about 4100 items, some
3000 of them obsidian. Trace-element determinations on
54 of the obsidian pieces have been performed by
Robert Cobean.
64
Together with previous analyses of
more diverse samples,65 these provide a much-needed
context for the cultural evidence.
Since the obsidian deposits nearest to our sites are
located near Otumba in the upper Teotihuacan valley,
the mere presence of that material anywhere in the rest
of the Basin implies a regional distribution system. Not
unexpectedly, the relative abundance of obsidian, as
measured both against alternative materials (chal-
cedony, quartzite, basalt) and as a ratio of total
refuse (the latter taken to equal total pottery sherds)
shows a fairly consistent fall-off with distance from the
Otumba area (TABLE 4), with only EI Arbolillo standing
out as under-supplied relative to its distance from the
source. This anomaly is interesting and may mean that
EI Arbolillo depended on some intermediate community
for its supply. Superimposed on this geographic pattern
is a temporal one: the obsidian supply climbs steadily to
FI-I and 2 times, then seemingly declines. This
downward trend may be related to the overall economic
stress hypothesized in the preceding section for FI times,
and might represent either a failure of supply to keep up
with a growing population or as a disruption of supply
routes due to socio-political conditions.
Sourcing by Cobean and by Pires-Ferreira of some of
this obsidian confirms that it is mainly from the flow
64. Robert Cobean, personal communication.
65. Cobean et aI., op.cit. (in note 36); Pires-Ferreira, op.cit. (in note
36).
102 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
near Otum ba (Barranca de los Estetes). The small site of
Altica, some 10 km. from that source,66 where the ratio
of obsidian to sherds is about .700 on the surface, looks
very much like a community engaged in producing obsi-
dian preforms for exchange. It was occupied from EH-4
to FI-3 times, contemporaneously with the peak of obsi-
dian representation at our sites. Otumba, however, is
not the only source represented in our materials. Ix-
tapaluca material from Tlapacoya includes the green
Pachuca variety, "group A" of unknown source (also
represented at San Lorenzo) and three specimens which
Cobean tentatively attributes to EI Ocotito, Guerrero.
Except for one specimen from overlying Bomba
deposits, that source is not represented later on, though
Pachuca and Group A are. Single specimens represent
four other sources in the Zacatenco phase (Zinapecuaro,
Penjamo, source "c" and a new unknown source).
Relative to the number of specimens (42) tested, the
diversity of sources appears to decrease slightly in
Zacatenco times.
A census of the blades analyzed by Cobean reveals an
additional interesting fact: 7 of the 11 blades analyzed
are made of exotic obsidian, while only 11of the remain-
ing 43 specimens are of obsidian from outside the Basin.
All 5 of the EH blades are exotic. It is not yet clear
whether obsidian destined for blades was imported, or
the blades themselves. Both, of course, may have been
imported, though blade cores, whole or fragmentary,
are extremely scarce at all sites, and blades tend to be
small and uniform in size, suggesting that initial core
reduction at least was taking place elsewhere.
67
There is
also a remarkable gap in technology between the blades
and the bulk of chipped items from all sites, which were
produced from unprepared cores by a smashing tech-
nique. This suggests little ability to produce blades on
the part of the average inhabitant of these sites and
therefore a degree of specialization involving obsidian
workers. Some specialization is also indicated at the site
of Lorna de Atoto. The obsidian from that location
shows an unusually low ratio of finished products to
waste, and includes several larger blades and small flat
flakes generated by facial retouch.
We have less information on the making or trading of
pottery or other manufactures. Probable trade wares at
EH sites include Xochiltepec White (also known as
"kaolin" and "white clear through"), 68a grey ware of
66. Fig. 1,No. 81; Sanders et aI., op.cit. (innote 13).
67. P. Tolstoy, "Utilitarian Artifacts of Central Mexico," in Hand-
book of Middle American Indians 10:1, R. W. Wauchope, ed., (Tulane
1971)275.
68. Coe, op.cit. (innote 33) 25.
probable Oaxacan origin at Tlapacoya
69
and some of the
orange-slipped and caramel-colored wares found in
minute amounts at many sites. Less clear-cut, and more
interesting for that reason, is the case of moderately
represented categories of limited distribution, e.g.
differentially fired ware and various whites, reds, and
bichromes. We lack as yet the technical analyses to tell
us which, if any, were supplied in the Basin from one or
a few sources and which, on the contrary, represent
widely reproduced fashions.
For ground stone, some evidence exists that Coapex-
co, in EH-2 and EH-3 times, may have been a produc-
tion center for manos and metates. The evidence consists
in the unusually high ratio of these objects to sherds on
the surface (.0168, more than 4.5 times higher than at
any other site, and 20 times higher than at most other
sites), the presence of unfinished and unused examples,
the local availability of the materials used, and, less
clearly, patterns of occurrence over the site. Another
possible craft center for ground stone is the Loma de
Atoto, where the ratio of ground stone to sherds in the
Totolica subphase, though considerably lower than at
Coapexco (.0036), still seems out of line with values
prevailing at other sites (which range from .0010 to
.00001).
Among minor or luxury materials, jadeite is scarce
but occurs in Tlatilco graves (including the early Burial
60, Season II, illustrated by Covarrubias).70 Serpentine
beads are found at Coapexco, and two unfinished
specimens suggest lapidary work at the site. Earspools
of unidentified greenstone occur in a Manantial feature
pit at Santa Catarina. Iron ore and mica fragments are
found at Coapexco. All these artifacts and materials
clearly indicate trade, but their sources remain to be
identified.
Social and Political Aspects
Sound time-space control and some understanding of
economic constraints are essential to any attempt to
find, in archeological data, structured relationships
among people. So far, because of more basic needs, our
search for the social and political implications of our
data has been cursory and informal. The remarks that
follow may need extensive revision in the future.
Of the data available to us, only the 53 surface con-
centrations of Coapexco 71and the 379 graves at Tlatilco
69. Muriel Porter-Weaver, "Tlapacoya Pottery in the Museum
Collection," Indian Notes and Monographs, Misc. Series 56(Museum
of theAmerican Indian, HeyeFoundation, New York 1967)29-30.
70. Miguel Covarrubias, Indian Art of Mexico and Central America
(NewYork 1966).
71. Tolstoy and Fish, op.cit. (innote 11).
promise, by their scope, to illustrate a representative
range of statuses and roles within the communities that
concern us.
On the surface of apart of the Coapexco site, 53 tracts
can be outlined around an equal number of concen-
trations of refuse. The latter are thought to mark the
positions of dwellings. The contents of each of these
tracts have yet to be compared in detail with each other
and with the yield of the four excavated structures. For
the present, we can say that a rather standard assort-
ment of ceramics seems to prevail at the site, with few if
any hints of consistent differences in wealth or prestige
among households. If and when such differences are
defined, they promise to be continuous in nature and
moderate in degree. However, the frequencies of
different classes of material (e.g., figurines, chipped
stone, ground stone) and their ratios relative to pottery
do show perceptible patterns, which include bimodal
frequency distributions and spatial patterning. While
not indicative of rank, this evidence does suggest some
specialization and localization of common activities
such as stone chipping, mano and metate manufacture,
and perhaps magic or healing practices associated with
the figurines.
Status differences, as opposed to occupational ones,
seem more apparent in the Tlatilco graves, at least if we
interpret the quantities of offerings in them as measures
of status. The number of vessels in anyone grave ranges
from zero to 23, and other objects also occur in variable
amounts. Some abundantly furnished graves are those
of women, and some of children. Status differences at
birth thus may have existed, though the evidence does
not require them. Again, the contrasts seem graded on a
continuum and the range in quality of goods is rather
limited, despite the remarkable diversity of some
ceramic attributes. Differences unrelated to rank also
clearly exist, among them those associated with sex
(oUas and tecomates tend to occur in female graves,
jarras and some kinds of bottle are associated with
males) and probably with occupation. Some of the
differences between graves, such as the two dominant
orientations, approximately N-S and E-W, remain to be
interpreted.
Differences in function or importance between sites
within the settlement system are difficult to demonstrate
with the information at hand. The evidence for craft ac-
tivities at Altica, Lorna de Atoto, and Coapexco has
been mentioned, but it is difficult to assess, as com-
parative information from other sites is inadequate, and
distribution networks for craft products remain to be
determined. It may be significant that the proportion of
red-brown storage and cooking ware (Vaillant's "bay
ware") is significantly higher at some sites than at
others. At EI Arbolillo, for example, the proportion (ca.
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 103
34% in FI-3, 54% in FI-4) is about twice what it is at
Lorna de Atoto (ca. 19%in FI-3, 25% in FI-4). Sanders
72
similarly notes very high proportions of "bay" at Venta
de Carpio.
73
As suggested in an earlier paper,74 bay ware
should be considered as non-prestigious pottery of
relatively low value. Its abundance in refuse can
therefore be considered an index of a low standard of
living or low status.
It is also certain that some sites in EH and FI 1-4
times were considerably larger than others, with some 15
of the 90 sites listed in our earlier study75 displaying
refuse over a surface greater than 10 hectares. As dis-
cussed in that study, the nature of the field evidence does
not preclude the possibility that other comparably large
communities are represented today by what appear to be
small sites. It is nevertheless significant that most of the
measurably large sites are in ecologically favorable
situations and that EI Arbolillo and Venta de Carpio,
mentioned above, are neither large nor favorably
located from an agricultural point of view.
Lorna de Atoto not only rates as one of the 15larger
and better situated sites known from EH and FI 1-4
times, but also illustrates two characteristics of such
sites: that they tend to be founded earlier and to be oc-
cupied longer than others (Coapexco is a notable excep-
tion to this), and that they are the ones, in most cases,
that form pairs (in one case, a triplet) of satellite com-
munities located 1km. or less from each other. Lorna de
Atoto is one of a pair with Tlatilco. Similar spacing is
evident (see FIG. 1) between sites near Tetelpa (Nos. 12
and 13), Tlaltenco (Nos. 49 and 50) and Cuautlalpan
(Nos. 41, 42 and 43), with all but one of these nine sites
falling into the "large" class. It seems likely that such
spatially close communities result from the fission of the
older one of the set. It can also be supposed that they
maintained special relationships with each other over
time through the exchange both of goods and of mates;
there may also have been political relationships.
Similar though necessarily less certain interpretations
suggest themselves for the geographic site clusters which
emerge in FI times and are plainly evident in the
Ticoman phase.
76
We are presently undertaking acensus
of such clusters and of their parameters through time.
Of the 30 clusters visible in Ticoman times (this number
72. Sanders et aI., op.cit. (innote 13)29.
73. Fig. 1,No. 89.
74. Tolstoy and A. Guenette, "Le Placement deTlatilco dans Iecadre
du pre-classique du Bassin de Mexico," J. Soc. Americanistes, 54:1
(1965) 47.
75. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 4).
76. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10)fig. 5.
104 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
includes some on the West shore, excluded from Par-
sons' map, but not those in areas to the north surveyed
since 1974 by Parsons and Sanders), it appears that all
but two exist or contain at least one site in FI-3 or FI-4.
Taking the Ticoman clusters as a baseline, it is therefore
possible to view earlier settlement history as that of the
founding of these clusters, their filling with increasing
numbers of member-sites and, in some cases, their fis-
sion to produce new clusters.
Nine widely spaced foci of settlement are thus visible
in EH-2/3 times, all but two consisting of a single site
each. The number of foci rises in succeeding periods (16
in EH -4 and FI -1-2, 25 in FI -3), as does the number of
sites contained in each. Clusters contain as many as 5
sites in FI-3, and 16 sites in Ticoman (the latter figure
may be inflated through the inclusion of non-
contemporaneous sites). It is interesting to note that
during the retreat of settlement during FI-4, several foci
vanish but the overall number of multi-site clusters in-
creases (from 40% to 59% of total settlements). There is
also an increase in the average number of sites per
cluster. By Ticoman times, 83% of all foci of settlement
consist of more than 1site.
Measurable trends through time are also evident in
nearest-neighbor distances within and between clusters
and in cluster diameters. These trends will be described
more completely in a future publication; we note here
only that settlement expansion progresses in FI-3 and
FI-4 times within clusters, while clearly being con-
strained beyond their boundaries. This repulsion between
clusters could be read as hostility between groups with
developing socio-political identities; Parsons in fact, has
proposed such an interpretation for the clusters of
Patlachique (FI-9) times.
77
Many of these are the same
ones we see emerge in FI-3. By Patlachique times, they
are shifting their boundaries at each other's expense
and, in some cases, merging into larger units.
A final observation concerning clusters may shed
some light on their nature: their member-sites most
often share the same environmental setting, whether the
latter is defined by elevation or by kind and amount of
available moisture. Of the 90 sites of our 1975 study,
only 11are exceptions to this observation, and not all of
these are clear-cut. Such a situation would seem to
forecast increasingly marked inequalities in resources as
population grows. While the effect of inequalities may
be seen in the long run as "symbiosis," their immediate
consequence may have been conflict.
A discussion of political relationships within the
Basin cannot omit mention of the site of Cuicuilco.
Though much about Cuicuilco, including its size,
77. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10) 105.
remains unknown, it is clearly one of the largest sites in
the Basin prior to the Middle Horizon. It is also perhaps
one of the oldest, and perhaps the first to have public
architecture. Its existence prompts an important but at
present unanswerable question: how much of the seem-
ing decline in prosperity observed at Zacatenco-phase
sites was across-the-board, and how much due to ex-
ploitive relationships between larger sites and smaller
ones?
Ritual and Religion
A consideration of ritual practices and beliefs brings
us back to Cuicuilco, since public buildings, aside from
figurines and other objects with iconographic content,
are among our few sources of information on religion. It
has not been sufficiently stressed that four construction
stages of the main pyramid at Cuicuilco, and six stages
of the smaller pyramid at "Cuicuilco B" or Pena Pobre,
predate the Ticoman phase. They must go back
therefore at least to FI-4 and perhaps earlier, as their fill
suggests.
78
No other pre- Ticoman ceremonial structures
are known at present in the Basin, though the possibility
that some exist should not be dismissed. Thus, part of
the modern community ofTlapacoya which overlaps the
EH site seems to be built over an artificial mound, which
could well be early.
Figurines form the bulk of evidence for cult from the
Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco phases, but have so far been
rather resistant to interpretation. Their abundance (3.2
per thousand sherds in Coapexco and Ayotla refuse, 1to
0.1 later) shows that the occasions of their use were com-
mon and that they deserve to be called "domestic."
Their disposal in refuse, where they are found broken,
indicates that their life-span was not long, and that,
when it ended, so did their value. Their placement in
graves may mean that they could serve the needs of the
dead as well as of the living, though seemingly they did
not do so after FI -1. Ethnographic parallels from
Mesoamerica suggest protection, curing, and increase as
likely functions.
79
Protection would seem the most com-
patible with placement in graves. Increase, if understood
to include human increase, would fit demographic
trends in an interesting manner: as population grew and
as perceived strain on resources increased with it,
pronatalist ritual might decline, thereby resulting in the
lower figurine-to-sherd ratios in Zacatenco and the
long-range decline of figurine usage in the FI. Curing
may be compatible with placement in graves (following
unsuccessful cures) but, like protection, implies either a
78. J . A. Bennyhoff, personal communication; Heizer and Bennyhoff,
op.cit. (innote 22).
79. Brush, op.cit. (innote 37).
diminished need in FI times or a correspondingly
greater use of other means to the same end. In any event,
figurines do not seem usually to represent deities in the
phases considered here, for we rarely find in them the
recurrent insignia of a limited number of mythical
figures. Rather, those represented must be mostly real
human beings (they are most commonly women) or a
large class of spirits closely patterned after them. The
possibilities of costume and, particularly, headgear as
markers of kin or community affiliation, in that case,
would be considerable and remain to be exploited.
However, that the EH inhabitants of the Basin did
revere a limited number of supernatural beings seems in-
dicated by other evidence. In a study of Olmec
iconography, David 10ralemon
80
sees six and probably
more distinct "gods" as recurrent themes in Olmec art.
Four of these (not counting 10ralemon's god VII, now
included with god I) are represented on 84 pieces of
pottery from Tlatilco and Tlapacoya, which 10ralemon
illustrates. They are identified as Gods I (similar in some
ways to Itzam Na of the Maya, and combining the at-
tributes of the Aztec deities Xiuhcoatl, Tonacatecutli
and Cipactli), III (an avian monster with maize-fertility
associations), VI (equated with Aztec Xipe, also a fertili-
ty figure), and X (so far "inscrutable" and also among
the less certain to exist as a separate personage). These
representations, which may, with considerable con-
fidence, be dated prior to EH -4, are distributed at the
two sites as shown in Table 5. Four-cell tables for each
of the four representations show the differences between
the two sites to be significant with respect to the oc-
currence of all four gods, at probability levels well below
.01 (as determined from chi-squares for I and VI, and
Fisher's exact test for III and X). God VI thus emerges
as the possible abogado of Tlapacoya in EH times, i.e. as
a tutelary deity and conceivably "even as its "deified
tribal ancestor. "81 By contrast, God I (by far the most
prevalent in Olmec art generally) is more frequent at
Tlatilco, where it is accompanied by the avian monster
God III, unreported at Tlapacoya. The Tlatilco distribu-
tion appears repeated at Las Bocas, Puebla, where, of 23
representations figured by 10ralemon, 17pertain to God
I, 6 to God III. We thus have the intriguing fact that,
iconographically and perhaps in their religious practices
and beliefs, the inhabitants of Las Bocas resembled
more those of Tlatilco than those of Tlapacoya.
80. D. J oralemon, "A Study of Olmec Iconography," Studies in Pre-
Columbian Art and Archaeology 7 (Washington, D.C. 1971); The
Olmec Dragon: A Study of Pre-Columbian Iconography (1974), ms.
81. ~. B. Nicholson, "Religion in Prehispanic Central Mexico," in
Handbook of Middle American Indians 10, R.W. Wauchope, ed.,
(Austin 1971)409.
Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 105
Table 5. Representations of mythical beings at Tlatilco and
Tlapacoya.
J oralemon's Tlatilco Tlapacoya Total
"gods":
I 20 31 51
III 4 0 4
VI 0 24 24
X 0 5 5
Total 24 60 84
Concluding Remarks
We shall not try to summarize the complex and uncer-
tain picture which we have reviewed, or to try to give it a
coherence which it inherently lacks. We shall express, in-
stead, some views on the strategy appropriate to our
subject.
Implicit in this research is a certain order of priorities.
We believe archeology has several mutually complemen-
tary tasks, all of which need to be done if any of them
are to be done at all. These tasks include broad-purpose
description, space-time indexing, the inference of unique
historical events (such as the spread of styles), the in-
ference of repetitive events or processes and, ultimately,
the explanation of change. Each presents interesting and
challenging problems, and in each progress stimulates
and constrains progress in the others. Our main concern
is to pace these operations so that a balanced and con-
vincing picture can emerge of the past of our region.
In an initial stage of our work, space-time indexing
was given priority, in the belief that it was there that the
limiting weaknesses of knowledge of the area resided.
Though still and always in need of improvement, our
chronology is now at least capable of supporting a
modicum of historical-stylistic generalization and
provides some assurance that when we try to put
systems back together from surviving parts, the parts at
least belong together in time.
We are also convinced that the plotting of styles, based
on a "normative" view of behavior, and the under-
standing of once-functioning systems, which implies a
"systemic" approach, are both necessary operations,
with each raising problems for the other to solve. We in-
tend to pursue both, and have no sympathy with those
who cannot live with both of these purportedly incom-
patible models or who, on the pretext of building
streamlined theory or replicable methodology, would
dismiss as unimportant problems that they find un-
congenial.
Finally, we hope, along with other optimists, that our
inferences will eventually become incorporated into ex-
planatory models. Unlike other optimists, however,. we
106 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al.
have little faith in the efficacy, for that purpose, of some
one group of models borrowed from geography, infor-
mation theory, or the philosophy of science. The
chances are good that a satisfactory explanation of
change, when it comes, and if it is recognized when it
does come, will not look like any of the "explanations"
currently offered. In the meantime, we shall do what we
can to ascertain past events and conditions in the Basin
of Mexico.
Paul Tolstoy is Professor of A rchaeology at Queens
College, New York, and at the Graduate Center of the
City University of New York. C. Earle Smith is Professor
of Anthropology at the University of Alabama. Ms. Fish is
Field Director of the Queens-CUNY Pre classic Project.
Mr. Boksenbaum is Instructor in Anthropology at Queens
College, CUNY. Ms. Vaughn holds an M.S. degree in in-
formation science and is a participant of the Queens-
CUNY Pre classic Project.