Ancient West Mexicos
Ancient West Mexicos
Time, Space, and Diversity
The ancient societies of western Mexico have long been understudied and misunderstood. Focusing on recent archaeological data, Ancient West Mexicos highlights the diversity and complexity of the region’s pre-Columbian cultures and argues that western Mexico was more similar to the rest of the Mesoamerican world than many researchers have believed. Chapters that treat investigations in Durango, Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, and Michoacán draw on new evidence dating from across millennia, spanning different periods in Mesoamerican history. Contributors analyze materials including ceramics, architectural remains, textiles, and weaving tools to discern the settlement patterns, political structures, and cosmologies of the people who lived at these sites. Featuring intriguing case studies that point to unexpected pathways to sociopolitical complexity in ancient societies, these essays illustrate that the region’s archaeological record can contribute meaningfully to a more nuanced picture of Mesoamerica as a whole. Contributors: Laura Almendros López | Christopher S. Beekman | Mijaely Castañón | Fabio Germán Cupul-Magaña | Manuel Dueñas García | Joshua D. Englehardt | Rafael García de Quevedo-Machain | Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza | Erika Ibarra | Stephen A. Kowalewski | Martha Lorenza López Mestas Camberos | Michael Mathiowetz | Joseph B. Mountjoy | David Muñiz García | M. Nicolás Caretta | José Luis Punzo Díaz | Diego Rangel | Kimberly Sumano Ortega | Jesús Zarco
This volume highlights the new theoretical and methodological approaches being used by researchers in the large Mesoamerican territory considered to be western Mexico. Not focused on a single area, the chapters cover most parts of the region and range temporally from the Formative to the Late Postclassic periods.’—Helen Perlstein Pollard, author of Taríacuri’s Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State
Joshua D. Englehardt, research professor at the Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos at El Colegio de Michoacán, is coeditor of Interregional Interaction in Ancient Mesoamerica. Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza, research professor at the Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos at El Colegio de Michoacán, is coeditor of Alternative Pathways to Complexity: A Collection of Essays on Architecture, Economics, Power, and Cross-Cultural Analysis. Christopher S. Beekman, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver, is the editor of Migrations in Late Mesoamerica.
Contents List of Figures List of Tables Introduction Christopher S. Beekman, Joshua D. Englehardt, and Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza Time: Revised Regional Chronologies 1. The Cultural Sequence during the Formative Period in the Valley of Colima Laura Almendros López 2. The Early Segment of the Chronological Sequence at Los Guachimontones Christopher S. Beekman 3. Revisiting the Archaeology of the Huetamo area, South–Eastern Michoacán, Mexico José Luis Punzo Díaz, Diego Rangel, Erika Ibarra, Jesús Zarco, and Mijaely Castañón 4. The Early Postclassic Aztatlán Colonization of the Pacific Coast of Jalisco Joseph B. Mountjoy, Fabio Germán Cupul–Magaña, Rafael García de Quevedo–Machain, and Martha Lorenza López Mestas Camberos Space: Old Questions, New Methods 5. Architectural Discourse and Sociocultural Structure at Los Guachimontones, Jalisco Kimberly Sumano Ortega and Joshua D. Englehardt 6. Constructing the pre–Hispanic landscape in the Santiago Bayacora Basin, Durango David Arturo Muñiz García and Kimberly Sumano Ortega Diversity: Refined Theoretical Perspectives 7. What the Teuchitlan Tradition is, and what the Teuchitlán Tradition is Not Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza 8. Cerro de Santiago: An Epiclassic Site within the World System of Central–Northern Mexico M. Nicolás Caretta and Manuel Dueñas García 9. Weaving our Life: The Economy and Ideology of Cotton in Postclassic West Mexico Michael Mathiowetz 10. Conclusions Stephen A. Kowalewski Index Contributors
