Plaza of the Columns Complex

Ollas, jars, pots, and vases are just some examples of the incredible variety of pottery forms abundantly recovered in Teotihuacan. These sherds carry an astounding amount of information that archaeologists can recover through patient re-piecing of the data. Below we discuss other applications beyond relative chronology that are utilized in ceramic analyses.

Evolution of typology: Changes in ceramic style across time among the recovered pottery assemblage illustrate what the trends at Teotihuacan were in each phase and the rate of these changes. Such evolution of pottery types can be recorded by design type, decoration method, or material type used to manufacture ceramics across time periods.

The following image shows some of the changes in pottery types at Teotihuacan. For example, take the simpler Tzacualli Phase sherd compared to the more elaborate Metepec Phase sherd. The Metepec sherd presents a more elaborate design with painted stucco.

Context information: The distribution, frequency, and type of ceramics from different locations can be used to reconstruct what activities took place at a specific site. For example, a high density of utilitarian wares such as vases, plates, and jars can be an indication of an ancient kitchen. On the other hand, a large concentration of defective and unfinished ceramic assemblages can indicate the workshops where ceramics were manufactured.

Burials also contain ceramic objects used in mortuary rituals. Funerary contexts commonly contain pieces with very sophisticated designs with very little use ware, including some censers, miniatures, and Tlaloc vessels.

Commerce: Some sherds were clearly imported from other regions outside the Teotihuacan Valley. Foreign goods are identified by tracing where the raw materials (clays, tempers, paints, etc.) come from and by their distinct decorative and manufacturing techniques. Such data on the quantity and location of these imported ceramics have provided information on foreign relations between ancient Teotihuacan and immigrant groups from throughout Mesoamerica, as well as enclave settlements.

For example, archaeologists have identified large quantities of “Thin Orange” ware and granular ware that indicate foreign immigrants lived in Teotihuacan. These and many other imported ceramics from the Gulf of Mexico, West Mexico, Oaxaca, and the Maya region, among others, which indicate Teotihuacan was a metropolitan city composed of immigrants from disparate regions across Mesoamerica.

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Literature consulted

Rattray, E. C. 2000a. Teotihuacan: Ceramics, Chronology, and Cultural Trends. University of Pittsburgh Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology, No. 13.

Rattray, E. C. 2000b. Teotihuacan: Ceramics, Chronology, and Cultural Trends–Color Illustrations. Latin American Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh. <URL: http://www.pitt.edu/~laad/rattray/>

Rattray, E. C. 2001. Teotihuacan: Ceramics, Chronology, and Cultural Trends. Serie Arqueología de Mexico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia / University of Pittsburgh. Mexico, D. F., pp. 617 + tables of frequencies of ceramic wares.

During field seasons, archaeologists unearth remains of ancient households, plazas, and other buildings made of stone and earth. These remains give us a snapshot of how these spaces looked like and how people used to live many years ago.

But archaeologists want to know more details and not just limited on where and how those people lived. They want to know about food and diet, of course!

Human diet is composed of two main food groups: animal- and plant-based. Among the materials recovered during excavation, there are a lot of animal bones. These bones let us know what kind of animals were consumed, but what about plants?

Unlike bones, plants, fruits, and seeds that were consumed during ancient times aren’t easily preserved. Nevertheless, we can find some valuable clues about their existence, use, and consumption. Burnt seeds are one example, but they are really small (just a few millimeters) and practically impossible to be seen during the digging process. And so, how can one recover them?

Seeds: the clues

When archaeologists are digging in an area where there´s a lot of cultural artifacts like sherds, worked stone, bones, etc., they collect several soil samples into 2-liter plastic bags to be analyzed later in a laboratory setting.

In the lab the sample is left to dry. The soil is then poured into a bucket of water where there is a gentle but constant flow and movement. This method allows for charred materials like wood and seeds to be separated from the soil and float to the surface so they can be easily recovered. For this reason, this process is called “flotation.”

By looking at these charred remains under the microscope, specialists can find and identify seeds, wood fragments, and even bones of small animal species.

Why charred?

Organic materials like seeds and plants usually disintegrate over time. However, the ones that were burnt have a better chance to be preserved over a long time and even one day, be found by archaeologists! On the other hand, roots and other non-charred organic material are often a result of modern, more recent intrusions into ancient deposits.

What seeds tell us about the Plaza of the Columns Complex

Research over charred organic materials recovered through the flotation process allows us to identify the many plants that were likely used or consumed by the inhabitants of the Plaza of the Columns Complex, including maize, beans, chili, squash, nopal (cactus), amaranth, Chenopodium, chia, and purslane.

One of our most exciting results thus far has been the discovery of guava seeds during our 2018 analysis. This is particularly interesting because the guava is not a local fruit from this region as it usually grows in areas of much lower altitudes. And so, this species was probably imported to the Valley of Teotihuacan during ancient times.