In the summer of 2024, the Project Plaza of the Columns Complex (PPCC) had it’s eight field season. A team composed of archaeologists, students, research specialists and local workers worked together on different tasks.  

PPCC’s  field season was composed of 16 excavation pits distributed in two research areas: Fronts D (Plaza of the Columns) and Front F (Plaza North of the Sun Pyramid).

FRONT D: The Reamins of a Building — a big wall and burnt rooms

Since 2016, Talud D-002, a huge wall that delimits the southern part of Structure 44 in Front D has been focus of excavations. In 2022 eastern corner was found and we were able to approximate that building was at least 68 m long. This season, in 2024, we explored the western section to find the western limit. A part of this area, Group 43, was explored last year (in 2023), where several rooms and a patio were unearthed. During this season, we expanded the area that was uncovered in 2023 to explore the east of Structure 44 with two main objectives: 1) gain a better understanding of the architecture of these rooms, and 2) verify if Talud D-002 continues in this direction.

Several floors were cut through to find the foundations of Talud D-002. In three different excavation quadrants (10K, 16K, and 21K), we found walls that were aligned with the same coordinates as Talud D-002. From this information, we are able to infer that originally it was a very large structure. However, the ancient Teotihuacanos decided to modify the building and constructed a series of rooms on top of the western portion of the structure throughout its occupation.

We continue to find remains of charcoal and ash, indicating fire and burning of the building, as we have seen in previous seasons of excavation. Towards the end of Teotihuacan’s time, several structures of the city were intentionally burnt and this event was related to the collapse of the city. The information uncovered with this year’s excavations shed light about the history of this structure and its relationship with wider events happening in the ancient city.

FRONTS D AND F: More ceramic deposits

Something else that was remarkable this season was the presence of several deposits of archaeological materials.

Front D: Deposits D6, D7 and D8

Deposit D7 consists of a concentration of ceramic vessels that apparently were broken at the time of the fire, as they were located on top of a floor.

Deposit D8 dates from an earlier time than Deposit D7, because it was found below the most recent floor (the one from the period that was burnt). It consists mostly of ceramic sherds, with a few bones and lithic fragments, and it covers a small area, of 0.4 m².

Deposit D6 was discovered in a very deep unit near the foundations of Talud D-019, which is the one that aligns to Talud D-002. This was the largest deposit found in Front D this season; we uncovered an area of 1.8m², although it was evident that it was larger because it extended beyond the excavation area.

FRONT F: Offering F1, part 2

Last year, we excavated a portion of Offering F1, and this year we continued to explore this context. In a similar way to Deposit D6, it had a lot of ceramic fragments, combined with other archaeological materials such as obsidian and bone. We suspect that these contexts may contain the remains of activities like feasts.