by Esther Aguayo Food is an important part of our lives, yet it is a difficult thing to see in the archaeological record. Usually archaeologists rummage through ancient trash piles to look for animal bones and residues in pots to find out what people ate. However, there is another tool that archaeologists use that can tell us more about what people and animals consumed called stable isotope analysis. This methodology helps archaeologists understand the chemical make-up of human and animal…
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The case of candeleros by Yolanda Peláez Castellanos The potters who made the ceramic pieces recovered in archaeological excavations gave them different shapes depending on the function they would have (e.g., pots and bowls were used in the preparation and consumption of food). A very distinct form that corresponds almost exclusively to Teotihuacan can be seen in the figure below; these vessels have been found in various foreign sites, and each have been attributed to Teotihuacan presence or influence. These…
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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…
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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…
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