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Residential Compound Organization and the Evolution of the Teotihuacan State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Rebecca Storey
Rebecca Storey
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5882, USA
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Abstract

Changes in the nature of social stratification and economic organization during the history of the urban center of Teotihuacan are charted using information from the residential compound of Tlajinga 33. This lower-class, artesanal compound yielded evidence of craft specialization and mortuary patterns that allow investigation of changes in economic specialization and differentiation of internal status through time. From the mortuary evidence it appears that Tlajinga 33 became poorer and reduced its internal status divisions from Early Tlamimilolpa to Late Xolalpan-Metepec times. The craft specialization of the residents changed from one of probable autonomy to one where the compound contributed to a neighborhood specialization. These changes support evidence from other researchers that Teotihuacan became more rigid in organization and socially stratified through time. The urban society was thus characterized by social and economic change during its apogee.

Type
Special Section: Urban Archaeology at Teotihuacan
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , Spring 1991 , pp. 107 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

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