A review of recent progress in understanding of early settled life in the Basin of Mexico. Authors summarize current understanding with respect to chronology, stylistic affinities. They urge even-handed attention to both the historical and the processual aspects.
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Paul Tolstoy - Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico.pdf
A review of recent progress in understanding of early settled life in the Basin of Mexico. Authors summarize current understanding with respect to chronology, stylistic affinities. They urge even-handed attention to both the historical and the processual aspects.
A review of recent progress in understanding of early settled life in the Basin of Mexico. Authors summarize current understanding with respect to chronology, stylistic affinities. They urge even-handed attention to both the historical and the processual aspects.
Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico
Paul Tolstoy, Suzanne K. Fish, Martin W. Boksenbaum,
Kathryn Blair Vaughn Queens College and Graduate Center City University of New York c. Earle Smith University of Alabama Excavations and survey since 1970 have produced data on many aspects of human occupation in the Basin of Mexico between 1200 B.C. and 500 B.C. (un calibra ted radiocarbon dates). We attempt here to summarize our current understanding of the communities of that period in the Basin, with respect to chronology, stylistic affinities of their material remains, subsistence patterns, craft production, trade relationships, socio-political aspects, and the possible religious beliefs of their in- habitants. We urge in conclusion that even-handed attention be provided to both the historical and the processual aspects of the evidence in the interest of a more complete understanding of the past in our region. Introduction We review below some of the progress recently achieved in the understanding of early settled life in the Basin of Mexico, a region which later became the heart- land of Mesoamerica itself and the seat of Aztec power. The present paper is thus a sequel to an earlier sum- mary.1 Inevitably, we shall dwell primarily on the find- ings of the Queens College-CUNY Preclassic Project. Important contributions, however, have been -made and are being made by others. We cite such other work to the extent that it is known to us and that it appears rele- vant, though we realize that we cannot do it full justice. It should also be understood that some recent in- vestigations, when presented more fully by their authors, 2 may affect our reconstructions in important ways. The investigations of the Queens College-CUNY Preclassic Project 3 since 1970 are proceeding mainly in 1. Paul Tolstoy and Louise I. Paradis, "Early and Middle Preclassic Culture in the Basin of Mexico," Science 167 (1970) 344-351. 2. Cristina Niederberger, "Cinco milenios de ocupaci6n human a en un sitio lacustre de la Cuenca de Mexico," INAH, Coleci6n Cient(fica (in press). 3. The work summarized in this paper has been made possible by grants GS-720 and GS-28609 from the National Science Foundation, three directions: 1) excavations and surface studies at a limited number of key sites; 2) the gathering and analysis of surface material from other pre- Ticoman sites, including those found by William T. Sanders, J ef- frey R. Parsons, and Richard E. Blanton in the course of comprehensive regional surveys since 1960;4 and 3) a as well as grants from the Canada Council and the CUNY Research Foundation. It has benefitted from the collaboration of numerous par- ticipants, only some of whom can be thanked here. In the field, we have had the much-appreciated assistance of Gary S. Vescelius, then of the Queens College-CUNY faculty, who did most of the mapping and surface sampling. Dr. Robert Bettarel helped at Coapexco and Leonard Foote has contributed his efforts at the Queens College laboratory. For their help in fieldwork, we wish to thank the following students and other participants: E. Abraham, H. Ball, N. Cevallos, J . Chu, P. Fish, C. Gelber, J . Giniger, R. Godley, W. Grimmel, J . Gumbs, D. J oralemon, A. Krebs, S. Milbrath, V. Mikijanic, J . Miller, J .H. Nazarian, J .P. Nazarian, W. Perry, A. Roosevelt, P. Tiscione and G. Wessen. The following students have made special contributions to the processing of our data in laboratories here and in Mexico: F. Azaria, P. Caruso, J . Chu, L. Durand, R. Gianno, E. Fisch, S. Getrajdman, W. Grimmel, S. J ayson, L. Katzoff, T. Lagace and M. Veale. Finally, we are most grateful to several generations of students, too numerous to mention, who earned a few credits through the usage of an exceptionally arid ceramic code and the preparation of data for key-punching. 4. P. Tolstoy, "Settlement and Population Trends in the Basin of Mexico from 1500 B.C. to 650 B.C.," JFA 2 (1975) 331-349. 92 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. Figure 1. Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco sitesintheBasinof Mexico, keyed to showphase of earliest occupation presently known: (1) Coapexco and Ayotla phases; (2) Manantial phase; (3) Bomba and EI Arbolillo phases; (4) Early LaPastora phase; (5) Late LaPastora and Cuautepec phases; (6) Altica phase(Sanders); (7) Chiconautla phase (Sanders); (8) uncer- tain, probably post-Manantial. Areas above 2500m. elevation and belowConquest lakewater level areshaded. Rainfall and temperature after Enriqueta Garcia, "Clima actual deTeotihuacan," inMateriales para la Arqueologia de Teotihuacan, J . L. Lorenzo, ed., Investigaciones 17(INAH, Mexico 1968). [Note: Siteno. 50should bekeyed as(1) rather than (2).] continuing study of data on the graves at Tlatilco, assembled through the courtesy of participants in work at that site. 5 Investigations at individual sites since 1970 have aimed primarily at the exposure of structural features and at the understanding of the sites as once-functioning com- munities. Such investigations were carried out in 1971 and 1972 at the site we are calling Santa Catarina, 2 kms. east of Tlaltenco, D.F., on the north shore of Lake Chalco; in 1972 at EI Terremote, 1km. west of Tlalten- co; and in 1973 at Coapexco, 2 kms. east of the town of Amecameca, in the extreme SE corner of the Basin, on the pass which leads into Morelos. A shaft was also sunk in 1972 at EI Arbolillo, near our eastern test of 1965 (FIG. 1).6 Santa Catarina is a small multi-component site found in 1969 by Richard E. Blanton. 7 The combined extent of late Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco refuse on its surface appears to be about six hectares. Zacatenco materials later than Bomba in date are scarce, though the site becomes important again in Ticoman times. The ex- posure of a rock-strewn surface as well as extensive trenching at Santa Catarina did not produce unam- biguous evidence of Bomba or, earlier dwellings. That work did lead, however, to the excavation of 13 storage pits (such as also occur at Tlatilco), bell-shaped or cylin- drical in vertical section, a cubic meter or larger in volume, and containing abundant debris of one and, in a single case, both of the two subphases we recognize at the site: Bomba, and the earlier Manantial (see below). Ceramic lots from 12 pits have been seriated (the largest pit, no. 7, was stratified), and the sequence thus ob- tained has been buttressed with five radiocarbon dates (these will appear in a forthcoming list from Rikagaku Kenkyusho laboratory). Plant macro-remains and pollen from both phases have been recovered. Four burials, though disturbed, suggest that grave accom- paniments at the site were usually modest in quantity and quality. EI Terremote consists of two low mounds (0.45 m. and 1.30 m. in height, 20 m. and 30 m. in diameter) and traces of a third, destroyed by the plow. A surface scatter of Ayotla sherds extends over some 4.5 hectares. The site was found and first sampled by J effrey R. Par- sons in 1972. Unlike Santa Catarina, situated on a rocky shelf 3-4 m. above the Conquest shoreline, El Terremote 5. P. Tolstoy, "Recent Research into the Early Preclassic of the Cen- tral Highlands," Cont., UCARF 11(1971) 25-48. 6. Sites enumerated here are keyed on FIG. 1,respectively, as Nos. 48, 51,34 and 4. 7. Richard E. Blanton, "Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Ix- tapalapa Peninsula Region, Mexico," Occasional Papers in Anthropology 6(Pennsylvania State University 1972). Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 93 lies within the former bed of Lake Xochimilco, in azone where even today ground water rises to 0.35 m. below surface in the rainy season. In Aztec times, with water level at or near the 2240 m. contour, 8 El Terremote would have been in awetland of reeds, sedges, and water plants. Such also appears to have been its setting in Ayotla times. As a result, perishable materials, such as logs and reed steIns are well preserved. On the other hand, radiocarbon dates seem too recent, probably from prolonged immersion in water. Trenching and clearing revealed the mounds to be ar- tificial platforms of mud and clay, bearing alignments of dry masonry that are probably the remains of retaining walls. On the eastern of the two mounds, these alignments, which run N-S (magnetic), outline two rising stages. The SW corner of a sloping, mud-plastered riser and some loose rocks were all that remained of a third stage, which must have supported a residence. Both tested mounds contain not only alternating strata of black mud and yellow clay, but also ~ayers of cut stems of sedges and grasses, some of them perhaps woven together as mats. The laying down of "carpets" of aquatic vegetation to bind together layers of mud fill conforms both to Aztec and to modern practice in the region. It is done to raise plots of ground above water level to support dwellings and chinampa gardens. 9 A wooden post sunk vertically into the edge of the western mound offers a further parallel to recent building prac- tice. Associated material, which includes offerings, iden- tifies the inhabitants as users of Ayotla subphase pottery, indistinguishable from that recovered in 1968 from Ayotla-Tlapacoya, 12 kms. to the east. Unfor- tunately, circumstances beyond our control prevented the resumption after 1972 of excavations at this most in- teresting site. The test excavation at, El Arbolillo in 1972, which reached a depth of 7.6 m., had the limited goal of secur- ing flotation samples and additional radiocarbon dates for the subphases represented at El Arbolillo East. Its results complement our excavations at Santa Catarina and raise interesting questions that bear on the diet and ecology of Zacatenco times. Coapexco, where we worked in 1973, is in some respects the most remarkable of our sites. Like EI Terremote, it was found in 1972 by the survey team of J effrey Parsons. Four aspects are especially notable. 1) It is located at the 2600 m. contour line, an elevation where permanent settlement is rare at any period in 8. Pedro Armillas, "Gardens on Swamps," Science 174 (1971) 653- 661. 9. Ibid., 659; Michael D. Coe, "TheChinampasofMexico," SAm211 (1), (196:4) 93. 94 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. Mesoamerica. 2) Surface scatter is extensive, covering an estimated 50 hectares. lo 3) It provides abundant evidence on dwellings and community pattern. 4) Material found there suggests a brief occupation (some two centuries) by users of an early variety of Ixtapaluca pottery. The latter makes it possible to define a Coapex- co subphase, the early position of which is indicated both by intrinsic features of ceramic style and by an associated radiocarbon date. Our work at the site so far has consisted of the exposure of four Ixtapaluca struc- tures and of intensive surface collecting. The latter has led, in particular, to plotting of individual concen- trations of refuse which we believe mark the locations of dwellings on a portion of the site. I I The inventory, sampling, and phasing of other Ix- tapaluca and Zacatenco sites in the Basin has been dis- cussed in another paper.I 2 Its primary goal has been to integrate the yield of surveys conducted by others as well as by ourselves with the results of excavations. We shall point out here only that ceramics from most of the 23 sites of the Texcoco and Teotihuacan subregions omitted from the 1975 study have now been examined through the courtesy of Rene Millon, J effrey Parsons, and William Sanders. No essential changes in our previous conclusions are indicated by this new informa- tion. However, as is evident from a recent report by Sanders and others}3 several Zacatenco occupations previously postulated in the Teotihuacan valley now appear doubtful. Of these, Sanders' site TF 106 (FIG. 1, NO. 87)14 on the periphery of Teotihuacan should perhaps still be included among possible Zacatenco oc- cupations, and two of the other Teotihuacan sites (FIG. 1, NOS. 85,86;Sanders' TF 108and TF 111) cannot yet be eliminated with complete certainty. It may also be noted that the total number of known Zacatenco sites in the Basin is due to increase shortly as a result of recent work by Sanders and his team on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Guadalupe Hills. The compilation of data on 379 of the graves ex- cavated at Tlatilco since 1947 is now complete. This in- formation, made available through the generosity of 10. Coapexco is shown as two sites in J effrey R. Parsons, "The Development of a Prehistoric Complex Society: a Regional Perspec- tivefromtheValley of Mexico," JFA 1(1974) 81-108. 11. P. Tolstoy and Suzanne K. Fish, "Surface and Subsurface Evidence for Community Size at Coapexco, Mexico," JFA 2 (1975) 97-104. 12. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote4). 13. William T. Sanders et aI., "The Formative Period Occupation of theTeotihuacan Valley," Occasional Papers in Anthropology 10(Penn- sylvania State U. 1975)Table 43. 14. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 6). Muriel Porter Weaver, Arturo Romano Pacheco, and J ose-Luis Lorenzo, has been of considerable value in un- derstanding some of our excavated materials, with which these graves are clearly contemporary. A seriation of 73 grave lots 15 has been carried out by visually fitting selected modes of vessel shape and decoration to a "Petrie matrix."16 The order obtained appears to match the refuse sequence. Presently, nonchronological aspects of this grave information are under study. A more com- plete presentation of these investigations, however, must await the completion of doctoral research presently in progress at the Escuela National de Antropologia under the direction of Professor Romano. Significant advances in our knowledge of pre- Ticoman periods in the Basin were also gained in 1969 by C. B. Niederberger's trenching of deposits at Zohapiloc- Tlapacoya, some 50 m. north of our own 1968 "Ayotla" test pits. The results, soon to appear in monograph form,17 include not only the discovery of previously unsuspected preceramic levels at the site, but also a much more complete picture of the subse- quent lxtapaluca and early Zacatenco occupations. Niederberger's work should lay to rest any lingering suspicions as to the relative ages of Ixtapaluca (Ayotla- Manantial) and Zacatenco remains in the Basin. Another recent contribution is that of Harold McBride l8 who has reported his 1968 excavations at the site of Atlamica near Cuautitlan, in the NW area of the Basin. These have clarified the style changes that mark the clos- ing century of the Zacatenco phase. More recent work at the same site by William Sanders and Rosa Reyna Robles promises a more complete view of the site as a whole. It is thus evident that considerable information has accumulated since 1970 pertaining to the early ceramic periods in our region. Below, we examine the bearing of this information on our understanding of the activities and way of life of the Basin's early inhabitants. Chronology Radiocarbon dates and other evidence have con- firmed portions of the sequence earlier outlined by Tolstoy and Paradis 19 and have required revisions of 15. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 5). 16. See D.G. Kendall, "Some Problems and Methods in Statistical Archaeology," W A 1(1), (1969) 68-76. 17. Niederberger, op.cit. (innote 2). 18. Harold W. McBride, "Formative Ceramics and Prehistoric Settle- ment Patterns in the Cuauhtitlan Region, Mexico," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (UCLA 1974). 19. Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1). others. These revisions, for the most part, have been outlined elsewhere. 20 At the base of the ceramic sequence, Niederberger's work at Zohapilco- Tlapacoya has added the Nevada phase as the possible local equivalent of the Tierras Largas and Oc6s phases of highland Oaxaca and the Isthmus, respectively.21 Indirectly, this ill-defined com- plex appears to strengthen the case for the still earlier "Tlalpan" phase. Heizer and Bennyhoff2 2 identify the latter in fill at the site of Cuicuilco and link it to several very early radiocarbon dates from that site. Earlier still, the Zohapi1co phase (ca. 2300 B.C., radiocarbon time), with its single crude figurine, and the Playa phase (5500- 3500 B.C.), entirely preceramic, represent the transition from hunting-gathering to farming on the shore of Lake Chalco. It is debatable whether or not Nevada must be in- cluded in the larger Ixtapaluca phase. There is less doubt for the phases and subphases that follow (Coapexco, Ayotla, Manantial) which share such basic markers as plow-eyed figurines, flat-bottomed dishes, red-on-buff decoration and gadrooned vessels. Eleven radiocarbon dates bracket these units between 1180 B.C. 160 (N- 1992, uncalibrated, Libby half-life), the earliest date for Coapexco, and 890 B.C. 110 (N-1985), a date on charcoal from Feature Pit 8 at Santa Catarina and the latest associated with Manantial ceramics. A considera- tion of all dates together suggests a combined range of 1200 B.C. to 950 B.C. in radiocarbon time, or about 1500 B.C. to 1150 B.C. on the bristlecone pine scale. 23 In ceramics and figurines, San Lorenzo-like attributes are more prominent at Coapexco than at other sites, and such features as the goggled-eyed K and "pretty-lady" D-I and D-2 figures, for which Tlatilco is noted, and the incised design we have called "Tlatilco panel"24 are en- 20. P. Tolstoy, "The Archaeological Chronology of Western Mesoamerica before 900 A.D.," in Chronologies in New World Archaeology, C.W. Meighan and R.E. Taylor, eds. (in press); Tolstoy, op.cit. (in note 4). 21. Niederberger, op.cit. (in note 2); idem, "Paleoecologia humana y playas lacustres post-pleistocenicas en Tlapacoya," Boletin [NAH 37 Mexico (1969) 19-24; idem, "Excavaciones en Zohapilco-Tlapacoya, Mexico," Paper delivered at 41st IntI. Congo of Americanists (1974) Mexico; idem, "Inicios de la vida aldeana en la America Media," in Historia de Mexico, Editores Salvat, 1(1974) 5-6. 22. Robert F. Heizer and J ames A. Bennyhoff, "Archeological Investigations at Cuicuilco, Mexico," Natl. Geographic Soc. Repts., 1955-1960 Projects (1957) 93-104. 23. Hans E. Seuss, "Bristlecone-pine Calibration of the Radiocarbon Time-Scale 5200 B.C. to the Present," Nobel Symposium 12, LD. Olsson, ed. (New York 1970) 303-311. 24. R. Pilla Chan, Tlatilco 1(lNAH, Mexico 1958), fig. 33, h, n, r; fig. 35, f, g, j. Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 95 tirely absent, though well represented in Ayotla and Manantial. The latter phase, defined by Niederberger on the basis of over 48,000 sherds from the Zohapilco trench, replaces the "J usto" subphase of our earlier for- mulation. Manantial, in addition to the markers already mentioned, sees the relative abundance, for the first time, of white ware decorated with the so-called "double-line-break" motif on the rim and with complex designs on the interior of the base. 25 Some, but not all, of the trends in refuse are matched in the Tlatilco burial sequence. Exceptions include white wares, well represented in Ayotla and Manantial debris, and differentially-fired ware, abundant in Coapexco and Ayotla, both of which are curiously scarce in the graves. Yet "Tlati1co panels" and punched-pupil D figurines oc- cur at Tlatilco in grave lots probably contemporaneous with the Coapexco and Ayotla subphases. Both elements are absent at Coapexco and panels are also completely lacking at El Terremote. These discrepancies imply variation which is related not only to time, but is, in all probability, a function also of geographic location and of context (funerary vs. domestic). The appearance of the "bird-faced" C-l and C-2 figurines, the hallmarks of Vaillant's "Copilco- Zacatenco" phase, is an event that can now be observed in refuse not only at Tlapacoya but at Santa Catarina as well. There, the earlier pits contain D and K figurines, red-on-buff dishes and bowls, gadrooned vessels, differentially-fired ware, and bowls incised with "Tlatilco panels." These features fade out in later pits and in general fill, which contain brown composite- silhouette bowls, incised white bowls with expanded and ledge lips, and figurines of the C-2 and, sometimes, C-7 types. The four relevant radiocarbon dates and the carryover of many attributes indicate a continuous oc- cupation over a period of one to two centuries, when the transition from Manantial to Bomba takes place. Bom- ba now seems unambiguously within the Zacatenco phase. Additional dates from El Arbolillo generally confirm previous estimates, and indicate an initial occupation as early as 900 B.C. (samples N-1991, N-1811). Relatively rare diagnostics (e.g. the Stiff Geometric style as found at EI Arbolillo) and quantitative estimates for shared characters (e.g. red ware, basal shapes, and interior designs in white) are needed to discriminate between Bomba and EI Arbolillo. For this reason, it remains un- certain whether Bomba, as distinct from EfArbolillo, is confined to the southern Basin or its presence at EI Ar- bolillo ca. 900 B.C. is masked by sampling inadequacy. At the later end of the sequence, McBride's work reveals sequential divisions within the La Pastora and 25. Niederberger, op.cit. in Historia de Mexico (in note 21) 117. 96 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. Table 1. Periods and cultural units of the Basin of Mexico sequence prior to500 B.C. (radiocarbon time). Dates B.C. Major period Minor Dates B.C. (Suess Major Minor period C-14years calibration) phases phases First Intermediate 4 425-510* 750-650 Zacatenco A-C First Intermediate 3 750-425 875-750 Zacatenco T-P First Intermediate 2 850-750 1050-875 Zacatenco I-A First Intermediate 1 950-850 1150**-1050 Zacantenco I-A Early Horizon 4 1000-950 1300-1150 Ixtapaluca Manantial Early Horizon 3 1100-1000 1400-1300 Ixtapaluca (not named) Early Horizon 2 1200-1100 1500-1400 Ixtapaluca (not named) Early Horizon 1 1400-1200 1700-1500 Ixtapaluca (1) Nevada Initial 2400-1400 3000-1700 Tlalpan, Zohapilco (*) The Suesscurveshows radiocarbon time reversed here relative to sidereal time, as measured onthebristlecone pine scale. (**) The Suess curve shows three points in sideral time (e.g. ca. 1125, 1150and 1210 B.C.) which may correspond to a radiocarbon date of 950 B.C. The second and third are compatible with the evidence for the EH-FI boundary. The definition of time periods proposed here, however, is in terms of radiocarbon dates, and does not depend onan assumed calibration. Subphases Late Cuautepec Early Cuautepec Late LaPastora (Atoto) Early LaPastora (Totolica) EI Arbolillo (Iglesia) Bomba Ayotla Coapexco Cuautepec subphases. The upper levels of the EI Ar- bolillo east test of 1965 now appear to represent only an early portion of the La Pastora subphase, matching Vaillant's Levels 9-7 at Zacatenco and Levels 12-11 of McBride's pit 2 at Atlamica. A Late La Pastora sub- phase follows. It is not identifiable from primary refuse in our tests at EI Arbolillo, but occurs abundantly in Levels 10-8 of McBride's Pit 2 and in Level 6at Zacaten- co. Very similar material is found at many sites elsewhere in the Basin, where it is identifiable from the abundance of red-on-white painted decoration and of a form which Blanton has called the "interior ledge rim."26 McBride's Pit 3 (Levels 10-6) indicates, in addi- tion, the existence of a late variant of the Cuautepec sub- phase, in which the lacquer-like "yellow-white" ware virtually vanishes, A-type figurines prevail, and a red- on-buff (Cuautepec Red-on-Buff) becomes prominent. This, the latest segment of the pre- Ticoman sequence, evidently postdates the latest refuse from our EI Ar- bolillo west excavation of 1965, but may be represented 26. J . R. Parsons, "Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Texcoco Region, Mexico," Memoirs, Mus. of Anthropology, U. of Mich. 3 (1971) fig. 52: a, b. in Zacatenco refuse (in Level 4 of Trench D, and perhaps in other trenches). In dealing with chronology in our area, there is some agreement now to use separate schemes to identify time segments, on the one hand, and cultural entities on the other. 27 It has been proposed to abandon such content- laden terms as "Prec1assic" and "Formative" and to replace them by units referring to time only ("Early Horizon," "First Intermediate"). Cultural phases may then be assigned to them as the evidence may suggest. A sequence of time segments is proposed for the time range under discussion here and cultural units are assigned to them in Table 1. The periods tend to match the cultural units assigned to them in one-to-one fashion primarily because, in a publication now in press,28 the Basin of Mexico is proposed as the locus of a "master sequence" for western Mesoamerica. 29 We thus recommend that dis- cussions of dating in other regions be conducted in 27. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10)88-108; Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 20). 28. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 20). 29. For a discussion of this concept, seeJ ohn H. Rowe, "Stages and Periods inArchaeological Interpretation," SWJA (1962) 40-54. terms of contemporaneity with one or more segments of the sequence in the Basin of Mexico. The advantages of this are threefold: 1) chronological statements can be brief, unambiguous, comparable in form and meaning, and explicit in their degree of precision; 2) age and cultural content can be discussed separately; and 3) revisions and amendments are easier to make even within the master sequence itself. It is thus possible, with the aid of a yardstick of this kind, to ask whether or not the EI Arbolillo subphase extends back into FI -1 in the northern Basin, or whether or not the occupation of Coapexco lasts beyond EH-2. Traditions The distributions of empirically associated sets of cultural elements, in time and in space, can be effectively systematized by "genetic" correlation as advocated by Rouse. 3o The durability in time and/or the cohesive dis- tribution in space of some of these sets are acknowl- edged under a variety of labels, the more common ones being "style" and "tradition."3) In the sequence con- sidered here, at least three broad styles or traditions can be singled out on the basis of interesting time-space dis- tributions. Like many such units, these are "of less than whole cultural scope,"32 and do not embrace a full range of evidence in a given segment of time or space. One of their functions is to raise questions which further in- ference may then attempt to answer. One such question is raised, for the Ixtapaluca phase, by the presence of the oft-discussed San Lorenzo - "Olmec" complex of vessel shapes (dishes, with or without bolstered rims; cylinders; "thin" neckless jars or tecomates), wares (e.g. whites), decorative techniques (differential firing, excision, rocker-stamping), design motifs (crossed bands, zoned crosshatching, brackets, opposed scrolls, paw-wings, flame eyebrows and others"), figurines (plow-eyed and baby-face), projectile points (small pointed-stem forms) and lapidary items (iron ore mirrors, greenstone beads and figures, mica sheets). This San Lorenzo tradition is strongly represented at Coapexco and at San Lorenzo itself on the Gulf coast 33 in EH-2 times, and lasts into EH-3 times in both regions. It is also in evidence at sites ranging from Honduras to Morelos and Guerrero, in roughly 30. Irving Rouse, "On theCorrelation of Phases of Culture," AmAnth 57(4) (1955) 718-720. 31. Gordon R. Willey and P. Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology (Chicago 1958)36-39. 32. Ibid., p. 38. 33. M.D. Coe, "The Archaeological Sequence at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Veracruz, Mexico," Cont., U. of Calif. Arch. Research Facility 8(1970) 21-34. Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 97 contemporaneous phases. 34 Such far-flung affinities suggest contacts of an essential and sustained nature, and have provoked much speculation. 35 It has been shown that trade was involved. 36 Other aspects of this interaction remain hypothetical, though they may have been more important. If the southern Gulf at that time was ahead of the rest of Mesoamerica in productivity channeled toward socio-political ends, then it is there that we must seek the principal center of the network which pooled and redistributed goods and information to other less developed regions. Such redistribution may have occurred through a variety of interactions which need not have been the same from region to region. Nor should we prejudge the ultimate sources, perhaps equal- ly diverse, of the goods and ideas being circulated. There are now hints, for example, that human representations in "Olmec" style may be earlier in Guerrero than elsewhere,37 a possibility foreseen some years ago by Miguel Covarrubias. A second tradition may be defined from a set of ceramic attributes which, while highly distinctive, are not shared to any extent with Gulf coast or San Lorenzo-related pottery elsewhere. Compared to the latter, this pottery, which we shall call the "Tlatilco style" (it has also been referred to as the "Rio Cuautla" complex, the "Red-on-Brown bottle" complex, the 34. C. F. Baudez and P. Becquelin, "Archeologie de los Naranjos, Honduras," Etudes Mesoamericaines, 2 (1973); Robert R. Sharer and J . C. Gifford, "Preclassic Ceramics from Chalchuapa, EI Salvador, and Their Relationships with the Maya Lowlands," AmAnt 35 (4) (1970) 441-462; D. F. Green and G. W. Lowe, "Altamira and Padre Piedra, Early Preclassic Sites in Chiapas, Mexico," Papers of New World Arch. Foundation 20 (Utah 1967); M. D. Coe and K. V. Flannery, "Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal Guatemala," Smithsonian Inst. Cont. to Anthropology 3 (Washington 1967); K. V. Flannery, "The 01mec and the Valley of Oaxaca: A Model for Interregional Interaction inFormative Times," inDumbar- ton Oaks Con! on the Olmec, Elizabeth P. Benson, ed., (1968) 79-117; D. C. Grove, "The Highland and Olmec Manifestation: A Considera- tion of What It Is and Isn't," in Mesoamerican Archaeology and New Approaches (Austin 1974) 109-128. 35. A. Caso, "Existi6 un imperio Olmeca?" Mem. El Colegio Nacional 5(Mexico 1964); M. D. Coe, America's First Civilization (New York 1968) 95; Flannery, op.cit. (in note 34); Green and Lowe, op.cit. (in note 34); Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1). 36. R. H. Cobean et aI., "Obsidian Trade at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan," Science 174(1971) 666-671; J . W. Pires-Ferreira, "For- mative Mesoamerican Exchange Networks with Special Reference tn the Valley of Oaxaca," Mem., Museum of Anthropology 7 (U. of Michigan 1975). 37. L. I. Paradis, "The Tierra Caliente of Guerrero: An Archae- ological and Ecological Study," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Yale 1974); E. S. Brush, "The Archaeological Significance of Ceramic Figurines from Guerrero, Mexico," Unpublished Ph.D. dis- sertation (Columbia University 1968). 98 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al, "Amacuzac" style, and as the tertium quid at Tlatilc0 38 ) is not particularly distinctive in ware attributes (its bur- nished surfaces come in several shades of brown and red), and it is limited in its vocabulary of decorative designs, which are mainly rectilinear elements such as chevrons and pendant triangles. It has, however, an ex- tremely varied range of vessel forms, unparalelled at this time in Mesoamerica (bottles of many kinds, effigies, pedestal cups, jarras [concave-sided goblets], stirrup- spout jars, tripods, and tetrapods) and a distinctive array of decorative techniques (gadrooning, ribbing, lobing, modelling, and painting in red-on-buff, sometimes enhanced with smoky resist). Associated figurines (the D and K types) are also distinctive. The distribution of this tradition defies simple generalization. In the Basin, it is most visible in the Tlatilco burials, particularly those of EH-3 and EH-4 times, i.e. those contemporary with Manantial. Some of its markers, however, occur in refuse at all sites of EH-2, 3, and 4 date. It is therefore an integral, though fluc- tuating, ingredient of the Ixtapaluca phase. Its weakest expression in these periods is at Coapexco, where it is manifest only as gadrooning, as occasional bottle forms (bearing, however, San Lorenzo-style excised designs)39 and as red-on-buff painting (mainly on flat-based dis- hes, rarely on ollas or bottles as at Tlatilco). Outside the Basin, in Morelos, it is strongly represented in graves 40 but seemingly less so in refuse. Recent work in Michoacan 41 and in Colima 42 indicates its existence in West Mexico in the Early Horizon, perhaps as early as EH-l. Its continuing importance is evident in West Mexican grave pottery of later times at Chupicuaro and in Colima. In the Basin and perhaps outside of it, time, spate and context thus all appear to affect the repre- sentation of this tradition. David Grove 43 and one of us (P.T.) have proposed that the Central Highlands, in EH times, may have been astride a boundary between two spheres of influence: one of them that of the San Lorenzo Olmec tradition, centered to the east and including the rest of 38. Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1). 39. M. D. Coe, The Jaguar's Children (NewYork 1965)fig. 36. 40. D. C. Grove, "San Pablo, Nexpa and the Early Formative Archaeology of Morelos, Mexico," Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology 12(1974) 36. 41. J . A. Oliveros, "Nuevas exploraciones en El Opeiio, Michoacan," in The Archaeology of West Mexico, Betty Bell, ed., (Ajijic 1974) 182- 201. 42. I. Kelly, "Stirrup Pots fromColima: SomeImplications," inibid., 206-211. 43. Grove, op.cit. (innote 34) 109-128;Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 5). Mesoamerica and the Gulf coast; the other, that of the Tlatilco style, basically western, perhaps with distant af- finities in the Andean area. 44 Nevertheless, the precise reality behind the evidence in the Basin of Mexico remains obscure. A distinct social or ethnic identity of the principal bearers of the Tlatilco tradition seems one possibility. Perhaps, as Sanders and Price imply, 45the users of Tlatilco-style pottery have a better claim to be indigenous to the Central Highlands than those who promoted there the adoption of San Lorenzo-style goods. Our third tradition owes its recognition, again, to a distribution outside the Basin. Michael D. Coe 46 was among the first to note the significance of a kind of white incised pottery shared by a number of early Mesoamerican phases. Its hallmarks are the "double- line-break" motif incised on or near the lip, which is often flattened and ledge-like, and geometric designs ("sunbursts" and "panels") incised on the interior of the base. The composite-silhouette bowl is sometimes, though not always, associated with this decoration. In the Isthmus and some other regions, figurines with large punched pupils co-occur, e.g. in Morelos, though in the Basin they are missing until the appearance of Type A late in the Cuautepec subphase. As atradition, this com- plex is thus narrower in scope, being essentially an association of attributes of white ware, though further search and comparison may reveal additional markers. The remarkable aspect of this association, which we shall term the "Double Line Break" tradition, is that, like the San Lorenzo style, it occurs as a broad horizon over much of Mesoamerica, from coastal Guatemala to Guerrero and the Huasteca. Its position in time has become more definite since Coe's original observations, and it now firmly occupies a time-band centered on periods FI-l and FI-2. It thus perpetuates the unity of nascent Mesoamerica beyond the time when the monuments were mutilated and buried at San Lorenzo. If La Venta then replaces San Lorenzo as the hub of a Mesoamerican exchange network, Lowe may be right in calling this style "Late Olmec."47 If Grove is correct in linking such pottery and punched-eye figurines (Type C- 8) to the reliefs and the jade at Chalcatzingo, the case for such a label is further strengthened. Unfortunately, it is 44. Green and Lowe, op.cit. (innote 34) 70; Grove, op.cit. (innote 34) 109-128;Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 5). 45. WilliamT. Sanders and Barbara J . Price, Mesoamerica, the Evolu- tion of a Civilization (NewYork 1968) 119. 46. M. D. Coe, "La Victoria. An Early Site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala," Papers of the Peabody Museum 53 (Harvard University 1961). 47. Green and Lowe, op.cit. (innote 34) 65. not certain that the reliefs or jades at La Venta and Chalcatzingo were carved after 950 B.C., particularly since we know jades on other occasions to have been heirlooms (as Cerro de las Mesas).48 The legitimacy of the "Olmec" label is thus not certain. In this light, the absence of Olmec-style jades and monuments in Zacatenco contexts in the Basin may be significant. Vet it does seem clear that the Double Line Break tradition succeeds the San Lorenzo style as a unifying element of Mesoamerica for two or three centuries, until it fades away and regional diversity becomes mOre pronounced. The phases that foHow, at least until Ticoman, are less easily broken down into subsets of elements with dis- crete and cohesive histories. McBride may be correct, though,49 in seeing in A-type figurines and perhaps in cursive-style incision another episode of contact between the Basin and the Gulf coast. The source of the Double Line Break tradition remains obscure. The motif itself and interior-base inci- sion both go back to EH -2 times in the Basin, but occur then in low frequencies and only on brown burnished dishes. White ware with these attributes first becomes abundant in Manantial, at a date 'which seems earlier than the end of the San Lorenzo phase in Veracruz. The combination is also found on "Progreso White," in the contemporary or possibly earlier Ojite phase of the north-central Gulf coast. 50 Finally, orange-brown pottery of the Sesame 1 phase at San Miguel Amuco, Guerrer0 51 exhibits these features at perhaps an even earlier date, ca. 1500 B.C. The Double Line Break tradition may thus have emerged and spread on the northern and western peripheries of the San Lorenzo sphere before it came to prevail in the Olmec heartland. Subsistence The subsistence basis of Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco communities is gradually becoming better known, both through the direct evidence of food remains and through the indirect evidence of settlement pattern, viewed in ecological perspective. Plants of which we have macro-remains from our sites include maize (Zea mays), from virtually all levels of all sites; the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), from EH-3, 48. Philip Drucker, "The Cerro de las Mesas Offering of J ade and Other Materials," Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology 137 (Washington, D.C. 1955) 29-68. 49. H. W. McBride, "Middle Formative Ceramics from the Cuauhtitlan Region, Valley of Mexico," Papers Read at Meetings of Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, Jalapa (1973). 50. S. J effrey K. Wilkerson, "An Archaeological Sequence from San- ta Luisa, Veracruz, Mexico," Contributions, U. of Calif Archaeological Research Facility 18(1973) 37-50. 51. Paradis, op.cit. (in note 37). Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 99 EH-4 and FI-I-2 refuse from EI Terremote, Santa Catarina, and EI Arbolillo, respectively; the sieva bean (P. lunatus), known from a single EH-4 specimen from Santa Catarina and previously reported only from deposits some 2,000 years younger;52 amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), of which seeds were recovered in large numbers in Feature Pit 8 at Santa Catarina; and prickly pear (Opuntia sp.), of which seeds occur in Zacatenco refuse at Santa Catarina and EI Arbolillo. The first three plants are demonstrably cultigens, the last two mayor may not be. Squash (Cucurbita sp.) and chayote (Sechium sp.) should probably be included among cultivated plants known in EH and early FI times, since they occur in much earlier deposits at Tlapacoya. 53 The three 25-28 mm. long cobs recovered in 1967 at Ayotla- Tlapacoya (one from each of the subphases at the site) bore 10 to 14 rows of kernels and have been described as tripsacoid by Paul Mangelsdorf. 54 Our later corn gives some indications of improving its characteristics over time (thus, La Pastora kernels show flattening due to crowding). The fact that the variety of maize grown in EH times would have had a low yield and might today represent a questionable investment of planting time and effort 55 suggests three possibilities, none of them exclusive of the others. 1) As in the valley of Oaxaca, water-table farming, suggested by the lakeshore position of most of the earliest sites, may have been the main choice of a very few economically sound possibilities for the farmer of EH 1-3 times. 2) Year- round cropping may have been practiced to bring yield up to needed levels. Year-round cultivation is not general practice in the Basin today, but occurs in chinampa settings. 56 3) Other resources (domesticated or wild) may have been more important relative to corn than they are later. The third possibility receives some support from a consideration of food bones, based on identifications kindly provided by Kent V. Flannery.57 Taking the ma- jor sources of meat represented in our refuse (e.g. deer, 52. L. Kaplan, "Archaeological Phaseolus from Tehuacan," in The Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, D. S. Byers, ed., (Texas 1967) 201- 211. 53. Niederberger, op.cit. (in note 21). 54. Paul Mangelsdorf, personal communication. 55. Anne V. T. Kirkby, "The Use of Land and Water Resources in the Past and Present, Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico," Memoirs, Museum of Anthropology, U. of Michigan 5(1973) 127, fig. 48. 56. J ose Luis Lorenzo, "Clima y agricultura en Teotihuadm," in Materiales para la Arqueologia de Teotihuaccin, J . L. Lorenzo, ed., Investigacions 17, INAH (Mexico 1968) 68; Armillas, op.cit. (in note 8); Tolstoy, op.cit. (in note 4). 57. K. V. Flannery, "Archaeological Systems Theory and Early Mesoamerica," in Anthropological Archaeology in the Americas 100 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. Table 2. Sherds and food bones at Ayotla- Tlapacoya, EI Arbolillo and Lorna deAtoto. Site Period Sherds Deer Turtle Water All bone bone bone bird bone Lorna deAtoto FI-4 13,000 (22).002 (4).000 (1).000 (50).004 Lorna deAtoto FI-3 6,000 (15).002 -.000 (3).001 (30).005 EI Arbolillo FI-3 330,000* (28).000 (53).000 (55).000 (307).001 EI Arbolillo FI-2 20,000* (32).002 (8).000 (2).000 (111).005 Ayotla- Tlapacoya FI-l 7,700 (15).002 (45).006 (17).002 (100).013 Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-4 9,000 (39).004 (151).017 (30).003 (323).036 Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-3 6,000 (31).005 (31).005 (13).002 (125).021 Sherd counts include body sherds and arerounded off. Bonecounts givenumbers of specimens in parentheses and ratios to sherds expressed in thousandths. Sherd counts marked * areestimates based on partial counts. mud-turtle and water birds) separately or together, we find that the ratio of food bones to potsherds through time drops from the EH to FI periods (TABLE 2). This ratio seems particularly significant in the case of deer, which is both the largest and most abundantly repre- sented land animal at these sites, and whose remains seem a promising general index of meat consumption. In this connection, it would seem that the frequency of deer would be affected negatively, if at all, by the lakeshore ecology of Ayotla- Tlapacoya, where mud-turtle and aquatic birds can be expected to cut into the meat diet. Another indication of the importance of hunting relative to other subsistence pursuits comes from the relative representation of coot (Fulica americana), a year-round resident of the Basin, compared to that of other water birds, which are winter immigrants. 58 Though coot represents only 30/0 of waterfowl residing in winter on neighboring Lake Texcoco, it accounts for about 340/0 of all bird bone in Ixtapaluca deposits at Tlapacoya (TABLE 3). This may point to more fowling outside the winter season and thus to a greater year- round importance of fowling than in later times. By suggesting a more uniform annual cycle of subsistence activities, it may also support the second possibility stated earlier, that of continuous agricultural cropping. Such an inference is symmetrical to Flannery's argu- ment that winter fowling implies the scheduling of agricultural labor in the summer growing season, which it presumably does from Bomba onward. 59 The implications of site numbers and distribution for (Washington, D. C. 1968) 67-68, and personal communication; Tolstoy and Paradis, op.cit. (innote 1). 58. Flannery, op.cit. (innote 57) 83-85. 59. Flannery, op.cit. (innote 57). understanding subsistence practices in EH and early FI times in the Basin have been examined at some length elsewhere 60 and will not be reviewed here in any detail. It will be enough to recall that a strong concentration of settlement on the shores of the southern lakes was found to exist prior to Manantial. From Manantial onward, the proportion of piedmont sites increases, first in the zone of higher rainfall, then in drier settings. By FI -3, some small-scale irrigation may have been practiced on the Basin floor, as it almost certainly was in FI -4. The movement of some groups away from the lakes onto the hillslopes, and, in some cases, their eventual retreat, may have paralleled a decline in effective moisture from Manantial onward, reinforced perhaps by man-caused erosion. Responses to these trends may have included irrigation in a few inland locations, further investment of labor in lakeshore plots, and the growth of Cuicuilco. Renewed colonization of the piedmont takes place in 60. Tolstoy, op.Ctt. (innote 4). Table 3. Coot vs. other water birds at Ayotla-Tlapacoya, EI Arbolillo, and Lorna deAtoto. Site Period Coot Winter Total Migrants Lorna deAtoto FI-4 1 1 Lorna deAtoto FI-3 3 3 EI Arbolillo FI-3 (7 (12%) 51 58 EI Arbolillo FI,;.2 3 3 Ayotla- Tlapacoya FI-l 2 (10%) 18 20 Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-4 7 (19%) 30 37 Ayotla- Tlapacoya EH-3 8(57%) 6 14 Table 4. Obsidian and other chipped stone at sites in the Basin of Mexico. Period Coapexco Tlatilco EI Terremote Santa Catarina EI Arbolillo 57.8 kms 55.5 kms 48.9 kms 46.5 kms 44.5 kms FI-4 79% .0138 61% .0018 FI-3 93% .0204 71% .0007 84% .0264 FI-2 84% .0055 FI-l EH-4 63% .0496 EH-3 60% .0342 EH-2 53% .0062 The percentage in each column refers to the percentage of chipped stone constituted by obsidian. The four- decimal ratio is the ratio of obsidian to sherds in that unit. The distances with the site names are straight line distances from the Otumba flow, uncorrected for terrain. Ticoman times 61 and may reflect another cycle of pop- ulation growth. As Blanton suggests,62 new varieties of maize may have fueled this expansion. It should be noted, finally, that a decline in the stan- dard of living in the Basin after Manantial times is hinted at by three kinds of admittedly questionable evidence. One is the drabness of the bulk of material remains in refuse at all known Zacatenco phase sites as compared to the more ornamented and more varied Ix- tapaluca materials. Another is the poverty of burial goods in FI times. 63 The third is a possibly greater reliance on hardship foods. This could be the meaning of an increase in human bone, some of it charred, in domestic refuse in FI-3 deposits at EI Arbolillo. It may also be indicated by the occurrence' of carbonized Opun- tia seeds in FI -1 and FI -2 trash, but not earlier, at Santa Catarina and EI Arbolillo. Fruit debris and wet trash in general need to be discarded in relatively large amounts to be preserved in the manner that dry material more commonly is. Today, Opuntia is a supplementary food, and is normally consumed in modest amounts. Production and Exchange Our best information on these topics at present relates to obsidian. It is the outcome of a study still in progress 61. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10) 88-108; Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 20). 62. R.B. Blanton, "Prehispanic Adaptation inthe Ixtapalapa Region, Mexico," Science 175 (1972) 1321. 63. G. C. Vaillant, "Excavations at Zacatenco," AnthPap AMNH 32:1 (1930) 188: ibid., Excavations at El Arbolillo, AnthPap AMNH 35:2 (1935) 185. Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 101 Tlapacoya 42.2 kms 82% .0666 72% .0364 67% .0142 by one of us (M. W.B.) of the attributes of our excavated lithic materials. These number about 4100 items, some 3000 of them obsidian. Trace-element determinations on 54 of the obsidian pieces have been performed by Robert Cobean. 64 Together with previous analyses of more diverse samples,65 these provide a much-needed context for the cultural evidence. Since the obsidian deposits nearest to our sites are located near Otumba in the upper Teotihuacan valley, the mere presence of that material anywhere in the rest of the Basin implies a regional distribution system. Not unexpectedly, the relative abundance of obsidian, as measured both against alternative materials (chal- cedony, quartzite, basalt) and as a ratio of total refuse (the latter taken to equal total pottery sherds) shows a fairly consistent fall-off with distance from the Otumba area (TABLE 4), with only EI Arbolillo standing out as under-supplied relative to its distance from the source. This anomaly is interesting and may mean that EI Arbolillo depended on some intermediate community for its supply. Superimposed on this geographic pattern is a temporal one: the obsidian supply climbs steadily to FI-I and 2 times, then seemingly declines. This downward trend may be related to the overall economic stress hypothesized in the preceding section for FI times, and might represent either a failure of supply to keep up with a growing population or as a disruption of supply routes due to socio-political conditions. Sourcing by Cobean and by Pires-Ferreira of some of this obsidian confirms that it is mainly from the flow 64. Robert Cobean, personal communication. 65. Cobean et aI., op.cit. (in note 36); Pires-Ferreira, op.cit. (in note 36). 102 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. near Otum ba (Barranca de los Estetes). The small site of Altica, some 10 km. from that source,66 where the ratio of obsidian to sherds is about .700 on the surface, looks very much like a community engaged in producing obsi- dian preforms for exchange. It was occupied from EH-4 to FI-3 times, contemporaneously with the peak of obsi- dian representation at our sites. Otumba, however, is not the only source represented in our materials. Ix- tapaluca material from Tlapacoya includes the green Pachuca variety, "group A" of unknown source (also represented at San Lorenzo) and three specimens which Cobean tentatively attributes to EI Ocotito, Guerrero. Except for one specimen from overlying Bomba deposits, that source is not represented later on, though Pachuca and Group A are. Single specimens represent four other sources in the Zacatenco phase (Zinapecuaro, Penjamo, source "c" and a new unknown source). Relative to the number of specimens (42) tested, the diversity of sources appears to decrease slightly in Zacatenco times. A census of the blades analyzed by Cobean reveals an additional interesting fact: 7 of the 11 blades analyzed are made of exotic obsidian, while only 11of the remain- ing 43 specimens are of obsidian from outside the Basin. All 5 of the EH blades are exotic. It is not yet clear whether obsidian destined for blades was imported, or the blades themselves. Both, of course, may have been imported, though blade cores, whole or fragmentary, are extremely scarce at all sites, and blades tend to be small and uniform in size, suggesting that initial core reduction at least was taking place elsewhere. 67 There is also a remarkable gap in technology between the blades and the bulk of chipped items from all sites, which were produced from unprepared cores by a smashing tech- nique. This suggests little ability to produce blades on the part of the average inhabitant of these sites and therefore a degree of specialization involving obsidian workers. Some specialization is also indicated at the site of Lorna de Atoto. The obsidian from that location shows an unusually low ratio of finished products to waste, and includes several larger blades and small flat flakes generated by facial retouch. We have less information on the making or trading of pottery or other manufactures. Probable trade wares at EH sites include Xochiltepec White (also known as "kaolin" and "white clear through"), 68a grey ware of 66. Fig. 1,No. 81; Sanders et aI., op.cit. (innote 13). 67. P. Tolstoy, "Utilitarian Artifacts of Central Mexico," in Hand- book of Middle American Indians 10:1, R. W. Wauchope, ed., (Tulane 1971)275. 68. Coe, op.cit. (innote 33) 25. probable Oaxacan origin at Tlapacoya 69 and some of the orange-slipped and caramel-colored wares found in minute amounts at many sites. Less clear-cut, and more interesting for that reason, is the case of moderately represented categories of limited distribution, e.g. differentially fired ware and various whites, reds, and bichromes. We lack as yet the technical analyses to tell us which, if any, were supplied in the Basin from one or a few sources and which, on the contrary, represent widely reproduced fashions. For ground stone, some evidence exists that Coapex- co, in EH-2 and EH-3 times, may have been a produc- tion center for manos and metates. The evidence consists in the unusually high ratio of these objects to sherds on the surface (.0168, more than 4.5 times higher than at any other site, and 20 times higher than at most other sites), the presence of unfinished and unused examples, the local availability of the materials used, and, less clearly, patterns of occurrence over the site. Another possible craft center for ground stone is the Loma de Atoto, where the ratio of ground stone to sherds in the Totolica subphase, though considerably lower than at Coapexco (.0036), still seems out of line with values prevailing at other sites (which range from .0010 to .00001). Among minor or luxury materials, jadeite is scarce but occurs in Tlatilco graves (including the early Burial 60, Season II, illustrated by Covarrubias).70 Serpentine beads are found at Coapexco, and two unfinished specimens suggest lapidary work at the site. Earspools of unidentified greenstone occur in a Manantial feature pit at Santa Catarina. Iron ore and mica fragments are found at Coapexco. All these artifacts and materials clearly indicate trade, but their sources remain to be identified. Social and Political Aspects Sound time-space control and some understanding of economic constraints are essential to any attempt to find, in archeological data, structured relationships among people. So far, because of more basic needs, our search for the social and political implications of our data has been cursory and informal. The remarks that follow may need extensive revision in the future. Of the data available to us, only the 53 surface con- centrations of Coapexco 71and the 379 graves at Tlatilco 69. Muriel Porter-Weaver, "Tlapacoya Pottery in the Museum Collection," Indian Notes and Monographs, Misc. Series 56(Museum of theAmerican Indian, HeyeFoundation, New York 1967)29-30. 70. Miguel Covarrubias, Indian Art of Mexico and Central America (NewYork 1966). 71. Tolstoy and Fish, op.cit. (innote 11). promise, by their scope, to illustrate a representative range of statuses and roles within the communities that concern us. On the surface of apart of the Coapexco site, 53 tracts can be outlined around an equal number of concen- trations of refuse. The latter are thought to mark the positions of dwellings. The contents of each of these tracts have yet to be compared in detail with each other and with the yield of the four excavated structures. For the present, we can say that a rather standard assort- ment of ceramics seems to prevail at the site, with few if any hints of consistent differences in wealth or prestige among households. If and when such differences are defined, they promise to be continuous in nature and moderate in degree. However, the frequencies of different classes of material (e.g., figurines, chipped stone, ground stone) and their ratios relative to pottery do show perceptible patterns, which include bimodal frequency distributions and spatial patterning. While not indicative of rank, this evidence does suggest some specialization and localization of common activities such as stone chipping, mano and metate manufacture, and perhaps magic or healing practices associated with the figurines. Status differences, as opposed to occupational ones, seem more apparent in the Tlatilco graves, at least if we interpret the quantities of offerings in them as measures of status. The number of vessels in anyone grave ranges from zero to 23, and other objects also occur in variable amounts. Some abundantly furnished graves are those of women, and some of children. Status differences at birth thus may have existed, though the evidence does not require them. Again, the contrasts seem graded on a continuum and the range in quality of goods is rather limited, despite the remarkable diversity of some ceramic attributes. Differences unrelated to rank also clearly exist, among them those associated with sex (oUas and tecomates tend to occur in female graves, jarras and some kinds of bottle are associated with males) and probably with occupation. Some of the differences between graves, such as the two dominant orientations, approximately N-S and E-W, remain to be interpreted. Differences in function or importance between sites within the settlement system are difficult to demonstrate with the information at hand. The evidence for craft ac- tivities at Altica, Lorna de Atoto, and Coapexco has been mentioned, but it is difficult to assess, as com- parative information from other sites is inadequate, and distribution networks for craft products remain to be determined. It may be significant that the proportion of red-brown storage and cooking ware (Vaillant's "bay ware") is significantly higher at some sites than at others. At EI Arbolillo, for example, the proportion (ca. Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 103 34% in FI-3, 54% in FI-4) is about twice what it is at Lorna de Atoto (ca. 19%in FI-3, 25% in FI-4). Sanders 72 similarly notes very high proportions of "bay" at Venta de Carpio. 73 As suggested in an earlier paper,74 bay ware should be considered as non-prestigious pottery of relatively low value. Its abundance in refuse can therefore be considered an index of a low standard of living or low status. It is also certain that some sites in EH and FI 1-4 times were considerably larger than others, with some 15 of the 90 sites listed in our earlier study75 displaying refuse over a surface greater than 10 hectares. As dis- cussed in that study, the nature of the field evidence does not preclude the possibility that other comparably large communities are represented today by what appear to be small sites. It is nevertheless significant that most of the measurably large sites are in ecologically favorable situations and that EI Arbolillo and Venta de Carpio, mentioned above, are neither large nor favorably located from an agricultural point of view. Lorna de Atoto not only rates as one of the 15larger and better situated sites known from EH and FI 1-4 times, but also illustrates two characteristics of such sites: that they tend to be founded earlier and to be oc- cupied longer than others (Coapexco is a notable excep- tion to this), and that they are the ones, in most cases, that form pairs (in one case, a triplet) of satellite com- munities located 1km. or less from each other. Lorna de Atoto is one of a pair with Tlatilco. Similar spacing is evident (see FIG. 1) between sites near Tetelpa (Nos. 12 and 13), Tlaltenco (Nos. 49 and 50) and Cuautlalpan (Nos. 41, 42 and 43), with all but one of these nine sites falling into the "large" class. It seems likely that such spatially close communities result from the fission of the older one of the set. It can also be supposed that they maintained special relationships with each other over time through the exchange both of goods and of mates; there may also have been political relationships. Similar though necessarily less certain interpretations suggest themselves for the geographic site clusters which emerge in FI times and are plainly evident in the Ticoman phase. 76 We are presently undertaking acensus of such clusters and of their parameters through time. Of the 30 clusters visible in Ticoman times (this number 72. Sanders et aI., op.cit. (innote 13)29. 73. Fig. 1,No. 89. 74. Tolstoy and A. Guenette, "Le Placement deTlatilco dans Iecadre du pre-classique du Bassin de Mexico," J. Soc. Americanistes, 54:1 (1965) 47. 75. Tolstoy, op.cit. (innote 4). 76. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10)fig. 5. 104 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. includes some on the West shore, excluded from Par- sons' map, but not those in areas to the north surveyed since 1974 by Parsons and Sanders), it appears that all but two exist or contain at least one site in FI-3 or FI-4. Taking the Ticoman clusters as a baseline, it is therefore possible to view earlier settlement history as that of the founding of these clusters, their filling with increasing numbers of member-sites and, in some cases, their fis- sion to produce new clusters. Nine widely spaced foci of settlement are thus visible in EH-2/3 times, all but two consisting of a single site each. The number of foci rises in succeeding periods (16 in EH -4 and FI -1-2, 25 in FI -3), as does the number of sites contained in each. Clusters contain as many as 5 sites in FI-3, and 16 sites in Ticoman (the latter figure may be inflated through the inclusion of non- contemporaneous sites). It is interesting to note that during the retreat of settlement during FI-4, several foci vanish but the overall number of multi-site clusters in- creases (from 40% to 59% of total settlements). There is also an increase in the average number of sites per cluster. By Ticoman times, 83% of all foci of settlement consist of more than 1site. Measurable trends through time are also evident in nearest-neighbor distances within and between clusters and in cluster diameters. These trends will be described more completely in a future publication; we note here only that settlement expansion progresses in FI-3 and FI-4 times within clusters, while clearly being con- strained beyond their boundaries. This repulsion between clusters could be read as hostility between groups with developing socio-political identities; Parsons in fact, has proposed such an interpretation for the clusters of Patlachique (FI-9) times. 77 Many of these are the same ones we see emerge in FI-3. By Patlachique times, they are shifting their boundaries at each other's expense and, in some cases, merging into larger units. A final observation concerning clusters may shed some light on their nature: their member-sites most often share the same environmental setting, whether the latter is defined by elevation or by kind and amount of available moisture. Of the 90 sites of our 1975 study, only 11are exceptions to this observation, and not all of these are clear-cut. Such a situation would seem to forecast increasingly marked inequalities in resources as population grows. While the effect of inequalities may be seen in the long run as "symbiosis," their immediate consequence may have been conflict. A discussion of political relationships within the Basin cannot omit mention of the site of Cuicuilco. Though much about Cuicuilco, including its size, 77. Parsons, op.cit. (innote 10) 105. remains unknown, it is clearly one of the largest sites in the Basin prior to the Middle Horizon. It is also perhaps one of the oldest, and perhaps the first to have public architecture. Its existence prompts an important but at present unanswerable question: how much of the seem- ing decline in prosperity observed at Zacatenco-phase sites was across-the-board, and how much due to ex- ploitive relationships between larger sites and smaller ones? Ritual and Religion A consideration of ritual practices and beliefs brings us back to Cuicuilco, since public buildings, aside from figurines and other objects with iconographic content, are among our few sources of information on religion. It has not been sufficiently stressed that four construction stages of the main pyramid at Cuicuilco, and six stages of the smaller pyramid at "Cuicuilco B" or Pena Pobre, predate the Ticoman phase. They must go back therefore at least to FI-4 and perhaps earlier, as their fill suggests. 78 No other pre- Ticoman ceremonial structures are known at present in the Basin, though the possibility that some exist should not be dismissed. Thus, part of the modern community ofTlapacoya which overlaps the EH site seems to be built over an artificial mound, which could well be early. Figurines form the bulk of evidence for cult from the Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco phases, but have so far been rather resistant to interpretation. Their abundance (3.2 per thousand sherds in Coapexco and Ayotla refuse, 1to 0.1 later) shows that the occasions of their use were com- mon and that they deserve to be called "domestic." Their disposal in refuse, where they are found broken, indicates that their life-span was not long, and that, when it ended, so did their value. Their placement in graves may mean that they could serve the needs of the dead as well as of the living, though seemingly they did not do so after FI -1. Ethnographic parallels from Mesoamerica suggest protection, curing, and increase as likely functions. 79 Protection would seem the most com- patible with placement in graves. Increase, if understood to include human increase, would fit demographic trends in an interesting manner: as population grew and as perceived strain on resources increased with it, pronatalist ritual might decline, thereby resulting in the lower figurine-to-sherd ratios in Zacatenco and the long-range decline of figurine usage in the FI. Curing may be compatible with placement in graves (following unsuccessful cures) but, like protection, implies either a 78. J . A. Bennyhoff, personal communication; Heizer and Bennyhoff, op.cit. (innote 22). 79. Brush, op.cit. (innote 37). diminished need in FI times or a correspondingly greater use of other means to the same end. In any event, figurines do not seem usually to represent deities in the phases considered here, for we rarely find in them the recurrent insignia of a limited number of mythical figures. Rather, those represented must be mostly real human beings (they are most commonly women) or a large class of spirits closely patterned after them. The possibilities of costume and, particularly, headgear as markers of kin or community affiliation, in that case, would be considerable and remain to be exploited. However, that the EH inhabitants of the Basin did revere a limited number of supernatural beings seems in- dicated by other evidence. In a study of Olmec iconography, David 10ralemon 80 sees six and probably more distinct "gods" as recurrent themes in Olmec art. Four of these (not counting 10ralemon's god VII, now included with god I) are represented on 84 pieces of pottery from Tlatilco and Tlapacoya, which 10ralemon illustrates. They are identified as Gods I (similar in some ways to Itzam Na of the Maya, and combining the at- tributes of the Aztec deities Xiuhcoatl, Tonacatecutli and Cipactli), III (an avian monster with maize-fertility associations), VI (equated with Aztec Xipe, also a fertili- ty figure), and X (so far "inscrutable" and also among the less certain to exist as a separate personage). These representations, which may, with considerable con- fidence, be dated prior to EH -4, are distributed at the two sites as shown in Table 5. Four-cell tables for each of the four representations show the differences between the two sites to be significant with respect to the oc- currence of all four gods, at probability levels well below .01 (as determined from chi-squares for I and VI, and Fisher's exact test for III and X). God VI thus emerges as the possible abogado of Tlapacoya in EH times, i.e. as a tutelary deity and conceivably "even as its "deified tribal ancestor. "81 By contrast, God I (by far the most prevalent in Olmec art generally) is more frequent at Tlatilco, where it is accompanied by the avian monster God III, unreported at Tlapacoya. The Tlatilco distribu- tion appears repeated at Las Bocas, Puebla, where, of 23 representations figured by 10ralemon, 17pertain to God I, 6 to God III. We thus have the intriguing fact that, iconographically and perhaps in their religious practices and beliefs, the inhabitants of Las Bocas resembled more those of Tlatilco than those of Tlapacoya. 80. D. J oralemon, "A Study of Olmec Iconography," Studies in Pre- Columbian Art and Archaeology 7 (Washington, D.C. 1971); The Olmec Dragon: A Study of Pre-Columbian Iconography (1974), ms. 81. ~. B. Nicholson, "Religion in Prehispanic Central Mexico," in Handbook of Middle American Indians 10, R.W. Wauchope, ed., (Austin 1971)409. Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 4,1977 105 Table 5. Representations of mythical beings at Tlatilco and Tlapacoya. J oralemon's Tlatilco Tlapacoya Total "gods": I 20 31 51 III 4 0 4 VI 0 24 24 X 0 5 5 Total 24 60 84 Concluding Remarks We shall not try to summarize the complex and uncer- tain picture which we have reviewed, or to try to give it a coherence which it inherently lacks. We shall express, in- stead, some views on the strategy appropriate to our subject. Implicit in this research is a certain order of priorities. We believe archeology has several mutually complemen- tary tasks, all of which need to be done if any of them are to be done at all. These tasks include broad-purpose description, space-time indexing, the inference of unique historical events (such as the spread of styles), the in- ference of repetitive events or processes and, ultimately, the explanation of change. Each presents interesting and challenging problems, and in each progress stimulates and constrains progress in the others. Our main concern is to pace these operations so that a balanced and con- vincing picture can emerge of the past of our region. In an initial stage of our work, space-time indexing was given priority, in the belief that it was there that the limiting weaknesses of knowledge of the area resided. Though still and always in need of improvement, our chronology is now at least capable of supporting a modicum of historical-stylistic generalization and provides some assurance that when we try to put systems back together from surviving parts, the parts at least belong together in time. We are also convinced that the plotting of styles, based on a "normative" view of behavior, and the under- standing of once-functioning systems, which implies a "systemic" approach, are both necessary operations, with each raising problems for the other to solve. We in- tend to pursue both, and have no sympathy with those who cannot live with both of these purportedly incom- patible models or who, on the pretext of building streamlined theory or replicable methodology, would dismiss as unimportant problems that they find un- congenial. Finally, we hope, along with other optimists, that our inferences will eventually become incorporated into ex- planatory models. Unlike other optimists, however,. we 106 Early Sedentary Communities of the Basin of Mexico/Tolstoy et al. have little faith in the efficacy, for that purpose, of some one group of models borrowed from geography, infor- mation theory, or the philosophy of science. The chances are good that a satisfactory explanation of change, when it comes, and if it is recognized when it does come, will not look like any of the "explanations" currently offered. In the meantime, we shall do what we can to ascertain past events and conditions in the Basin of Mexico. Paul Tolstoy is Professor of A rchaeology at Queens College, New York, and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. C. Earle Smith is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alabama. Ms. Fish is Field Director of the Queens-CUNY Pre classic Project. Mr. Boksenbaum is Instructor in Anthropology at Queens College, CUNY. Ms. Vaughn holds an M.S. degree in in- formation science and is a participant of the Queens- CUNY Pre classic Project.