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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology pp 1–2Cite as

Teotihuacan (La Ventilla): Field Method

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Brief Definition of the Topic

Teotihuacan was a great metropolis during the Classic Mesoamerican period, and its importance and influence marked the political, ideological, and economic development of a great part of the Central Mexican Plateau. The study of the city’s architecture and town planning, as well as its internal and external social relationships, is key to understanding the cultural development of this culture. Fieldwork began with detailed mapping of the upstanding monuments, and a high-precision survey of pottery discarded on the surface (Millon 1973). This work aimed to discover as much as possible about the town without damaging the monuments or disturbing the strata by excavation. The pottery distribution proved very informative: the quantities recorded were displayed in the form of contour maps that showed the primary areas of discard (all pottery) and the areas of high-status residence (the distribution of the fine ware: regular thin orange) (Cowgill et al. 1984).

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References

  • Cowgill, G.L., J.H. Altschul, and R.S. Sload. 1984. Spatial analysis at Teotihuacan. In Intrasite spatial analysis in archaeology, ed. H.-J. Hietala, 154–195. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Millon, R. 1973. The Teotihuacán map, part 1: Text. volume 1: Urbanization at Teotihuacán, México. Austin: University of Texas Press.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zona Arqueológica de Teotihuacan, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Teotihuacan, Mexico

    Rubén Cabrera Castro

  2. Departamento de Antropología Social, Historia de América y África, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Natalia Moragas

Authors
  1. Rubén Cabrera Castro
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  2. Natalia Moragas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rubén Cabrera Castro .

Section Editor information

  1. Departament d’Humanitats, ICREA/Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Sandra Montón-Subías

  2. Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Bisserka Gaydarska

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Castro, R.C., Moragas, N. (2019). Teotihuacan (La Ventilla): Field Method. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1523-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1523-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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