Epi-Classic Cultural Dynamics in the Mezquital Valley

An Epi-Classic Marker

When in the Introduction we said that tracing the figures had led us to "very remote sites and contexts", it is worth specifying that we are using geographical and perhaps ’cultural’, but not chronological, terms. An important portion of the pieces we have identified are of an unknown provenience, they often are some collectors’ property, they may have been isolatedly found, the context of which they were a part may not have been recorded in detail, or may not support the attribution of a specific temporality… however, we feel that the phenomenon of such a vast distribution may be circumscribed to a quite specific temporal space, for two reasons. First, the absolute or relative dating of the pieces that allowed to be dated, is consistent with a chronological range that encompasses approximately the years A.D. 650 to 950, that is to say, from the Late Middle Classic to the beginning of the Early Post Classic (see also McVicker and Palka 2001:183). Second, the fact of finding this type of samples in sites that in spite of evidencing an extended occupational continuity experienced a peak of splendor in these centuries, is significant. Thus, the plaques style, together with their regional variants, may be considered as a horizon marker.

The Epi-Classic ⁴   is a noble moment for studies on interaction, and the reason is quite simple. During the immediately preceding period, the Classic, almost any feature fit to be considered as Pan-Mesoamerican has been commonly associated with Teotihuacán as the focus responsible of every process that derived in the generalized distribution of goods. And even before that, in the Pre-Classic, most studies concentrate on discerning the complexity achieved by human groups instead of the bonds existing between them.

Needless to say, the first case is based on logic, as at that time, Teotihuacán was the head of a macroregional social structure of an impressive scope. As the most important city and strategic link between remote regions from the Mesoamerican territory, it would be surprising that the creation and dispersion of elements would have been alien to it or gone unnoticed, but it is necessary to keep in mind that "not all things present in Teotihuacán are to be considered a Teotihuacán trait", as John Paddock pointed out in 1966 (1972a:225); therefore, many of the elements which actually are a part of the cultural values recovered in Teotihuacán, may have been there precisely because they were generalized and typical of those times, or, in Paddock’s words, "a style typical of Teotihuacán times throughout Mesoamerica, while Teotihuacán participates like the other centers […]" (ibid.:227).

Similarly, it would be pointless to deny that the Teotihuacán system has been innovating in countless cultural features, in addition to supporting and transforming other, preceding ones; a process which also took place at its fall. It is important to outline this continuity, because many of the aspects observed here during the Epi-Classic are an inheritance of previous centuries.

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Endnote

4. This lapse, as proposed by Jiménez Moreno (1959:1063), specifically encompasses the centuries comprised between A.D. 600/700 and A.D. 900/1000. We often refer to the "Late Classic", thus respecting the original reference by the authors, though it is important to clarify that in chronological terms, they are basically equivalent.

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