Public Architecture: Navajas, Jalisco, México

Project Background and Goals

The project carried out the near complete horizontal exposure of a small circular complex of the Teuchitlán tradition, with associated soil sampling for macrobotanical analysis. The work took place at the site of Navajas, in the central part of the state of Jalisco, México (Figure 1, shown below).

The Teuchitlán tradition (300 B.C.-A.D. 900) (see Figure 2, below, for chronological sequence over this period) is defined by the presence of distinctive circular public architecture (Weigand 1985) consisting of successive concentric circles–(1) a circular altar, (2) a wider circular patio, and (3) a ring of equally spaced satellite structures facing the patio. The total complex is the unit of analysis, and the individual elements listed above do not occur without the others. By midway through the Late Formative (around A.D. 1) the circles typically have eight structures surrounding an altar or large round pyramid. This architecture is predominantly found in the highland lake basins of central Jalisco, with smaller and derivative examples in the surrounding seven states.

Available evidence from ancient ceramic dioramas of the architecture, other TVRAP excavations, skeletal data, and ethnographic parallels point to the likelihood that the structures around the circle were built, maintained, and used by different kin groups (Pickering and Cabrero 1998, Beekman 2000, Beekman n.d.). There is other evidence, namely the large quantities of wealth conspicuously buried with the dead, suggesting that these groups were in social competition (Beekman 2000). Yet despite the association of competing descent groups with the satellite structures, recall that a typical circle includes eight surrounding structures. Whatever their competing interests, the component social groups were compelled to cooperate as well, likely through the evocation of a higher purpose–ensuring the well-being of the populace at large, for example (Beekman 2003a, b).

The activities within the circles are thus diverse. There is evidence in burials and ceramic dioramas for mortuary ritual involving conspicuous consumption and social competition between groups. Other dioramas depict ceremonies comparable to the Xocotl Huetzi monthly agricultural celebrations known from the Aztec ritual calendar, and excavations at Llano Grande support that conjecture (Beekman 2003a, b). Some models further depict drinking and feasting that may be part of these activities, but are likely to leave their own distinctive archaeological signature such as large storage and serving vessels (Butterwick 1998).

Based on prior excavations at Llano Grande and the research on the ceramic models by Butterwick (1998), we can conclude with confidence that ritual feasting activity was taking place in the circles (Dietler and Hayden 2001, Hayden 2000). Knowing this, the focus of study can be shifted to the type of feasting that was occurring. Potter (2000:472) states that there are "two sides to all communal behaviors: one that integrates and one that differentiates." In accordance with this statement, Tyndall (in preparation) emphasizes two overlapping classes of feasting: Aggrandizing Feasting where groups were using the ceremonial circles as a public arena to compete with one another through feasting to gain personal prestige, and Integrating feasting where the feasts were social events that brought together many different groups in integrative and celebratory fashion. Tyndall draws a connection between these two kinds of feasting and the evidence for alternating Network and Corporate strategies (Blanton, et al. 1996) already proposed (Beekman 2000) for the core area over the Early through Late Tabachines phases (est. 300 B.C.-A.D. 550).

On this basis, Tyndall proposes that a network strategy emphasizing greater differentiation between independent lineages would result in differing ceramic assemblages between structures around the circle. At the other end of the continuum, very similar ceramic assemblages between structures would point towards similar activities and greater ties between the interacting lineages, and would be more likely to be found within a corporate strategy.

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