Public Architecture: Navajas, Jalisco, México

Navajas

The site of Navajas was a significant Teuchitlán tradition political center in its own right (Figure 3). It has five circles of various sizes, an 80+ meter long ballcourt, about 80 hectares of mapped area, multiple secondary centers in its orbit (La Florida, El Jaguey, and Los Coates), and dominance of a major transportation corridor linking the Tequila valleys and Lake Chapala to the southeast. It may be the second largest intact center of the Teuchitlán tradition known at present, but its remains are in especial danger due to mechanized agriculture, disinterest, and looting.

The current project focused on Circle 5, a very small example of a circle of the Teuchitlán tradition (Figure 4). To date, Teuchitlán tradition excavations have been limited to shallow trenching and clearing aimed towards architectural restoration and consolidation (Guachimontón), or selective excavations to expose activity areas within individual structures (Llano Grande). This piecemeal excavation of circles is unsatisfactory, as we are beginning to recognize that the complexes are a composite of eight different social units. Circle 5’s small size made it possible to carry out horizontal excavations to better understand the interrelationship of the different components of the circle.

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