Totógal: Investigations of Postclassic Occupation and the Aztec Frontier in the Tuxtla Mountains, Veracruz, México
Vea este informe en Español.
Printable version

Click on image to enlarge

Research Year:  2004
Culture:  Veracruz
Chronology:  Postclassic
Location:  Cerro el Vigía, Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México
Site:  Totógal

Table of Contents

Abstract
Overview
Site Description
Fieldwork at Totógal
Artifacts
Summary and Conclusions
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Sources Cited

Abstract

We initiated archaeological fieldwork at Totógal to examine the character of Postclassic (A.D. 1000-1521) occupation in the western Sierra de los Tuxtlas and to consider relations with the expanding Aztec empire. Archaeological data show that the principle occupation of Totógal dates to the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1350-1521) and was preceded by an earlier Classic period one. We conducted systematic shovel testing, mapping, conductivity survey and excavation at Totógal. Late Postclassic imperial-style artifacts, obsidian trends and Gulf Lowland ceramic styles combined with ethnohistoric information and local histories, support a correlation between Totógal and Postclassic Toztlan, the easternmost tributary of the imperial Tochtepec province (Esquivias 2002; Urcid and Esquivias 2000; Venter 2004; cf. Berdan and Anawalt 1992). Moreover, these data indicate that the inhabitants of Totógal were engaged in both Gulf Lowland and Central Highland political, economic, and cultural networks.

Submitted 02/24/2005 by:
Marcie L. Venter,
University of Kentucky
mlvent0@uky.edu

Next Page

Return to top of page