Current research in Mesoamerican Archaeology: Contributions from Central, West and Northern Mexico

Join the School of Human Evolution and Social Change for a colloquium on the exciting field of Mesoamerican archaeology. Students and faculty will present their latest research on a range of topics like Macaw keeping in prehispanic times, urban planning in the ancient city of Teotihuacan and ritual behavior at the site La Quemada. The presentations will lead up to a keynote lecture by visiting archaeology professor Sarah Clayton, who does field research in central Mexico and studies the development, social structure and decline of early urban states.

Event schedule:

9:30 a.m.
Opening 

9:45 a.m.
Archaeological research at El Palacio : The Tarascan shift of Northern Michoacán
Marion Forest, postdoctoral researcher, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

10:15 a.m.
Negotiating the Absence of States: Social and Economic Reorganization in the Epiclassic-Early Postclassic Basin of Mexico
Angela Huster, visiting researcher, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

10:45 a.m.
Preys, pests and pets: Recent advances in the archaeology of human-animal interactions in Northern Mesoamerica
Aurélie Manin, postdoctoral researcher, Department of Archaeology, University of York

11:15 a.m.
Break

11:30 a.m.
Investigating Prehispanic Macaw Keeping through Radiogenic Strontium Isotope Analysis at Paquimé, Chihuahua
Christopher Schwartz, graduate student, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
Andrew D. Somerville, lecturer, Department of Anthropology, California State University at Dominguez Hills

Noon
Presentation of the Teotihuacan GIS : Principles and the question of plazas and open spaces
Alexandra Norwood, senior undergraduate student, Arizona State University

12:30 p.m.
Lunch Break

2 p.m. 
Urban Planning at Teotihuacan
Michael E. Smith, professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

2:30 p.m.
Establishing the nature and scale of ritual behavior at La Quemada, Zacatecas
Andrea Torvinen, PhD candidate, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

3 p.m.
Exploring Social and Environmental Change on the Northern Frontier of Mesoamerica: New Research at La Ferrería, Durango, Mexico
Andrew D. Somerville, lecturer, Department of Anthropology, California State University at Dominguez Hills
Jose Luis Punzo Diaz, researcher, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Centro Michoacán

3:30 p.m.
Break

3:45 p.m.
Modeling Aztec settlement demography in the Basin of Mexico based on modern settlements analogues
Rudolf Cesaretti, graduate student, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

4:15 p.m.
KEYNOTE LECTURE: The End of Teotihuacan: Perspectives on Collapse and Regeneration from Beyond the Ancient Metropolis
Sarah Clayton, associate professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison