Tehuacan

The name Tehuacan can be translated as "Place of the Gods" or "Place of Stones." (Barrera, 1946) The area is littered with caves and arroyos. In early 1960, archaeologist Richard MacNeish was in Mesoamerica looking for signs of early agriculture. He collected information from excavations in other portions of Mexico that led him to believe the Tehuacan Valley was an excellent area for the beginnings of agriculture. He conducted a survey of schoolteachers in the area of Tehuacan and areas to the north and south of the valley regarding caves in the areas and artifacts found. After numerous false leads, he investigated Coxcatlan Cave in the valley. Subsequent excavations in the cave uncovered 28 zones, making Coxcatlan a richly stratified site. The Tehuacan Archaeology and Botanical Project had begun. The participants came from the fields of archaeology, botany, geology and many others. Excavators included Kent Flannery, Richard MacNeish, Douglas Byers and Fredrick Johnson. The purpose: to reconstruct the subsistence patterns of the area and to trace the roots of early agriculture.

The Tehuacan Valley contains nine distinct levels of cultural change. These levels are referred to as phases. From early to late they are:

Ajuereado Phase(ended well before 6500 BC) The attributes of this phase are traces of cave occupation and a few chipped stone tools (MacNeish 1961).
El Riego Phase (6500-5000 BC) This phase shows evidence of wet-season and dry-season camps, hints of plant cultivation, chipped stone tools, groundstone implements, nets, coiled baskets, twined mats and ritualistic multiple burials with suggestions of human sacrifice (MacNeish 1961).
Coxcatlan Phase (5000-3500 BC) This phase contains fewer sites with larger groups of people for a longer time, firm evidence of cultivation of corn, beans, squash and chili peppers, chipped and groundstone tools, and improved basket making and netting (MacNeish 1961).
Abejas Phase (3500-2300 BC) Attributes of this phase are possible year round pit house villages along the river terraces, a diet consisting of 20% agricultural products, evidence of domestication of dogs, new types of chipped and groundstone artifacts, split-stitch baskets and possibly cotton threads (MacNeish 1961).
Purron Phase (2300-1500 BC) This phase contains only two cave occupations and a crude, crumbly type of pottery (MacNeish 1961).
Ajalpan Phase (1500-900 BC) Attributes of this phase are wattle and daub villages, evidence of subsistence farming, corn, beans, squash, chili peppers, amaranth, avocados, sapotes, cotton and figurines (MacNeish 1961).
Santa Maria Phase (900-200 BC) This phase contains indications of population growth, the first structural evidence of true irrigation, improved lines of corn and other vegatables, larger villages with ceremonial structures, well made pottery, figurines which provide inferences of religious and secular organization, new stone tools and woven cotton cloth (MacNeish 1961).
Palo Blanco Phase (200 B.C.-A.D. 700) This phase contains evidence of regularly used irrigation, peanuts, guavas, turkeys, large hill-top centers with elaborate stone pyramids, plazas, ball courts, suggestions of priests or king priests rule, finely made obsidian tools, bark cloth, woven fabrics and fine pottery (MacNeish 1961).
Venta Salada Phase (AD 700-1540) Attributes of this phase are often fortified city-states, shrines, salt production sites, quarry towns, a wide range of irrigation features, a hieroglyphic system that made possible documentation of elaborate religious systems, a calendrical system and ceremonialism (MacNeish 1961).