Teuchitlán culture

The Teuchitlán culture was one of several related cultures in West Mexico during the Late Formative to Classic period (350 BCE to 450/500 CE). Situated in the Tequila Valleys of Jalisco, the Teuchitlán culture shared in the tradition of burying some of their dead in shaft and chamber tombs. Archaeological work from the past few decades have demonstrated that West Mexico was not occupied by one homogeneous culture, historically referred to as the shaft tomb tradition, that stretched from Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima. Instead, West Mexico was composed of multiple cultures with several distinct commonalities. The Teuchitlán culture is an archaeologically defined culture named after the town of Teuchitlán where the largest Teuchitlán culture site, Los Guachimontones, is located. Los Guachimontones is one of several dozen sites in the region, but is most notable for the number and size of its ceremonial buildings. Like many other Mesoamerican cultures, the Teuchitlán culture lacked a writing system. Archaeologists do not know what they may have called themselves or what language they may have spoken. The toponym for the town of Teuchitlán dates to the Late Postclassic/Conquest period and could have its origins in one of several Nahuatl speaking migrations to the region after 500 CE. As with other West Mexican cultures during this period, the Teuchitlán culture buried some, but not all, of their dead in shaft and chamber tombs dug into the earth. The deceased were interred in these chambers and mortuary goods such as ceramic vessels, hollow and solid ceramic figures, shell jewelry, conch shells, jadeite, quartz, ground stone, and paper were placed within. TOC Archaeologists still poorly understand the origins and development of the Teuchitlán culture. No Early or Middle Formative sites in the Tequila Valleys have been excavated yet. However, the nearby Early Formative site of El Opeño, Michoacan and somewhat more distantly located Middle Formative site of Mascota, Jalisco suggest a long continuity of shaft and chamber use in West Mexico.