JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.Located on the northeastern flank of the Popocatepetl volcano in the state of Puebla, Mexico, the Tetimpa region was buried under volcanic ash from two major eruptions: the first, at the beginning of the present era and the second, between A.D. 700 and 850. We review the volcanic and cultural sequences based on 12 radiocarbon dates, and then focus our discussion on the well-preserved house compounds of the occupation destroyed by the first eruption. The village at Tetimpa was abandoned rapidly in the face of disaster; and domestic goods were left in situ, providing us with a unique, almost ethnographic, view of rural life in the Terminal Preclassic. The house compounds follow a highly standardized pattern, consisting of two or three structures set at right angles to one another around a central patio, in a layout similar to that of the three-tenmple complexes at Teotihuacan. The wattle-and-daub walls of the rooms are built on stone talud-tablero platforms with a central staircase. Small shrines, located at the midpoint of each patio, provide evidence that volcanic activity formed part of the domestic ritual focus.La region de Tetimpa, ubicada en la falda noreste del volcdn Popocatepetl, quedo en tiempos prehispdnicos sepultada bajo la ceniza volcdnica emitida por dos importantes erupciones: la primera de estas, a inicios de nuestra era, y la segunda, entre 700 y 850 d. C. Con base en 12 fechas de radiocarbono, revisamos aqui tanto la secuencia volcdnica como la cultural, para posteriormente enfocar la discusion especificamente sobre las unidades domesticas precldsicas, excelentemente preservadas, correspondientes a la ocupacion destruida por la primera de las erupciones mencionadas. Ante el desastre inminente, la aldea de Tetimpa fue aparentemente abandonada de subito, dejando in situ la mayoria de los bienes domesticos, lo que nos proporciona asi una visi6n unica, casi etnogrdfica, de la vida rural en el Precldsico Terminal. Los conzplejos habitacionales siguen un patron altamente estandarizado, que consiste de dos o tres estructuras colocadas en angulos rectos alrededor de un patio central, en un acomodo semejante al de los complejos teotihuacanos de tres templos. Los cuartos de bajareque estdn construidos sobre plataformas con talud-tablero, y se accede a ellos por una escalinata central delimitada por alfardas. El contexto inalterado ha permitido incluso documentar la existencia de areas familiares de culto, generalmente marcadas por pequenos adoratorios localizados en la parte central de los patios, mediante los cuales se ha obtenido evidencia de que la actividad volcdnica formaba parte del enfoque ritual domestico.

Mexico's Central Highlands form one of Mesoamerica's fundamental cultural seams, a point of overlap between two traditions, one to the east and the other to the west. Although this area is usually included in the west, it can be more productively viewed as an interface, the physical space where people, goods, and ideas passed from one side to the other, and thus it holds many keys for our understanding of emerging social complexity in Mesoamerica. In reviewing the last two decades of Formative period (1500 BC-AD 100) research in this crucial territory, we focus on themes that reveal the variation and dynamism of interregional interaction, including the formation of regional traditions, exchange systems, and foreign ''influence,'' and others that help contextualize the events and processes of that time, like household studies and environmental degradation. We stress that this part of Mexico is undergoing relentless development so time is of the essence if we are to broaden our perspectives on social evolution in the Central Highlands. This issue cannot be resolved by rescue and salvage work because it requires long-term, interdisciplinary projects to unravel multifaceted problems.

Puebla art style. Not only do these topics illustrate the scope of archaeological work, but they can be linked to broader anthropological themes like the origins and spread of agriculture, relationships between rural populations and emergent cities, the environmental, social, and cultural impact of natural disasters, the operation of geographical frontiers and ethnic interfaces, the construction of cultural landscapes, and the connections between political organization and art style. Puebla's location along numerous environmental and cultural divides makes it an excellent laboratory for the study of human interaction across diverse kinds of frontiers.

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