Swidden agriculture, village longevity, and social relations in Formative central Tlaxcala: Towards an understanding of macroregional structure

Suprahousehold consumption and community ritual at La Laguna, Mexico

“…Rabbits and hares, and turkeys and other birds were of secondary importance. This pattern is generally consistent with a previous analysis that included early occupation contexts from La Laguna and three smaller sites in Tlaxcala (Lesure et al 2013), spanning c. 900-400 BC, but the chronological trend of shifts from deer to dog over the occupation of individual sites detected in that study does not match the abundance of deer and large mammals from the Terminal Formative occupation level at Structure 12M-3. Large mammalian meat sources are therefore more abundant than expected in the eastern plaza, suggesting special-occasion consumption associated with feasts or festivals.…”

Ancestral Pueblo Archaeology: The Value of Synthesis

“…Unlike prior studies of Ancestral Pueblo archaeology that were based on detailed analyses of particular sites, most recent work integrates data from a variety of projects to explore social processes at expansive spatial scales and with a level of detail that is rarely possible for other Neolithic/Formative societies. Results of this work are relevant to scholars working on similar topics that require analytical frameworks that cross traditionally defined archaeological boundaries and traditions (Kowalewski 2004(Kowalewski , 2007Lesure et al 2013).…”

“…By documenting the range of variability and underlying causal factors in multiple regions within what at one level is a fairly unitary archaeological culture area, Ancestral Pueblo archaeology may inspire the creation of models that are useful for researchers trying to examine similar variation in other Neolithic/Formative societies (cf. Kowalewski 2004Kowalewski , 2007Lesure et al 2013).…”

“…Current Ancestral Pueblo archaeology has much to offer, however, as both a data-rich comparative case and exemplar of the benefits of large-scale, synthetic studies and efforts to promote preservation and access to accumulated archaeological knowledge. Research in the region provides insights into the origins and spread of agriculture (Price and Bar-Yosef 2011), the resulting Neolithic demographic transition and subsequent cycles of demographic change (Bocquet-Appel and Bar-Yosef 2008;Shennan 2013), the growth of regional and macroregional socioeconomic and political networks (Kantner 2008;Kowalewski 2008;Lesure et al 2013;Robb and Pauketat 2013), and tensions between social differentiation and cooperation in middle-range societies (Carballo 2012;Price and Feinman 2010;Vaughn et al 2010).…”

Anthropological Archaeology in 2013: The Search for Truth(s)

“…They conclude that cotton fulfilled an important economic role in diversifying the resources of the household and offered a hearty, drought‐resistant plant at a time of environmental stress and transformation across the landscape. Richard Lesure and colleagues () present evidence from central Tlaxcala, Mexico, that suggests swidden agriculture occurred in the most favorable environments, but as populations increased in the first millennium B.C.E., swidden also was practiced in areas where soil conditions were less ideal, leading to a pattern of settlement instability. This and other studies from 2013 highlight the usefulness of multiscalar landscape studies for understanding the interplay and tension between environmental constraints and human adaptation and innovation with regard to subsistence strategies, addressing the complex relationships that exist among disparate variables such as environment, agricultural practices, population densities, and settlement distribution (Wienhold ).…”