Erik Leslie Jurado

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED: Although urbanism is a key focus of anthropological archaeology, most archaeological research on urbanism is city-centric, meaning that studies have focused disproportionately on the urban centers themselves, and we know comparatively little about the rural dimension of urbanism and how rural communities contributed to urban processes and dynamics. This is particularly true of Teotihuacan (100 BC – 550 CE) in Central Mexico, the largest city in the Americas at its height. This project investigated Teotihuacan polity organization and urban-rural interaction from a rural perspective at San Ignacio, the Classic period (300 – 600 CE) regional center of the Amatzinac Valley in Morelos. Through excavation of public and domestic contexts, the project’s primary aim was to improve our understanding of (1) the relationship between San Ignacio and Teotihuacan and (2) Teotihuacan’s local impact on the social identities, ritual practices, and political-economic activities of the inhabitants of San Ignacio. This project’s excavations were the first undertaken at San Ignacio and generated new data on the site’s occupational history. Notable evidence for Epiclassic and Postclassic occupations with monumental architecture means that future research at San Ignacio should problematize the dynamics of time periods after the Classic period and connections with later urban centers.