Early Classic Teotihuacan

The Early Classic sites coeval with Teotihuacan’s Late Tlamimilolpa through Metepec phases (ca. A.D. 300-7501 are much more numerous and much larger than the Formative sites. Mastachc and Crespo {1976: 10} have proposed that many of these Classic sites are the result of extensive colonization of the Tula region by people cither coming from Teotihuacan or having close ties to that city.

This occupation appears to have been a gradual process which reached its peak in Late Tlamimilolpa times. At least some of our Classic period sites appear to have ceramic complexes nearly identical to those of Teotihuacan, while others have substantial amounts of local pottery (particularly ollas) in addition to Teotihuacan types. A number of the Early Classic settlements are located in lime-producing areas, which their inhabitants may have exploited under the direction of Teotihuacan (Mastachc and Crespo 1976).

Most Early Classic sites have total areas of around 10 hectares, but there arc two centers north of Tula with areas approaching 100 hectares each, and 10 kilometers cast of Tula is a site (Chingul which covers nearly 250 hectares and includes a large Ciudadela-like plaza and numerous groups of apartment compounds (Diaz 1980). This impressive site probably functioned as Tcotihuacan's provincial center for the entire region. A crucially important aspect of Chingii is that it is surrounded by lands which originally were irrigated by the largest probable prehispanic irrigation system identified in the Tula region. It is probable that the Early Classic people of Chingii were operating this irrigation system, because some of the boundaries of the Early Classic settlement are located exactly at the edge of the canal. Surveys elsewhere in the Tula region have found that a number of other Early Classic sites arc-located near the same irrigation canal system. Most of the diagnostic Early Classic Teotihuacan-like pottery found in the Tula region is Late Tlamimilolpa, although Metepec types predominate at some sites. It is important to note that most Early Classic sites in the Tula region have large amounts of Thin Orange pottery (Rattray 19811, which is an excellent Teotihuacan horizon marker in our area because it is completely absent in the succeeding Coyotlateleo sites.

Questionnaire:

• Explain about the early classic Teotihuacan.