Demographic Aspects of the Classic Period in Puebla-Tlaxcala

Abstract

Although the Teotihuacán affinity of the Mexican Classic period center of Cholula has long been unmistakable, recent archaeological surveys have thrown into question the nature of Classic period occupation remains in the surrounding rural areas of Puebla-Tlaxcala. Survey data are reanalyzed, leading to the conclusion that the Classic period is represented in those hinterlands solely by Teotihuacán-style materials, even though this complex is surprisingly scarce. Using models developed in the Basin of Mexico, the distribution of prehistoric population is projected for Puebla-Tlaxcala, and it is concluded that the local Classic period was a time not only of rural depopulation but of overall population stagnation or decline; yet it was also a time of increasing settlement nucleation, similar to that apparently experienced by a number of other developing agrarian societies. The existence of a simple positive relationship between sustained population growth and Classic period settlement nucleation in the central Mexican highlands is questioned, as is the "urban" character of the resulting population aggregations.