The Correspondence of Regional Patterns and Local Strategies in Formative to Classic Period West Mexico

Archaeological research in West Mexico has tended to emphasize two widely distributed and interlocking sets of archaeological remains—the shaft tombs associated with funerary ritual in the Formative/Early Classic periods (1500 B.C.–400+ A.D.) and the Teuchitlan tradition public architecture of the Late Formative/Classic (300 B.C.–900 A.D.) periods. Each is found across a wide area, and each has been used by archaeologists of different persuasions to define West Mexico as a cultural region. This paper contrasts the shaft tomb phenomena with the Teuchitlan Tradition and concludes that their core–periphery patterns are the result of two different kinds of elite–elite relationships. These, in turn, appear to be distinct local level strategies by elites to develop a following and to establish pools of available labor.