The site of Teotihuacan, located in the Valley of Mexico, represents one of the pinnacles of prehistoric Mesoamerican development and this great prehistoric city covered approximately 20 square kilometers. The impressive stone temple pyramids mark the center of an empire which extended over much of central Mexico and which has been a focus of archaeological investigation for decades. Beginning in the 1960s the Teotihuacan Mapping Project, headed by Renee Millon divided the ancient city into 550 tracts and described each in terms of more than 400 items of significant information, including observations made during the survey and results of ongoing studies of collections of approximately a million distinctive sherds and other artifacts. Such information permits one to trace site development and use over time. It allows reconstruction of both social and political organization. Electronic versions of these data have long since been created and are being used for research by project members. There remains however a great untapped potential in these files and it is important to update and preserve them in the most appropriate systems and ensure their long term integrity and accessibility. It is also necessary to create software so that remote users can query them through the internet. These enhancements will facilitate use of the data by project members and make them available for the first time to others. This award will provide funds for such work. The team, headed by George Cowgill will also produce a book illustrating salient patterns in the data. The Archaeological Research Institute of Arizona State University will curate these materials to assure their long-term integrity and accessibility. Versions of the files will be tested for quality and accessiblity through the internet by users with currently standard software.
This project is important for several reasons. It will not only make a body of valuable archaeological data readily available to a wide range of users but also provide a prototype system for many archaeological projects.
