THE SHAFT TOMBS OF THE ATEMAJAC VALLEY AND THEIR RELATION TO SETTLEMENT

Abstract

In the early 1970s a series of over two dozen unlooted shaft tombs were excavated by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in the valley of Guadalajara, Jalisco. They still provide the most representative sample of a shaft tomb cemetery known from western Mexico, and they are an underutilized resource for demonstrating significant degrees of social inequality. Here we summarize the findings of the original research in light of more recent work in Jalisco. We aim to demonstrate that the Tabachines cemetery in particular provides evidence for significant social inequalities in the society that built these shaft tombs, that there were significant social changes partway through the Tabachines phase, and that the mortuary ritual practiced in the tombs shows some commonalities with other areas of Mesoamerica.