ARTICLE IN PRESS

Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928

Social and cultural consequences of a late Holocene eruption of

Popocatepetl in central Mexico
Patricia Plunket, Gabriela Urunuela
Department of Anthropology, Universidad de las Americas-Puebla, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, c.p. 72820
Available online 5 May 2006

Abstract

Volcanic disasters often have been invoked as prime movers in the culture history of ancient civilizations. They have been used to
explain large-scale migrations, the destruction of cities, famine, and demographic collapse. In this paper we explore the geological,
archeological, and sociological records in order to provide insights into the complex nature of human responses to a major volcanic event
of Popocatepetl in central Mexico that took place 2000 years ago. We suggest that the population implosion experienced by two
emerging highland cities in the rst century ADTeotihuacan in the Basin of Mexico and Cholula in the Puebla Valleywas due to
both the immediate consequences of the volcanic event and the disaster-driven acceleration of social processes already underway when
the catastrophe struck. We conclude that a better understanding of the relationship between human populations and volcanic hazards
and disasters permits a more realistic assessment of the social and cultural signicance of eruptive phenomena in the prehispanic period.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction was an important catalyst in the emergence, not only of

A perplexing problem in the archeology of ancient
Mexico revolves around the emergence of the great urban
center of Teotihuacan in the central highlands. It is clear
that the city experienced a huge population increase during
the rst century AD at the same time that much of the
surrounding countryside was abandoned, but archeological
opinion is divided regarding the causes of these population
movements. One argument holds that Teotihuacan had
become a powerful state capable of coercing most of the
inhabitants of the Basin of Mexico to abandon their homes
and move into the city; the second proposal views these
movements as a response to major eruptive activity of the
Xitle volcano, which is located in the fertile southwestern
sector of this area. In this paper, we explore both of these
ideas and conclude that indeed volcanism was probably
responsible for many of the demographic changes noted by
archeologists, but we propose that it was a different
volcanoPopocatepetlthat provoked the relocation of
tens of thousands of people. We further suggest that this
major VEI-6 eruption at the beginning of the Common Era
Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 222 229 2048.
E-mail addresses: plunket@mail.udlap.mx (P. Plunket),
gabriela@mail.udlap.mx (G. Urunuela).
Teotihuacan, but also of Cholula, a major prehispanic city
in the neighboring Valley of Puebla (Fig. 1).
Volcanic disasters have long been invoked by archeol-
ogists as prime movers in the culture history of various
parts of the world. Not only have they been blamed for the
demise of early civilizations (Thera in the Aegean (Hoff-
man, 1999)) and the destruction of important cities
(Pompeii in Italy (Scarth, 1999) and Cuicuilco in central
Mexico (Siebe, 2000)), but also for mass migrations
(Ilopango in El Salvador (Dull et al., 2001) and the White
River Volcano in Alaska (Harris, 2000)), famine (Tambora
in Indonesia (Sigurdsson, 2000)), and demographic col-
lapse (Ilopango (Dull et al., 2001)). Unfortunately, in the
absence of written texts that provide a precise sequence of
events, it is difcult to identify and correlate cause and
effect. Below we explore both the geological and arche-
ological records in order to provide insights on the variable
nature of human responses to a major volcanic event of the
Popocatepetl volcano 2000 years ago.
2. Geological background and archeological contexts
Although Popocatepetl has erupted over 30 times since
the 14th century (Simkin and Siebert, 2000a), none of these

1040-6182/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2006.01.012
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
20 P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928
Basin of Mexico
Teotihuacan
L. Texcoco
Cuicuilco
Xitle
Chalco
Amecameca
Sites mentioned in text
Contour interval 330m
0 20
km
Fig. 1. Map of central Mexico showing sites discussed in the text and lateral extent of the airfall deposit produced the Plinian-style eruption of
Popocatepetl 2000 years ago (adapted from Hirth, 1984, Fig. 6.1; Panl, 1996, p. 18).
explosive events appear to have had major destructive
consequences for local populations. Geologists and arche-
ologists have documented two earlier eruptions, however,
whose volcanic explosivity was of a very different order
(e.g., Seele, 1973; Panl, 1996; Siebe et al., 1996; Plunket
and Urunuela, 1998; Panl et al., 1999). Our discussion will
focus on the earliest of these, a Plinian-style eruptive event
that took place during the rst century AD. It produced a
column that rose between 20 and 30 km before depositing a
minimum of 3.2 km3 of yellow andesitic pumice over more
than 240 km2 in an arc extending at least 25 km east of the
volcanos crater (Fig. 1) (Panl, 1996, p. 16; Panl et al.,
1999). Siebe (2000, p. 61) has classied this as a VEI-6
eruption. The volcanic explosivity index describes, on a
scale of 08, the size of explosive eruptions by providing
measures of the volume of material expelled and the height
of the eruptive column; in general terms, anything above 5
is considered to be very large (Pyle, 2000). A VEI-6
Tlalancaleca
Xochitcatl Malinche
Iztacchuatl Valley of
Puebla-Tlaxcala
0m Coapan
.5m
1m
Tetimpa Cholula
Popocatpetl
Colotzingo
classication signies a catastrophe of major proportions,
such as Krakatoa in 1883, which only occurs about once
every century on a worldwide scale; these are highly
explosive and 100% fatal (Simkin and Siebert, 2000b).
Following the Plinian phase of this eruption, lavas owed
over 50 km2 of the eastern piedmont of the volcano leaving
between 20 and 40 m of olivine-bearing andesitic rock,
known today as the Pedregal de Nealtican, that dammed
and diverted drainages, altering the surface hydrology of
the western Puebla valley (Panl, 1996; Panl et al., 1999).
The collapsing eruptive column buried at least one large
dispersed farming village on the northeastern ank of the
volcano, Tetimpa (Figs. 2 and 3), and thus provided
archeoologists with an exceptional opportunity to study
village life and modes of rapid abandonment during the
Terminal Formative period (100 BCAD 100) in central
Mexico (Plunket and Urunuela, 1998, 2003; Urunuela and
Plunket, 1998, 2003). The primary archeological contexts
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928
Fig. 2. View of Popocatepetl volcano from excavations at Tetimpa. The
volcanic stratigraphy is visible underneath the modern cornelds; the
Pedregal de Nealtican lava ow appears as a dark band between the
cornelds and the volcano.
Fig. 3. Remains of a Tetimpa house dating to the rst century AD.
afforded by Tetimpas domestic structures and activity
areas (Fig. 4) include the charred remains of roong
materials and food debris that have permitted us to
securely situate the Plinian eruption in the rst century
AD by radiocarbon dating (Table 1). The most reliable
date from the village setting is an Accelerator Mass
Spectrometer determination on a carbonized corn cob
found sealed inside a jar left outside a kitchen. This yielded
a reading of 2010740 BP (Beta-146572). Three of the
radiocarbon dates listed in Table 1 are obviously too late
since they are not consistent with the chronology of the
ceramic assemblages. We suspect that organic fertilizers
have percolated through the unconsolidated lapilli, con-
taminating some of the charred materials, particularly
those that are in direct contact with the pumitic ash. Thus,
the date on the corn cob, protected by the jar, appears to be
the most reliable result since it was obtained in primary
context from an annual plant that was never in contact
with any contaminants. In general, the radiocarbon dates
from the houses buried by the lapilli indicate that the
eruption probably took place towards the middle of the
rst century AD.
21
Fig. 4. Amphora and jars abandoned at a Tetimpa house.
3. The emergence of Teotihuacan: volcanic catastrophe or
political coercion?
Most often, archeologists have framed their considera-
tions of the effects of volcanic disasters on ancient culture
history in terms of the immediate impact of the catastrophe
itself (however, see Sheets, 1979; Dull et al., 2001). For
example, in the Basin of Mexico, the destruction of the
important prehispanic center of Cuicuilco by extensive lava
ows from Xitle volcano (Fig. 1) has been used consistently
to explain the dramatic demographic changes of the period
between 100 BC and AD 100 that were involved in the
emergence of the Teotihuacan state. In essence, authors
postulate that the inhabitants of Cuicuilco were forced to
leave and seek refuge on the opposite side of the Basin at
Teotihuacan, thus inating the population and accelerating
the processes leading to social complexity in that emergent
city (e.g., Porter Weaver, 1993, p. 79; Blanton et al., 1997,
p. 123; Cowgill, 2000, p. 259; Sarmiento, 2000, p. 360;
however, see Sanders et al., 1979, p. 106). Recent geological
studies, however, have demonstrated that the lava ows did
not encase Cuicuilco until at least the middle of the third
century and perhaps as late as the beginning of the fth
century AD (Cordova et al., 1994; Gonzalez et al., 2000;
Siebe, 2000), thus eliminating the Xitle eruption as a causal
force in this rapid social and cultural rearrangement.
Siebe (2000) has suggested that the Popocatepetl
eruption of the rst century AD that we have documented
on the other side of the volcano at Tetimpa, and not the
Xitle event, was the source of destruction that led to these
demographic changes. Siebe (2000, p. 61) places this event
between 250 and 50 BC although archeological data and
radiocarbon dates from primary contexts at Tetimpa
support a later placement as outlined here. While the
eastern slopes of the volcano that form the western rim of
the Valley of Puebla were buried under the Plinian fallout,
the NW ank, which descends into the Basin of Mexico,
was devastated by pyroclastic ows, and Siebe (2000,
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
22 P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928

Table 1
Radiocarbon dates from excavated contexts under the yellow pumitic ash in the ancient village of Tetimpa, Puebla, on the northeastern ank of the
Popocatepetl volcano

Laboratory number Years BP Context cal Intercept cal 1 Sigma cal 2 Sigma
a
Beta 146573 1390760 Charred material associated with ceramics on patio oor AD 650 AD 620680 AD 560720
AD 740760
Beta 146574a 1560740 Charred material from a wattle-and-daub storage bin AD 530 AD 430550 AD 410600
Beta 135900a 1610780 charred material from censer in front of household shrine AD 430 AD 385545 AD 250625
Beta 099431 1800760 Charred material from household hearth AD 240 AD 145330 AD 90395
Beta 135901 1800760 Charred material from household shrine AD 235 AD 135265 AD 80390
AD 290325
Beta 135902 1860770 Charred material from smashed censer AD 135 AD 75240 AD 5340
Beta 099433 1910760 Charred roong material AD 100 AD 55160 20 BCAD 245
I-18291 1930780 Charred material from household hearth AD 80 AD 5147 91 BCAD 315
Beta 099430 1940760 Charred material from wattle-and-daub storage bin AD 75 AD 15130 45 BCAD 225
Beta 146572 2010740 Corn cob inside a sealed olla 10 BC 50 BCAD 40 100 BCAD 70
AMS
Beta 146575 2030760 Charred material from a roasting pit excavated into the patio oor 40 BC 100 BCAD 40 190 BCAD 90
I-17815 2070780 Charred material from household hearth 50 BC 182 BCAD19 357 BCAD 116
I-17814 2150780 Charred material from household shrine 181 BC 35749 BC 390 BCAD 20
a
These dates are considered too late based on a comparison with ceramic chronologies.

p. 61) argues that survivors on both sides of the volcano
had to relocate.
The prehispanic settlement pattern maps of the Basin of
Mexico that were developed by archeologists 30 years ago
(Sanders et al., 1979) show an impressive and consistent
population build-up along the southern and eastern
piedmont and lakeshore between 650 and 100 BC. By the
end of this period, population densities in this area had
peaked at over 40 inhabitants per km2 and the total
population of the southern and eastern sections of the
Basin is estimated at about 76,500 (Sanders et al., 1979:
Tables 6.17 and 6.18). The settlement map that describes
the patterns of the next archeological phase (100 BCAD
100) shows dramatic changes in these areas; densities are
listed as inappreciable with a total population that is too
small to calculate (Sanders et al., 1979: Tables 6.17 and
6.18). At least 10 regional centers (large, nucleated
communities with monumental architecture), over 30 large
and small villages, and almost 70 hamlets disappear from
the maps (Fig. 5). This was the rst population decline
registered in the history of the Basin of Mexico, and using
the archeological estimates we can calculate that the Basin
lost about 30% of its inhabitants at some point during this
200 year period (Sanders et al., 1979, p. 183).
The settlement pattern maps also indicate that prior to
100 BC the northern part of the Basin was virtually devoid
of villages and hamlets, although Teotihuacan was already
developing into a small city with a population of perhaps
20,000 (Sanders et al., 1979, p. 102). The nucleation of
population at Teotihuacan was greatly enhanced between
100 BC and AD 100precisely, the time period in which
the southern and eastern parts of the Basin underwent the
impressive abandonment cited above. About 8090% of
the Basins population became concentrated at the city and
for the rst time numerous hamlets were established to the
north and west of the urban center. Sanders et al. (1979,
p. 107) comment that,
Somehow y [Teotihuacan] was able not only to
incorporate the rest of the Basins population politically,
but to relocate them physically as well. The motive for
such extreme population nucleation is still unclear to us.
Presumably political control was the principal factor
involved. However, we know of no other situation in the
historical or archaeological record in which so large a
sedentary regional population was involved in such a
drastic relocation y. The apparent substantial Phase
Four population decline suggests that this extreme
population nucleation was not without a certain stress,
manifested in the loss of population.
The population estimates indicate that something
happened to about 70,000 people (Sanders, 1981: Table
6.2). Around 50,000 may have relocated to Teotihuacan,
but 20,000 remain unaccounted for. Millon (1981, p. 217)
has proposed that Teotihuacans incredibly rapid growth
was part of the emergent states comprehensive plan for
depopulating the countryside and resettlement in the city,
even though it would have severely stressed the Teotihua-
can Valley economy (Sanders, 1981, p. 180). Modern
studies of disaster (e.g., Nolan, 1979; Oliver-Smith and
Hoffman, 1999) indicate that relocation, particularly
permanent relocation, is no simple matter. They demon-
strate that place plays a crucial role in the construction of
individual and community identities and that the re-
moval of a community from its ground y may be
profoundly traumatic (Oliver-Smith, 1996, p. 308). At
face value, the intentional displacement of 50,000 people
and the consequent abandonment of some of the best
agricultural lands in the Basin of Mexico by an emergent
expansionist archaic state, no matter how aggressive and
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928 23

Basin of Mxico Basin of Mxico

(300-100 BC) (100 BC-100 AD)

Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan

L. Texcoco L. Texcoco

Cuicuilco Cuicuilco

Iztacchuatl Iztacchuatl

Popocatpetl Popocatpetl

Supra-regional center Large dispersed village Small ceremonial precinct Contour interval 330m
Regional center Small dispersed village Excavated site, not surveyed 0 20
Large nucleated village Hamlet
Small nucleated village Tezoyuca hilltop center km

Fig. 5. Distribution of settlements in the Basin of Mexico in the Late Formative Period (300100 BC) and the Terminal Formative Period (100 BCAD
100) (adapted from Sanders, 1981: Figs. 6.13 and 6.15).

powerful its armies, no matter how persuasive its ideology,
appears to be an awesome and puzzling undertaking. We
address the problems of forced relocation below.
Our dating of the VEI-6 eruption of Popocatepetl to the
rst century AD offers another scenario that provides a
different perspective on the settlement pattern data. We
would not suggest that the eruption impacted the Basin of
Mexico in exactly the same way that it did for the western
Valley of Puebla where over 100 km2 were permanently lost
under volcanic deposits and relocation was unavoidable
(Plunket and Urunuela, 2003), but both the immediate and
long-term consequences for the settlements along the slopes
of the Sierra Nevada may have been signicant. Not only
were the southern and eastern sections of the Basin of
Mexico prime agricultural areas, but their freshwater lakes
and forested piedmonts were richly endowed with natural
resources, making them valuable hunting and gathering
territories. As pyroclastic materials fell on the forested
slopes the ash would have suffocated wildlife. The hot
pyroclastic ows, with temperatures between 250 and
600 1C may have ignited multiple, highly destructive forest
res that would have spread quickly through the Sierra
Nevada during the dry season, and the melting glacier
would have formed destructive lahars that rushed down the
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
24 P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928
steep canyons into the Amecameca river and the Chalco
area (see Nakada, 2000, p. 948; Siebe, 2000; Capra et al.,
2004). Some of the 20,000 people missing from Sanders
population estimates may have perished in these events.
We have suggested elsewhere (Plunket and Urunuela,
2000) that the Plinian eruption took place during the dry
season, from October through May. The prevailing winds
generally blow west to east at this time of year, explaining
at least partially why the eruptive column collapsed over
the northeastern ank of the mountain (Delgado et al.,
1995). The archeological evidence also supports this
interpretation. The agricultural elds adjacent to Tetimpas
houses were not planted and there is little or no corn in the
domestic storage facilities, indicating that households had
used most of their existing food supply. This, in addition to
the loss of seeds for next seasons planting, must have
contributed to short-term food shortages.
The destruction of important hunting and gathering
areas would have been devastating, and the smoke from the
res added to the ash could have caused signicant short-
term climatic changes as well, including frost and drought,
that may have resulted in famine and consequent popula-
tion relocation (Nolan, 1979, p. 330; Sigurdsson, 2000, pp.
1011). In their discussion of the natural environment of
the Basin of Mexico, Sanders et al. (1979, pp. 8189)
emphasize that uctuations in the onset of the monsoonal
rains and winter frost have led to devastating crop failures
in historic times, and they classify the Basin as a moderate-
to-high risk area for agriculture. Under these circum-
stances, a VEI-6 eruption could easily shift the climate
towards cooler and drier conditions on the 2000-m plus
plateau. Establishing whether the scenario we suggest here
is close to reality will require the combined efforts of
geologists and archeologists focus on the fate of the
Terminal Formative sites in the southeastern Basin of
Mexico, documenting the impact of this eruption on local
settlements.
4. Natural disasters and the acceleration of social change
Anthropologists have observed that disasters tend to
accelerate changes that are already underway (Nolan, 1979;
Oliver-Smith, 1996, p. 313; Hoffman, 1999; Driessen and
McDonald, 2000). They motivate social actions, and social
action motivates change (Hoffman, 1999, p. 311), provid-
ing contexts for new agendas, new power relations, and the
emergence of new leaders as part of the recovery process
(Oliver-Smith, 1996, p. 310). In the Basin of Mexico,
archeologists have identied a number of trends for the
period immediately prior to the eruption that provide
important contextual clues for interpreting the impact of
the events of the rst century AD: (1) signicant popula-
tion growth along the piedmont of Iztacchuatl in the
Texcoco area, in what may have been a high-risk zone; (2)
population centralization at Cuicuilco and Teotihuacan;
(3) political fragmentation and conict; and (4) possible
problems with food supplies at larger settlements (Sanders
et al., 1979, pp. 101103).
As in other regions of ancient Mesoamerica, the
Terminal Formative in the Basin of Mexico was a time of
rapid population growth and consequent social change. In
this context, a major volcanic eruption may have served as
a catalyst to accelerate those changes not only by
highlighting the inability of local authorities to appease
and control the forces of nature, but even to ensure the
necessary resources for basic subsistence. Thus, it may have
provided a situation ripe for decision-making at all levels of
society that led to both intended and unintended con-
sequences. Studies of modern volcanic disasters demon-
strate that decisions to remain or relocate are made in
response to both real and perceived social and natural
hazards in the extra-village environment and not just in
response to the volcanic conditions themselves (e.g., Nolan,
1979, p. 328); the trend is for communities to seek greater
interaction, not isolation, from the larger society (Nolan,
1979, p. 314). We now look at the aftermath of the
Paricutn eruption in the state of Michoacan, Mexico,
during the 1940s in order to provide a contextual parallel
to the post-eruptive world faced by the inhabitants of
central Mexico at the beginning of the rst millennium. We
realize that the size and style of these two volcanic events
were considerably different, but we think the variable
responses recorded during the modern episode illustrate the
social and cultural complexity of relocation processes.
5. The towns of Paricutn
In her study of the ve towns situated around the
nascent Paricutn volcano in 1943, Nolan (1979) found a
general tendency for villagers to reject local community
isolation in favor of greater interaction with national
Mexican society, even at the risk of losing some of their
Tarascan traditions. However, her analysis of the social
impact of the eruption also describes considerable varia-
bility in the strategies employed by each community to deal
with the catastrophe and the degree to which each allowed
outside forces of change to determine their future. She
demonstrates that in the end each response was strongly
conditioned by local history and internal social stratica-
tion before the onset of the volcanic period (19431952), in
spite of the towns shared experience as disaster victims.
Below we summarize Nolans (1979) most important
observations regarding the social and cultural conse-
quences that Paricutn had on the ve towns closest to it.
The most successful town, San Juan, was also the largest
community. It served as the political center for the region
and its church was home to a powerful religious image
the Lord of the Miraclesthat served as a focus of
religious devotion for both the meztizo majority and the
Indian minority. When the lava nally began to cover the
cemetery of San Juan, the entire town left in a procession
led by the Bishop of Zamora who carried the statue of the
Lord of the Miracles, in effect following a divine command
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928
to reestablish their community in a new location. Twenty
years later, San Juan was once again the municipal seat, a
vibrant town that offered many opportunities for its
growing population. A new church had been built for the
Lord of the Miracles and pilgrims arrived from far away to
worship the image whose prestige had been enhanced by
the communitys successful survival of the catastrophe. San
Juan was the only town where the traditional system of
mayordoma (a stewardship charged with caring for a
church and its saints) survived. At the same time, however,
new traditions had appeared that focused on the pioneer
experience.
The lack of solidarity that characterized the other
communities was reected in the more heterogeneous and
less unied decisions that stemmed from the volcanic
disaster. Some were absorbed by the city of Uruapan as
barrios or quarters, while the younger generations of others
migrated to more distant urban areas, particularly when
they had relatives already living there. However, strong
community solidarity did not necessarily result in a
successful post-volcanic adaptation. The town of Anga-
huan, for example, chose to remain in its original location
even though its lands had suffered serious environmental
damage. In making this choice, community members
isolated themselves both socially and economically from
the outside world, and although they engaged in guiding
tourists over the devastated landscape, this activity
eventually led to the commercialization and consequent
devaluation of their Indian identity. Life in Angahuan
became marginal at best and offered little opportunity to
its young people.
In light of our discussion of the archeological record
relating to the rst century eruption of Popocatepetl, it is
relevant to consider here that the federal government of
Mexico tried to evacuate all of the towns around Paricutn,
on occasion through the direct intervention of General
Lazaro Cardenas, a popular ex-president from the state of
Michoacan. The success of these evacuation attempts
seems to have depended largely upon the degree to which
each community was allowed to make its own decisions
about when to leave and where to go, but in some cases,
like the town of Paricutn itself, the army had to intervene
and force the inhabitants into trucks.
The individual histories of the towns affected by
Paricutn demonstrate not only the variable nature of their
strategies, but also that a modern state with a strong
centralized government and military structure lacked the
capacity to resolve the problems of relocation for ve
communities whose total population was less than 5000
people. Although archeologists (Sanders et al., 1979;
Millon, 1981) have suggested that the emergent Teotihua-
can state, with a population of between 20,000 and
40,000 undertook the forced resettlement of perhaps as
many as 50,000 people for reasons of political control, this
seems unlikely when we consider the Mexican govern-
ments experience with the towns of Paricutn during the
1940s.
25
6. The towns of Popocatepetl
The ways in which the emerging Teotihuacan state may
have reacted to the eruption and the recovery process need
to be balanced by the decisions made by individual towns
and villages. What were the advantages of moving to
Teotihuacan? The potential for the development of
hydraulic agriculture by swamp reclamation and irrigation
from springs in the Teotihuacan Valley may be part of the
answer, particularly if famine resulting from short-term
climatic shifts, the loss of stored food and seed for planting,
and the privations caused by pre-existing internal social
inequality were a major consideration, even though this
would have required the maximal utilization of this
resource (Sanders, 1981, p. 180). Teotihuacan authorities,
on the other hand, may have welcomed the population
inux within their sphere of inuence if conict were an
important aspect of life in the Basin of Mexico, but they
may also have found it difcult to effectively exclude the
migrants if environmental and social conditions were
extremely difcult. The sudden abundance of labor, viewed
against a dramatic and horrifying visual backdrop asso-
ciated with traumatic dislocation, may help explain the
surge in the building of civic-ceremonial architecture at
Teotihuacan during the rst and second centuries AD,
which resulted in some of the largest structures in the New
World. Much of this construction took place in the century
after the VEI-6 eruption of Popocatepetl (Sugiyama, 2004,
Table 4.2). Although the timing may be coincidental, we
believe that the massive building projects at Teotihuacan
represent not only the creation of a new kind of settlement,
but also the development of a new accommodation
between humans and their gods.
In the western Valley of Puebla we see a similar process
taking place and we suspect a similar causality. Unfortu-
nately, the Puebla-Tlaxcala region does not have as
detailed settlement data as does the Basin of Mexico, but
the regions population just prior to the eruption was
probably over 100,000 (Dumond, 1972, p. 119). The large,
complex regional centers, close to the Sierra Nevada
Colotzingo (Urunuela, 1989), Coapan, Xochitecatl (Serra
and Palavicini, 1996; Spranz, 1996), and Tlalancaleca
(Garca Cook, 1981)were abandoned around the rst
century AD. The Classic period (AD 100650) population
became concentrated at Cholula and a few other settle-
ments but the total number of inhabitants appears to have
diminished (Dumond, 1972, p. 115), perhaps by as much as
30% (Garca Cook, 1981, p. 263). As we have mentioned,
the process of relocation for many people residing along
the eastern ank of Popocatepetl would have been less
open to debate than in the neighboring Basin of Mexico
since a signicant expanse of the productive piedmont was
covered by volcanic deposits that prevented reclamation
(Plunket and Urunuela, 2000). The forest res and the
consequent decimation of hunting and gathering territories
in addition to possible drought and increased risk of frost
in a decidedly non-egalitarian social system, however,
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
26 P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928

Fig. 7. The Great Pyramid of Cholula surmounted by the church of Our

Fig. 6. Radiocarbon dates from the initial stages of monumental Lady of the Remedies.
architecture in Cholula, Puebla.

would have created the same socially charged environment

in the Valley of Puebla-Tlaxcala as in the Basin of Mexico.
Twelve radiocarbon dates associated with early monu-
mental architecture in Cholula suggest that the main
components of the citys public structures were designed
and built at the beginning of the second century AD
(Plunket and Urunuela, 2005, Tables 1 and 2) (Fig. 6).
Eleven of these determinations were obtained on samples
recovered from the earliest structures of the Great Pyramid
of Cholula, while the twelfth came from a hearth associated
with a large prehispanic platform underneath the sixteenth
century Franciscan monastery of San Gabriel. All of the
dates support a construction sequence that initiates in the
Fig. 8. The civic-ceremonial center of Teotihuacan; the Pyramid of the
latter part of the rst or beginning of the second century AD. Sun appears on the left side of the Street of the Dead.
Both Cholula (Fig. 7) and Teotihuacan (Fig. 8) appear to
have initiated the construction of their monumental
architecture during the latter part of the rst century or (Driessen and McDonald, 2000, p. 92). We nd it
the rst part of the second century AD (Millon et al., 1965; suggestive that the two great cities of the central highlands
Marquina, 1970). Although they developed in different both initiated ideologically rooted monumental building
ways, we think that the population implosion that each programs using the labor of those who decided to relocate
experienced 2000 years ago was due to both the immediate in urban environments in the aftermath of the eruption,
and long-term effects of the VEI-6 explosion of the and we suspect that the motivation behind these programs
Popocatepetl. These two cities received huge numbers of had much to do with the emergence of a new consideration
refugees and later migrants as the communities situated on of the relation between humans and the sacred, new ways
the slopes of the Sierra Nevada relocated to what they of tempering or avoiding divine justice, new political
perceived to be less vulnerable environments; some may agendas, and new power structures. The ancient Aztec
have intended to return to their lands while others knew Legend of the Suns describes how the third epoch of
they could not. However, all of them must have creation was destroyed by a volcanic eruption when it
contributed to the impressive acceleration of social rained re, the rocks boiled, and houses burned, and with
processes already underway before the volcanic disaster its destruction came the creation of a new world (Bierhorst,
as each of these cities tried to cope with one of the largest 1992). Perhaps as Hoffman says, the Plinian event of the
human catastrophes of the prehispanic period. rst century AD was indeed the stuff of legends.
Hoffman (1999, p. 306) has observed that some disasters
create legend, while others have noted that religious Acknowledgements
responses to catastrophe can be highly adaptive (Nolan,
1979, p. 331) as people deal with conicts surrounding the We would like to thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia
allocation of blame and the allocation of resources y Tecnologa, the Sistema Regional Ignacio Zaragoza, the
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928
Mesoamerican Research Foundation, the Foundation for
the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, and the
Instituto de Investigacion y Posgrado of the Universidad
de las Americas-Puebla for their generous support of our
research at Tetimpa. The Consejo de Arqueologa of the
Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia granted the
ofcial permit for this project and has provided assistance
and advice throughout our research that are much
appreciated. We are particularly grateful to the towns-
people of San Nicolas de los Ranchos and San Buena-
ventura Nealtican for allowing us to work among them.
References
Bierhorst, J., (trans.), 1992. History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The
Codex Chimalpopoca. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Blanton, R., Kowalewski, S., Feinman, G., Finsten, L., 1997. Ancient
Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions, second ed.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Capra, L., Poblete, M., Alvarado, R., 2004. The 1997 and 2001 lahars of
Popocatepetl volcano (Central Mexico): textural and sedimentological
constraints on their origin and hazards. Journal of Volcanology and
Geothermal Research 131 (34), 351369.
Cordova, C., Martn del Pozzo, A., Lopez Camacho, J., 1994. Paleoland-
forms and volcanic impact on the environment of prehistoric
Cuicuilco, southern Mexico City. Journal of Archaeological Science
21, 585596.
Cowgill, G., 2000. The central Mexican highlands from the rise of
Teotihuacan to the decline of Tula. In: Adams, R.E.W., MacLeod, M.
(Eds.), The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas,
vol. II: Mesoamerica, Part I. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
pp. 250317.
Delgado, H., Carrasco, G., Cervantes, P., Cortes, R., Molinero, R., 1995.
Patrones de viento en la region del Volcan Popocatepetl y Ciudad de
Mexico. In: Volcan Popocatepetl, estudios realizados durante la crisis
de 19941995. Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres-Universi-
dad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, pp. 295324.
Driessen, J., McDonald, C., 2000. The eruption of the Santorini volcano
and its effects on Minoan Crete. In: McGuire, W., Grifths, D.,
Hancock, P., Stewart, I. (Eds.), The Archaeology of Geological
Catastrophes. Geological Society Special Publications 171, London,
pp. 8193.
Dull, R., Southon, J., Sheets, P., 2001. Volcanism, ecology, and culture: a
reassessment of the Volcan Ilopango TBJ Eruption in the Southern
Maya Realm. Latin American Antiquity 12 (1), 2544.
Dumond, D., 1972. Demographic aspects of the classic period in Puebla-
Tlaxcala. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 28 (2), 101130.
Garca Cook, A., 1981. The historical importance of Tlaxcala in the
cultural development of the Central Highlands. In: Sabloff, J. (Ed.),
Archaeology, Supplement I, pp. 244276; Bricker, V. (Gen. Ed.),
Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of Texas Press,
Austin.
Gonzalez, S., Pastrana, A., Siebe, C., Duller, G., 2000. Timing of the
prehistoric eruption of Xitle volcano and the abandonment of
Cuicuilco pyramid, southern Valley of Mexico. In: McGuire, W.,
Grifths, D., Hancock, P., Steward, I. (Eds.), The Archaeology of
Geological Catastrophes. Geological Society of London Special
Publication 171, London, pp. 205224.
Harris, S., 2000. Archaeology and volcanism. In: Sigurdsson, H. (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of Volcanoes. Academic Press, New York,
pp. 13011314.
Hirth, K., 1984. Trade and society in Late formative Morelos. In: Hirth,
K. (Ed.), Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. University of
New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 125146.
27
Hoffman, S., 1999. After Atlas shrugs: cultural change or persistence after
a disaster. In: Oliver-Smith, A., Hoffman, S. (Eds.), The Angry Earth:
Disaster in Anthropological Perspective. Routlege, London,
pp. 302325.
Marquina, I. (Ed.), 1970. Proyecto Cholula. Serie Investigaciones 19.
Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Mexico City.
Millon, R., 1981. Teotihuacan: city, state, and civilization. In: Sabloff, J.
(Ed.), Archaeology, Supplement I, pp. 198243; Bricker, V. (Gen. Ed.),
Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of Texas Press,
Austin.
Millon, R., Drewitt, B., Bennyhoff, J., 1965. The Pyramid of the Sun at
Teotihuacan: 1959 Investigations. Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society 55 (Part 6), Philadelphia.
Nakada, S., 2000. Hazards from pyroclastic ows and surges. In:
Sigurdsson, H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Volcanoes. Academic Press,
New York, pp. 945955.
Nolan, M.L., 1979. Impact of Paricutn on ve communities. In: Sheets, P.
(Ed.), Volcanic Activity and Human Ecology. Academic Press, New
York, pp. 293338.
Oliver-Smith, A., 1996. Anthropological research on hazards and
disasters. Annual Review of Anthropology 25, 303328.
Oliver-Smith, A., Hoffman, S., 1999. The Angry Earth: Disaster in
Anthropological Perspective. Routlege, London.
Panl, M., 1996. The Late Holocene Volcanic Stratigraphy of the Tetimpa
Area, Northeast Flank of Popocatepetl Volcano, Central Mexico.
M.S. Thesis, Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State Uni-
versity, College Park.
Panl, M., Gardner, T., Hirth, K., 1999. Late Holocene stratigraphy of
the Tetimpa archaeological sites, northeast ank of Popocatepetl
volcano, central Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 111
(2), 204218.
Plunket, P., Urunuela, G., 1998. Preclassic household patterns preserved
under volcanic ash at Tetimpa, Puebla. Latin American Antiquity 9
(4), 287309.
Plunket, P., Urunuela, G., 2000. The archaeology of a Plinian eruption of
the Popocatepetl volcano. In: McGuire, W., Grifths, D., Hancock, P.,
Stewart, I. (Eds.), The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes.
Geological Society Special Publications 171, London, pp. 195204.
Plunket, P., Urunuela, G., 2003. From episodic to permanent abandon-
ment: responses to volcanic hazards at Tetimpa, Puebla, Mexico. In:
Inomata, T., Webb, R. (Eds.), The Archaeology of Settlement
Abandonment in Middle America. University of Utah Press, Salt
Lake City, pp. 1327.
Plunket, P., Urunuela, G., 2005. Dating Cholula. Report submitted to the
Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.,
Crystal River, Florida. http://www.famsi.org/reports/02042/index.
html
Porter Weaver, M., 1993. The Aztecs, Maya, and their Predecessors:
Archaeology of Mesoamerica, third ed. Academic Press, New York.
Pyle, D., 2000. Sizes of volcanic eruptions. In: Sigurdsson, H. (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of Volcanoes. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 263269.
Sanders, W., 1981. Ecological adaptation in the Basin of Mexico: 23,000
B.C. to the present. In: Sabloff, J. (Ed.), Archaeology, Supplement I,
pp. 147197; Bricker, V. (Gen. Ed.), Handbook of Middle American
Indians. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Sanders, W., Parsons, J., Santley, R., 1979. The Basin of Mexico:
Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic
Press, New York.
Sarmiento, G., 2000. La creacion de los primeros centros ceremoniales. In:
second edManzanilla, L., Lopez Lujan, L. (Eds.), Historia Antigua de
Mexico, vol. I: El Mexico Antiguo, sus Areas Culturales, los Orgenes
y el Horizonte Preclasico. Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e
Historia, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, Editorial
Miguel Angel Porrua, Mexico City, pp. 335362.
Scarth, A., 1999. Vulcans Fury: Man Against the Volcano. Yale
University Press, New Haven.
Seele, E., 1973. Restos de milpas y poblaciones prehispanicas cerca de San
Buenaventura Nealtican, Puebla. Comunicaciones 7, 7786.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
28 P. Plunket, G. Urunuela / Quaternary International 151 (2006) 1928

Serra, M.C., Palavicini, B., 1996. Xochitecatl, Tlaxcala, en el Periodo
Formativo (800 a.C.-100 d.C.). Arqueologa 16, 149157.
Sheets, P. (Ed.), 1979. Volcanic Activity and Human Ecology. Academic
Press, New York.
Siebe, C., 2000. Age and archaeological implications of Xitle volcano,
southwestern Basin of Mexico-City. Journal of Volcanology and
Geothermal Research 104, 4564.
Siebe, C., Abrams, M., Macas, J., Obenholzner, J., 1996. Repeated
volcanic disasters in Prehispanic time at Popocatepetl, central Mexico:
past key to the future? Geology 24 (5), 399402.
Sigurdsson, H., 2000. Introduction. In: Sigurdsson, H. (Ed.), Encyclope-
dia of Volcanoes. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 113.
Simkin, T., Siebert, L., 2000a. Appendix 2: catalog of historically active
volcanoes on Earth. In: Sigurdsson, H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
Volcanoes. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 13651383.
Simkin, T., Siebert, L., 2000b. Earths volcanoes and eruptions: an
overview. In: Sigurdsson, H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Volcanoes.
Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 249261.
Spranz, B., 1996. Totimehuacan und Xochitecal: zwei Platze in Puebla und
Tlaxcala, Mexiko, in praklassischer Zeit. Tribus 45, 138150.
Sugiyama, S., 2004. Governance and polity at Classic Teotihuacan. In:
Hendon, J.A., Joyce, R.A. (Eds.), Mesoamerican Archaeology.
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 97123.
Urunuela, G., 1989. Investigaciones arqueologicas en Colotzingo. Puebla.
Notas Mesoamericanas 11, 110119.
Urunuela, G., Plunket, P., 1998. Areas de actividad en unidades
domesticas del Formativo Terminal en Tetimpa, Puebla. Arqueologa
20, 319.
Urunuela, G., Plunket, P., 2003. Testimonios de diversos tipos de
abandono en Tetimpa, Puebla. Trace 43, 8496.