Three Migration Case Studies from the Tula Region

Abstract

Systematic surveys in the Tula region in southern Hidalgo has revealed a long and diverse history of settlement that included at least three different episodes of migration. Each was quite different in terms of scale and mode of execution, including what appears to have been 1) well-orchestrated mass migrations or colonization of the region by Teotihuacan, 2) small scale migrations involving the appearance of a foreign enclave of possibly mixed Teotihuacan/Zapotec whose members comprised an entire settlement, and 3) uncoordinated multiple migrations of Coyotlatelco traditional peoples, each probably involving small groups from varying areas of origin within a larger region of the same general destination. All three appear to have involved relatively short-distance migration, which we believe was a common practice in Mesoamerica, where knowledge of the destination was a likely "pull" factor that facilitated both multiple and return migration events.