page_title: Tlatilco culture
section_title: Defining the Tlatilco culture
hierarchical_section_title: Tlatilco culture / Defining the Tlatilco culture
caption_attribution_description: Vasija de cerámica en forma de acróbata, encontrada en el sitio arqueológico de Tlatilco del Estado de México, en el entierro 154 del templo IV (expuesta en el Museo Nacional de Antropología de México).
context_page_description: Tlatilco culture is a culture that flourished in the Valley of Mexico between the years 1250 BCE and 800 BCE, during the Mesoamerican Early Formative period. Tlatilco, Tlapacoya, and Coapexco are the major Tlatilco culture sites.
  Tlatilco culture shows a marked increase in specialization over earlier cultures, including more complex settlement patterns, specialized occupations, and stratified social structures. In particular, the development of the chiefdom centers at Tlatilco and Tlapacoya is a defining characteristic of Tlatilco culture.
  This period also saw a significant increase in long distance trade, particularly in iron ore, obsidian, and greenstone, trade which likely facilitated the Olmec influence seen within the culture, and may explain the discovery of Tlatilco-style pottery near Cuautla, Morelos, 90 miles to the south.
context_section_description: Archaeologically, the advent of the Tlatilco culture is denoted by a widespread dissemination of artistic conventions, pottery, and ceramics known as the Early Horizon (also known as the Olmec or San Lorenzo Horizon), Mesoamerica's earliest archaeological horizon.
  Specifically, the Tlatilco culture is defined by the presence of:
  Both ritual and utilitarian ceramics.
  Both animal and human figurines rendered in a somewhat stylized manner.
  Clay masks and other exotic ritual objects.
  Elaborate burials with grave offerings.
  Olmec-style decorations, motifs, designs, and figurines such as the hollow "baby-face" figurines or the pilli-style costumed males.
  The Olmec influence is unmistakable.  One survey of Tlatilco graves found that Olmec-style objects were "ubiquitous" in the earliest upper-middle status burials but were unrelated to wealth.  That is, no correlation was found between the markers of high status and Olmec-style objects, and although larger numbers of Olmec-style objects were found in rich graves, they constituted a smaller percentage of the grave goods there.
caption: The "Acrobat", ceramic art from Tlatilco, dated 1200-900 BCE.  This figurine's left knee has a hole for pouring liquid.
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