Collection Guide
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Cerro Portezuelo Archives, 1954-1962
A204
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Table of contents
Title: Cerro Portezuelo Archives,
Date (inclusive): 1954-1962
Collection number: A204
Collector:
University of California, Los Angeles. The Fowler Museum at UCLA, Archaeology
Collections Facility
Extent:
10 linear feet (8 boxes, 1 drawer in flat file)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. The Fowler Museum at UCLA, Archaeology
Collections Facility
Los Angeles, California 90095-1549
Language:
English.
Access to the archives collection is by appointment.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in
writing to the Registrar. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Fowler
Museum at UCLA as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Digital Representations Available
Digital representations of selected materials and corresponding objects are available as
part of the Container List of the finding aid.
[Identification of item], Cerro Portezuelo Archives, The Fowler Museum at UCLA,
Archaeology Collections Facility, University of California, Los Angeles.
The Cerro Portezuelo Archives is a result of excavations conducted by George Brainerd in
1954 and 1955 and by H. B. Nicholson in 1957. The site is located near the ancient shores of
Lake Texcoco in Central Mexico (now Mexico City) and spans the Classic to Post-Classic time
periods (A.D. 350 - 1500). The city began during the florescence of the larger nearby city
of Teotihuacan but survived long after Teotihuacan's fall and into the Aztec Empire. This
collection's ceramic objects represent the most complete and unbroken sequence for the
region, making it an invaluable research tool for understanding the turbulent political and
social climate during Mesoamerican times. The objects held in the Archaeology Collections
Facility includes ceramics, spindle whorls, figurines, stamps, chipped stone, ancestral
burials, and memorial objects. Collection documentation include an inventory, maps,
photographs and negatives, artifact descriptions and analysis, field notes, correspondence,
burial accession records, progress reports, and a published report co-authored by Frederic
Hicks and H.B. Nicholson.
Following Brainerd's death in 1956, Nicholson agreed to complete the project and conducted
further excavations in 1957. The National Science Foundation provided funds to analyze the
excavated materials in 1961 and the following year a brief surface reconnaissance of the
site and surrounding areas was conducted under the direction of Dr. Clement Meighan.
Arranged in the following series and subseries:
-
Artifacts - materials related to man-made objects found
during excavation.
- Bone - materials related to excavation, description, or cataloging of bone.
- Figurines - materials related to excavation, description, or cataloging of figurines.
- Spindle whorls - materials related to the excavation, description, or cataloging of spherical or circular objects with a pierced center, usually made of wood, stone, or clay, that act as a fly wheel for a spindle. [AAT].
- Shell - materials related to excavation, description, or cataloging of shell.
- Stone - materials related to excavation, description, or cataloging of stone.
- Biographical Information - materials related to personnel.
- Burials - materials related to excavation, description, or cataloging of burials and burial sites.
-
Ceramics - materials related to excavation, description,
or cataloging of ceramics.
- Distribution - materials related to the distribution of ceramics throughout site.
- Drawings - drawings of pottery, potsherds and ceramics found at site.
- Inventory - count of ceramics found at site.
- Dating techniques - materials related to Carbon-14 and/or obsidian hydration.
- Excavation description - materials describing the excavation site. [This includes descriptions of the geography and natural history of the area, as well as other data such as weather, population, etc.]
- Field Notes - notes, notebooks, photographs, and other materials recording information found or observed during excavation.
-
Obsidian - materials related to excavation, description,
or cataloging of obsidian.
- Chipped stone - materials related to excavation, description, or cataloging of chipped stone.
-
Site management - materials related to the excavation
enterprise. [This includes finances -- invoices, grants, etc. -- proposals and
personnel].
- Grants
- Finance
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Cerro Portezuelo site (Mexico)
Excavations (Archaeology)-- Mexico
Mexico--Antiquities.
Hicks, Frederic
Nicholson, H. B. (Henry B.)