Conclusions

Examining historical and more recent understandings of Teotihuacan through the prism of the maps that have been produced of the site since 1560 has illustrated the importance of pragmatic goals underlying each of these visual manifestations. It has introduced both a history of the site in relation to the surrounding populations, and the archaeological research conducted at Teotihuacan. The medium of the map is of particular relevance to understanding this large and complex site. Yet these mediums, far from simply corresponding to ‘what is there’, indicate the benefit of understanding them from pragmatic criteria. Land ownership and infrastructure of post-Conquest governance was highlighted by the Mazapan map and the map from the Relación de Tequizatlán y su partido. The groundbreaking work of the TMP placed the systematic understanding of urbanization for future research at Teotihuacan as a priority. A goal integrated into the TMP map’s design. The Almaraz and Marquina maps had the goal of utilizing more scientific techniques to get at detail and document the archaeological monuments as the newly acquired and defined cultural property of the independent nation. And Gamio’s maps visualized the goal of benefiting the local population surrounding an increasingly explored archaeological site – though these anthropological and archaeological goals were kept distinct. Where it has been possible to fully present the goals of visualizing the site, these criteria have been more fully explored. With other maps, such as the Mazapan and map of 1580, the goals have had to be inferred from what is documented.

These examples of maps at Teotihuacan ground the preceding theoretical discussions of archaeological theory in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. They answer a practical but important question. What do maps do? How do they work? Who do they effect? Exploring their use for heritage management and their impact upon the local populations, or often the manner in which maps visually disassociate the circuitry of relations innervated by the archaeological site, gives a historical background for the case study of contemporary associations of the site in the following chapters.

Forward to Chapter 5: Taking 'Yahoo!s' Seriously: New Media and the Platform Shift in Cultural Heritage

Containments

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