Speaker: Eduardo A. Escalante Carrillo
Between 2020 and 2024, the Museo de Antropología e Historia del Estado de México (a regional museum located in Toluca, 50 km west of Mexico City) underwent a comprehensive exhibition redesign. This process highlighted significant information gaps regarding key Mexica artifacts, prompting targeted research projects. A study led by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México focused on biological identification to determine the exact raw material of the Tlalpanhuehuetl of Malinalco, a monumental wooden drum of exceptional cultural significance. Concurrently, researchers from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia conducted an iconographic and contextual analysis of an ancient grinding wheel repurposed from a Mexica monolith depicting a monkey. Recently published in Arqueología Mexicana, the results of both studies provide new data on material provenance, manufacturing techniques, and symbolic meaning for two long-displayed yet understudied artifacts, demonstrating the value of revisiting museum collections through interdisciplinary methods.