Very few English publications better exemplify the merit of long-term interdisciplinary collaboration of an explicitly Mexican character than Linda Manzanilla's edited volume, Multiethnicity and Migration at Teopancazco: Investigations at a Teotihuacan Neighborhood Center. Through 10 chapters, archaeologists, physical anthropologists, physicists, geochemists, geophysicists, DNA specialists, artists, geologists, and geoarchaeologists detail the multi-ethnic occupation of a neighborhood center at Teotihuacan, Mexico (AD 1–550). First and foremost, I congratulate the authors on this feat. This collaborative strategy, consistently implemented from the initial research design, through rigorous excavation, sampling, and documentation of each context, facilitated highly precise laboratory analysis. It is inspiring to see everything from isotope and elemental analysis to aDNA extraction taking place within local Mexican institutions that also contribute solid methodological advancements to the field. Each chapter builds on the previous one, enhancing the interpretive potential of each methodology and cross-verifying the results. An exercise in extraordinary leadership, Manzanilla's volume is both a portal into the livelihood of this multiethnic center, as well as an overview of archaeometric methodologies applied to human skeletal remains.

Spanning 13 field seasons of excavations at Teopancazco (1997–2003) at the project “Teotihuacan: Elite and Rulership,” Manzanilla's volume formulates a comprehensive methodological narrative evaluating the impact of immigrant influence on this neighborhood center and on the city as a whole. The distinctive customs and material culture of these immigrants, who hailed from various locales along key trade corridors linked to the Gulf Coast, defined the socioeconomic role of Teopancazco (Chapter 1 by Manzanilla). Chapters are broadly grouped according to analytical techniques applied on 116 spatially and diachronically controlled burials. A general overview of this skeletal assemblage, interpreted through a physical anthropologist's lens with particular focus on activity markers and pathologies, introduces the subject population (Chapter 2 by Alvarado and Manzanilla). The subsequent four chapters examine the chemical signature of their skeletal remains. Two of these (chapter 3 by Mejía Appel, and chapter 4 by Casar et al.) discuss diet through elemental and carbon/nitrogen stable isotopes, while the other two (chapter 5 by Morales et al., and chapter 6 by Solís Pichardo et al.) attempt to resolve migration patterns from clusters of oxygen and strontium isotopic signatures. The next two chapters extract aDNA from this assemblage to source the genetic makeup of the city (chapter 7 by Álvarez Sandoval et al.) and to sex child burials (chapter 8 by Álvarez Sandoval et al.). Finally, we meet five individuals rendered using facial approximation methods (chapter 9 by Escorcia et al.). Cumulatively, these data furnish a nuanced model of the diet, health, and well-being of the population (chapters 2, 3, 4), the age/sex and occupation of the residents (chapters 2, 8), and the ethnic background of the Teopancazco burials (chapters 1–10). In-depth biographical narratives of specific individuals also come to life through this synthesis (chapter 10 by Manzanilla).

Newer and more precise archaeometric applications continue to demystify the ethnic makeup of the city. While the presence of ethnic enclaves (e.g., Merchant's Barrio, Oaxaca Barrio, and Michoacán enclave) have long attested to Teotihuacan's metropolitan constitution, the timing and scale of their respective migrant populations’ economic impact on the city have remained unclear. To this end, the book attempts to model a segment of the Teopancazco population (by age, sex profile, occupation, health, etc.) as a basis for understanding the internal social structure of intermediate elites at Teotihuacan. Drawing on her experience excavating low status (Oztoyohualco) and elite (Xalla) compounds at Teotihuacan, Manzanilla contextualizes and extrapolates these Teopancazco findings into a postulation on the nature of the social structures that inform and characterize the city's dynamic socioeconomic landscape.

Manzanilla's commendable strategy of sourcing across a spectrum of analytical methodologies yields a goldmine of raw data. Synthesizing these findings with relevant comparative data within Teotihuacan itself (chapter 5) and other Mesoamerican sites (chapters 4 and 7) reveals many features unique to Teopancazco. For example, adult males were extremely over-represented (85%), while male and female children were equally distributed (chapters 2 and 8). Adults also featured a high incidence (29%) of nutritional stress during infancy, suggesting that the need for better quality of life (food rations and job security) may have been a common impetus of outmigration from three separate regions along the Gulf Coast trade corridor (chapter 10). I would caution, however, that the 38 decapitated individuals (~30% of the skeletal sample) must be interpreted separately, as this group is a significant source of the skew toward a male- and foreign-dominated composition. The highly specialized context means they are not necessarily representative of natural deaths nor of the resident population.

The chapters successfully summarize each archaeometry method and its application, but they frequently lack proprietary and otherwise relevant diagnostic and technical factors as well as raw data tables. The volume would greatly benefit from their inclusion, in appendix form if necessary. Without these, the reader must rely solely on summary figures and tables (which should have been published in color or corrected for proper representation in grayscale), and will have difficulty assessing which samples were discarded due to failed diagenesis testing on bone strontium, carbonates, and dentine collagen. Nonetheless, taken in its entirety, the data in this volume form a coherent and useful guideline for many archaeologists navigating the increasingly specialized maze of archaeometry.

In the wake of debates concerning the social structure of Teotihuacan, its ethnic makeup, and models of urban population dynamics (references within chapter 10), the comprehensive approach to metadata integration presented in this volume is a welcome sight. From it, Manzanilla draws two important conclusions. First, the multiethnic nature of Teopancazco's residents defined its social structure as a neighborhood center, precisely because of the special relationship this center had with Gulf Coast trade routes. Secondly, it is argued that Teopancazco represents a “house” structure, with three main ethnic groups socioeconomically united by their common participation in activities such as rituals, feasting, craftwork, and trade (chapter 10). The portrait of Teopancazco in this volume develops from its exemplary approach to multidisciplinary data acquisition. Findings from future excavations of Teotihuacan compounds, compiled according to the strategy outlined in this volume, would serve as ideal references to test the models advocated by Manzanilla and colleagues.