2025 Meanings and Meanderings at the pinche pirámide: Reflections on 50 frustrating years at Cholula's Great Pyramid Geoffrey McCafferty 2025, Paper presented at the Society for American Archaeology, Denver, CO

https://www.academia.edu/128781578/2025_Meanings_and_Meanderings_at_the_pinche_pir%C3%A1mide_Reflections_on_50_frustrating_years_at_Cholulas_Great_Pyramid?rhid=42158320071&swp=rr-rw-wc-172096958&nav_from=f6f2d398-c96e-4f64-bc38-bd33f2b37631 I first ‘discovered’ Cholula’s Great Pyramid as a first-year student at the University of the Americas in the early 1970s when, with pilfered light bulbs from the dorms, we would explore the eight kilometers of darkened tunnels beyond the official tourist path. Since that time the pinche pirámide has haunted my archaeological dreams, through numerous research trips to Cholula and countless sangrias at the corner table at La Lunita, from which vantage I would ponder the mysteries concealed beneath the vegetation and piled adobe bricks. I returned to Cholula for graduate studies in the early 80s, ultimately completing both my MA and PhD theses based on research conducted in the UDLA laboratory based on a salvage project conducted on campus as the university was being build in the late 60s. I continued to visit in subsequent years, often working alongside INAH archaeologists on rescue projects and laboratory analyses. This engagement culminated as I was retiring from the University of Calgary when I received a multi-year Insight grant designed to resolve questions about the Classic to Postclassic transition in the ceremonial center around the Great Pyramid. Alas, I was not granted an excavation permit by the INAH Consejo, so my Cholula dreams have ended in frustration. This presentation briefly summarizes some of the highlights from my long infatuation with the site, and raises questions that still remain to be investigated.