In the early 1970s a series of over two dozen unlooted shaft tombs
were excavated by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
in the valley of Guadalajara, Jalisco. They still provide the most
representative sample of a shaft tomb cemetery known from western Mexico,
and they are an underutilized resource for demonstrating significant
degrees of social inequality. Here we summarize the findings of the
original research in light of more recent work in Jalisco. We aim to
demonstrate that the Tabachines cemetery in particular provides evidence
for significant social inequalities in the society that built these shaft
tombs, that there were significant social changes partway through the
Tabachines phase, and that the mortuary ritual practiced in the tombs
shows some commonalities with other areas of Mesoamerica.