Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico, Postclassic Chronology

1996 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Toby Evans ◽  
AnnCorinne Freter
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Absolute Dating

AbstractThe Postclassic period in central Mexico was characterized by enormous population growth and expansion of settlement, but the timing of the onset of these processes has been poorly understood. Obsidian tools from residential contexts at the Late Postclassic village of Cihuatecpan in the Teotihuacan Valley have been analyzed to determine the extent of hydration, and thus the amount of time elapsed since the tools were manufactured. Estimated dates of manufacture range betweena.d.1221 and 1568, consistent with ethnohistoric accounts of the timing of establishment of Cihuatecpan and other rural villages, and their abandonment in the Early Colonial period. Ceramics found in the same contexts as the obsidian tools include Black-on-orange types, such as III, which may have come into use in the thirteenth century. This experiment in relative and absolute dating accords with other current research, indicating a needed revision of traditional chronologies toward an earlier onset of major processes.

Tiçiyotl and Titiçih: Late Postclassic and Early Colonial Nahua Healing, Diagnosis, and Prognosis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Polanco
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Specialized Knowledge ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Corn Kernels

Nahua peoples in central Mexico in the late postclassic period (1200–1521) and the early colonial period (1521–1650) had a sophisticated and complex system of healing known as tiçiyotl. Titiçih, the practitioners of tiçiyotl, were men and women that had specialized knowledge of rocks, plants, minerals, and animals. They used these materials to treat diseases and injuries. Furthermore, titiçih used tlapohualiztli (the interpretation of objects to obtain information from nonhuman forces) to ascertain the source of a person’s ailment. For this purpose, male and female titiçih interpreted cords, water, tossed corn kernels, and they measured body parts. Titiçih could also ingest entheogenic substances (materials that released the divinity within itself) to communicate with nonhuman forces and thus diagnose and prognosticate a patient’s condition. Once a tiçitl obtained the necessary information to understand his or her patient’s affliction, he or she created and provided the necessary pahtli (a concoction used to treat an injury, illness, or condition) for the infirm person. Finally, titiçih performed important ritual offerings before, during, and after healing that insured the compliance of nonhuman forces to restore and maintain their patients’ health.

MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND POTTERY EXCHANGE UNDER AZTEC AND SPANISH RULE IN CERRO PORTEZUELO

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Garraty
Keyword(s):  
Primary Source ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
First Century ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Spanish Colonial ◽  
Spanish Conquest ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Diachronic Changes ◽  
Aztec Empire

AbstractInstrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of Middle and Late Postclassic and Early Colonial period decorated and plain ware ceramic sherds from Brainerd's excavation collections at Cerro Portezuelo highlight diachronic changes in commercial pottery exchange prior to and during the Aztec empire and during the first century of Spanish colonial rule. The INAA results show that before the Aztec empire (Middle Postclassic period;a.d.1150–1350), most pottery used at Cerro Portezuelo was made locally or imported from various sources in the southern Basin of Mexico. After the empire formed (Late Postclassic period;a.d.1350–1521), local pottery exchange continued, but Tenochtitlan became the primary source of imported pottery in Cerro Portezuelo, despite its location within Texcoco's domain, which was likely attributable to Tenochtitlan merchants' successful exploitation of lake trafficking. After the Spanish Conquest (Early Colonial period;a.d.1521–1625), Texcoco became the principal supplier of pottery in Cerro Portezuelo. Tenochtitlan persisted as a commercial exporter of pottery after the conquest but on a smaller scale, probably because of the degradation and infilling of the lakes, especially Lake Texcoco.

TILL DEATH DO US PART

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Boornazian Diel
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Aztec Empire

AbstractThough infrequent, the inclusion of marriage statements in Aztec histories reveals the political nature of matrimony for elite Nahua rulers in Late Postclassic-period central Mexico. The rules governing these elite marriages were so standardized that unconventional marriages particularly stand out as strong political declarations. This article focuses on four case studies—two marriages that violated already established political alliances and two marriages in which aggressions were taken out against the royal wives. These case studies reveal shifting alliances and political maneuvering that are not as clearly evident when looking strictly at Conquest history. Ultimately, these marriages illuminate increasing political tensions within the Aztec empire. Moreover, they reveal the potential, though largely hidden, role of noblewomen in Aztec politics. Clearly, the political stakes in these unconventional marriages were high; in the four cases studies presented here, each ends with the death of one of the spouses.

scholarly journals A New Postclassic Chronology for Yautepec, Morelos

1996 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy S. Hare ◽  
Michael E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Discriminant Function ◽  
Discriminant Function Analysis ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Yautepec Valley ◽  
Calendar Dates

AbstractWe describe the derivation of a new archaeological chronology for the Postclassic period at Yautepec, Morelos. We first apply cluster analysis to ceramic type frequencies for 47 excavated contexts to identify groups of related ceramic collections. This classification is then extended to several hundred additional collections using discriminant-function analysis. The groups are evaluated successfully against stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates, resulting in their designation as chronological phases. Radiocarbon determinations are then used to assign calendar dates to the phases. The new chronology consists of one Middle Postclassic phase (Pochtla), two Late Postclassic phases (Atlan, Molotla), and one Early Colonial phase (Santiago). We also explore issues concerning the extension of this chronology to other Postclassic sites in the Yautepec Valley.

Egalitarian Ideology and Political Power in Prehispanic Central Mexico: The Case of Tlaxcallan

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lane F. Fargher ◽  
Richard E. Blanton ◽  
Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Authority Structure ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Military Campaigns

During the central Mexican late Postclassic period, the Aztec Triple Alliance became the largest and most powerful empire in Mesoamerica. Yet ancient Tlaxcallan (now Tlaxcala, Mexico) resisted incorporation into the empire despite being entirely surrounded by it and despite numerous Aztec military campaigns aimed at the defeat of the Tlaxcaltecas. How did it happen that a relatively small (1,400 km²) polity was able to resist a more powerful foe while its neighbors succumbed? We propose a resolution to this historical enigma that, we suggest, has implications for the broader study of social and cultural change, particularly in relation to theories of state formation and collective action. We find it particularly interesting that the Tlaxcaltecas abandoned a key tenet of traditional Nahua political structure in which kingship was vested in members of the nobility, substituting for it government by a council whose members could be recruited from the ranks of commoners. To achieve such a significant deviation from typical Nahua authority structure, the Tlaxcaltecas drew selectively from those aspects of Nahua mythic history and religion that were consistent with a comparatively egalitarian and collective political regime.

scholarly journals Humans and animals in the Postclassic Cuchumatanes: the archaeological fauna from Chiantla Viejo (Huehuetenango, Guatemala)

Archaeofauna ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
NICOLAS DEL SOL ◽  
VICTOR CASTILLO
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
Early Introduction ◽  
Wild Game ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Game Hunting

Recent excavations at the highland site of Chiantla Viejo (Huehuetenango De- partment, Guatemala) were conducted to refine the site stratigraphy and understand population movements during the late Postclassic and early Contact era (AD 1250-1550). Excavations re- covered animal remains from these transitional contexts. This analysis represents one of the first zooarchaeological studies of a faunal assemblage in the Guatemalan highlands at the end of the pre-Hispanic period and into Spanish contact. The results highlight the changes and also the continuities experienced by the residents of this region during the early Colonial period: the persistence of long-distance exchange networks, the continuation of wild game hunting, and the early introduction of Eurasian domesticates.

PRODUCTION INTENSIFICATION AND REGIONAL SPECIALIZATION

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Nichols ◽  
Mary Jane McLaughlin ◽  
Maura Benton
Keyword(s):  
Economic Trend ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Regional Specialization ◽  
Plant Cultivation ◽  
Spindle Whorls ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
City State ◽  
Fiber Processing

Although textiles were important commodities in the Aztec political economy, it is widely held that textile production did not involve organized workshops. In the late 1960s, Charlton (1971, 1981) found a concentration of large spindle whorls at the Aztec city-state capital of Otumba that he interpreted as remains of a maguey-fiber workshop. A subsequent survey and surface collections made by the Otumba Project discovered additional concentrations of spindle whorls associated with fiber-processing tools and manufacturing debris that provide substantial evidence for organized maguey-fiber workshops at Otumba. An unusually large sample of more than 1,600 spindle whorls was recovered in surface collections from sites in the Aztec city-state of Otumba where both small cotton whorls and large maguey whorls occurred in low densities associated with concentrations of domestic pottery (and in some cases house-mound remnants). In the Aztec capital town of Otumba, maguey spindle whorls were also present in localized dense concentrations within a restricted area of the site. These concentrations also included molds for making spindle whorls, “wasters,” a high density of heavily worn obsidian blades and basalt scrapers used in fiber production, and obsidian scrapers. Based on the quantities and types of associated artifacts we argue that these concentrations represent remains of Late Aztec maguey-fiber workshops that were household based. The workshops processed maguey fibers and made maguey spindle whorls in a range of sizes for spinning thin and thick threads and cordage. Secondary craft activities in one workshop included making cotton spindle whorls and some lapidary and figurine manufacturing. Maguey-fiber processing, spinning, and, presumably, weaving also took place in rural villages, but evidence of organized workshops has only been found at the urban center. The growth of the maguey-fiber industry at Otumba during the Late Postclassic period was part of a broader economic trend of production intensification in the northeastern Basin of Mexico that included xerophytic plant cultivation and craft specialization.

Anthropogenic Soil Erosion around Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, during the Preclassic and Late Postclassic-Hispanic Periods

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Street-Perrott ◽  
R. A. Perrott ◽  
D. D. Harkness
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Forest Region ◽  
Valley Side ◽  
Maize Cultivation ◽  
Forest Clearance ◽  
Anthropogenic Soil ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Livestock Rearing

Lake Pátzcuaro (2,035 m asl), situated in the temperate highland-forest region of central Mexico, was the focus of Postclassic Tarascan civilization. Today, the lake is bordered by wide, swampy flats, which can be interpreted as low-angle fans of colluvial material derived from the deeply eroded, lower-valley side slopes. A gully near the northwest shore exposed two colluvial units: The lower one was dated at 2,300 years B.P. (350 B.C.) at the base of the exposure, while the upper one yielded three 14C ages ranging from 270 years B.P. (A.D. 1680) to "modern." Both units contained abundant charcoal. Pollen studies by Watts and Bradbury (1982) suggest that the first phase was initiated by the widespread introduction of maize cultivation around 1550 B.C. The second, more intense, phase of forest clearance, although it may have begun during the Late Postclassic period, probably culminated during the great expansion of colonial plough agriculture and livestock rearing in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

CERAMIC SEQUENCE, CHRONOLOGY, AND CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF THE UCAREO-ZINAPÉCUARO, MICHOACÁN OBSIDIAN SOURCE AREA

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Dan M. Healan ◽  
Christine Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Source Area ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Pottery Analysis ◽  
Ceramic Chronology ◽  
Cross Dating ◽  
Obsidian Source

Abstract This article presents the ceramic sequence and chronology resulting from a multi-year program of survey, excavation, and analysis of pre-Hispanic settlement and exploitation within the Zinapécuaro-Ucareo (“U-Z”), Michoacan obsidian source area. Pottery analysis and classification aided by seriation analysis identified nine ceramic complexes and seven ceramic phases and sub-phases that both expand and refine the ceramic sequence previously established for the region by Gorenstein's (1985) investigations at nearby Acámbaro, Guanajuato. Initially established by ceramic cross-dating, the U-Z ceramic chronology has been largely confirmed by 30 radiocarbon dates and spans over 2,000 years of pre-Hispanic settlement, which included at least two notable episodes of trait-unit and site-unit intrusion from the eastern El Bajío and central Mexico. One of these episodes involved the appearance of two enclaves settled by individuals from the Acambay valley c. 90 km to the East, most likely from the site of Huamango, which our data indicate would have been occupied during the Middle Postclassic period.

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