Local Responses to Regional Integration in Postclassic Mesoamerica

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

An increase in militarism and exchange in Postclassic Mesoamerica brought along greater political, economic, and cultural integration of the region. Expansionist states warred, conquered, and brought into their sway smaller polities undergoing different processes as boundaries were redefined; buffer zones were created, expanded, and retracted; and alliances shifted in response to a changing geopolitical landscape. This session explores the different local and regional responses to the greater political and economic integration that took place throughout Mesoamerica in the Late Postclassic.

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  • Advertising the Empire: Purépecha Strategies in the Imperial Heartland at Angamuco, Michoacán (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anna Cohen.

    Regime change is a social process that has occurred throughout human history and yet much is still unknown about how political developments shape local communities. This paper examines the impacts of the Late Postclassic (1350-1530 CE) Purépecha Empire on residents at Angamuco, an ancient city within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin imperial heartland in Michoacán, Mexico. Imperial narratives in ethnohistoric texts emphasize that authorities controlled craft production, tribute, and social practices....

  • Big Changes in Little Places: An Examination of the Political Strategies of Leaders at Late Postclassic Xaltocan, Mexico (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kirby Farah.

    During the Late Postclassic the Basin of Mexico underwent dramatic political and cultural shifts, chiefly due to the formation and rapid expansion of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Xaltocan was among the many regional centers to be conquered and incorporated into the Aztec state. Historical documents indicate that prolonged conflict ultimately resulted in Xaltocan’s conquest and partial abandonment, thus local leaders were not integrated into the new political framework and were replaced by Mexica...

  • Characterization of Local and Aztec Rule at Calixtlahuaca (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Angela Huster.

    The Aztec Empire has been characterized as both an example of relatively indirect rule and as a case of relatively collective rule, positions which are least superficially opposed. In this paper, I use ceramic data (INAA, petrography, and type classification) from multiple contemporaneous households at the provincial capital of Calixtlahuaca in the Toluca Valley to evaluate these two positions. I compare data from the time periods during which the site was under local rule and when it was...

  • Confronting Conflict in the Tequila Region: Spatial Configurations in a Bellicose Landscape (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Verenice Heredia Espinoza. Christopher Beekman.

    During the Late Postclassic, the Tequila region was home to multiple small, ethnically, and linguistically diverse polities, which both competed and cooperated with one another. This period was highly conflictive due to attempts by the Tarascan Empire to push its way into the valleys, wreaking havoc in several towns along the way. To the north, bellicose, nomadic groups were also a threat to Tequila’s population. Therefore, we hypothesize that Late Postclassic settlement patterns reflect this...

  • Navigating A Shifting Landscape: Tlaxcallan Trade in the Late Postclasic (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nezahualcoyotl Xiuhtecutli. Aurelio Lopez Corral. Alonso Gabriel Vicencio Castellanos.

    As the political landscape changed continuously in central Mexico during the Late Postclassic, polities of the region had to constantly adjust and adapt, forging new alliances and dispensing old ones. Faced with an increasingly expansive state in the Basin of Mexico, polities in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley likewise had to adjust accordingly. Increasingly isolated, Tlaxcallan found alternate ways to integrate into the greater Mesoamerican market system, while resisting political integration in the...

  • A Postclassic City with No Blade Workshops: How did the Calixtlahuacan’s get their Stone Tools? (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Bradford Andrews.

    Analysis of the obsidian artifacts recovered from households in the city of Calixtlahuaca (AD 1130–1530) indicates that prismatic blade production was not a domestic affair. Furthermore, intensive survey did not reveal evidence of onsite blade workshops anywhere in the city. This finding is at odds with what has been reported for many other Postclassic urban centers. This paper discusses why the blade-core data are not consistent with onsite blade production. It then evaluates three models for...

  • Ruptura y Continuidad : el impacto de la conquista tarasca en la región de Acámbaro - Maravatío (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Karine Lefebvre.

    A mitad del siglo XV, el joven reino tarasco llevó a cabo una importante fase de expansión de su territorio. Es en este marco que la región de Acámbaro-Maravatío, ubicado a unos 130 km de laguna de Pátzcuaro (corazón del reino), cayó en mano de los tarascos. Pero la conquista no se persiguió más allá y el sector de Acámbaro se convirtió en una zona de frontera. La dominación tarasca de la región fue breve, apenas unos 80 años. Sin embargo, estas ocho décadas fueron suficientes para que el poder...

  • Shifting Domestic Economies at Postclassic Period Moxviquil: Insights from Ceramic Petrography (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jennifer Meanwell. Elizabeth H. Paris. Roberto Lopez Bravo.

    The Early to Late Postclassic Period transition brought substantial changes to the political and economic organization of many regions of Mesoamerica. For the networked polities of highland Chiapas, these changes included substantial decreases in population at existing monumental centers; the establishment of new political centers in several principal highland valleys, and the establishment of an expansionary Chiapanec state in the Central Depression, centered on the city of Chiapa de Corzo....