A Spatial Analysis of Proposed Egalitarian Site Organization in Postclassic Tlaxcallan

Summary

The Tlaxcaltecas are known as one of the few groups to maintain autonomy from the Late Postclassic expansion of the Aztec Triple Alliance in Central Mexico. This is particularly interesting given their location, surrounded by Aztec allies and tributaries. In their 2010 paper, Fargher et al. proposed that the success of the Tlaxcallan state was attributed to a political ideology that emphasized egalitarianism rather than imperialism. In a 2011 paper, Fargher et al. expanded upon this hypothesis following a full-coverage survey of the city of Tlaxcallan and the adjacent governmental complex of Tizatlan. The authors proposed that given its isolated nature, Tizatlan might have served as a neutral meeting place for government officials from the 20+ plaza groups of Tlaxcallan, as well as the rest of the state’s territory. This poster presents a GIS cost-path analysis to explore the "neutral meeting place" hypothesis. Using a Digital Elevation Model of the site topography and data for culturally constructed walking barriers (architecture, agricultural fields, etc.), this poster presents estimated walking distances and walking times from each plaza to and from Tizatlan. The results are compared between sites to understand how walking costs might define relationships between the city’s plazas and Tizatlan.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage