Aztec Imperial Strategies in Guerrero, Mexico: Evaluating the Greengo Collection from the Burke Museum, Seattle

Summary

Aztec presence in Guerrero, Mexico is documented ethnohistorically, but archaeological work can be difficult to undertake in this volatile region. The Triple Alliance provinces in Guerrero served as important sources of tribute, but also as buffers against the hostile Purépecha regime to the west. Though Aztec imperial strategies varied in different provinces, tribute policies in Tepecoacuilco were thought to have facilitated intensification of production and reorganization of economic activities. What did this reorganization look like and how did it impact regime-subject relations? How can material from a museum collection contribute to this understanding? Here I try to address these questions by examining Tepecoacuilco ceramics that were excavated in northern Guerrero by former Burke Museum curator Robert E. Greengo. In addition, I include information from detailed field notebooks about living and working in Mexico in the 1960s and previous research undertaken by Greengo. Considering recent and historical events in Guerrero, study of museum collections is critical for researchers who work in volatile regions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Excavating the Museum: New Research on Old Collections

Keywords

Spatial Coverage