The Imperial Stone Sculpture of Tenochtitlan: Changes and Organization

Summary

The rise of the Aztec Mexica Empire is well represented in the archaeological record,especially through the wide spread evidence of stone sculptures in the main Precinct of the imperial capital. In less two hundred year of history, the island became the principal producer of these artifacts. Its workshops created not only numerically more pieces, butalso monumental pieces and sculptures with complex iconography and new discourses. This paper will discuss the problem of using the term "Aztec" to describe this art style, which has resulted in the homogenization of diverse groups and factions in and around the basin. I will analyze the nature and direction of its change through time and across space, such as sculptures from Tula, Culhuacan, Azcapotzalco, and other urban centers inside the Basin of Mexico. Here, I will deal with iconographic changes to develop stages of time, as a methodological tool. Units of cultural similarities present in one specific area serves as a more useful way of organizing changes than the traditional periods of time in archaeological research. This shift will facilitate the organization of the profuse evidence of stone sculpture and analysis from a stylistic approach that also draws on contextual and calendric information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22701