El Malinche and Tlaxcallan: A Field Guide to Taking Down Democracy

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Material Culture of the Spanish Invasion of Mesoamerica and Forging of New Spain" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Contact between the Conquistadores and the native peoples of Mexico 500 years ago was a watershed moment in human history. At its heart was the relationship between El Malinche (Hernán Cortés) and the Tlaxcalteca. Although much has been made of the role the resulting alliance played in the Conquest, the impact of incorporation on social and political organization within Tlaxcallan has received comparatively less attention. This is due in part to a near total reliance on Contact and Colonial Period documents. While these documents are important, they reflect a medieval worldview and, consequently, provide limited information on cultural processes prior to the conquest. Therefore, I draw on multiple seasons of systematic mapping and excavation to examine the pre-Hispanic – Colonial Transition in Tlaxcallan. Together with historic documents, these data allow us to shed light on how the Spanish Colonial government took down one of the most highly collective states in human history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology and Material Culture of the Spanish Invasion of Mesoamerica and Forging of New Spain   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24178