Between Two Empires: Conflict and Community during the Epiclassic Period in the Northern Basin of Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Legacies of The Basin of Mexico: The Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization, Part 2" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Epiclassic period (ca. 650-900 CE) in the Basin of Mexico is considered a time of social, cultural, political, and economic transformation and re-organization. Most perspectives stress that, after the collapse of the major state system centered at Teotihuacan, regional population declined and new groups migrated into the region. The political landscape appears to have been de-centralized and largely unstable, marked by a constellation of competitive polities. In the northern Basin of Mexico and southern Mezquital Valley, archaeologists argue that these competitive relationships would eventually lead to the formation of the Toltec state during the Early Postclassic period (ca. 900-1200 CE), centered in Tula. This paper examines this trajectory through the lens of several seasons of intensive excavations at the hilltop center of Los Mogotes, located between the Basin of Mexico and the Mezquital Valley. This research provides important data on the interactions between household strategies, landscape modification, community formation, and regional political and economic relationships. We examine several lines of evidence that suggest that the inhabitants of Los Mogotes were embroiled in regional conflict. We consider how conflict both developed and changed as well as how such political and economic conditions influenced the nature of everyday life.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Legacies of The Basin of Mexico: The Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization, Part 2   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25939