The Aztec Palace: Heart of an Empire's Rise and Fall
Author(s): Susan Evans
Year: 2021
Summary
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The Aztec empire existed for only ninety years, yet its structure was derived from earlier political constructs and endured after the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. It was a dendritic system, each node of power manifested in a palace -- Nahuatl tecpan (lord-place) -- that functioned as a locus of sociopolitical and sacred authority. Lord-places are as old as complex societies in Mesoamerica, but the Aztecs brought palace design and meaning to new heights, endowing each with the important function of territorial control, each a key part of Mesoamerica's largest and most complicated polity. This presentation explores the form and function of the tecpan in an expanding empire.
Cite this Record
The Aztec Palace: Heart of an Empire's Rise and Fall. Susan Evans. Presented at The 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2021 ( tDAR id: 467576)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Ethnohistory/History
•
Highland Mesoamerica: Postclassic
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Social and Political Organization: States and Empires
Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica: Central Mexico
Spatial Coverage
min long: -107.271; min lat: 18.48 ; max long: -94.087; max lat: 23.161 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 32913