Merchants, Mercenaries, and Migration in the Art of Cacaxtla (AD 600–900)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Bringing the Past to Life, Part 1: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

John Pohl’s groundbreaking investigations of the tandem roles of merchant exchange, alliance building, and migration have caused us to reconceptualize the multiethnic sociopolitical landscapes of central Mexico and Oaxaca in the Epiclassic and Postclassic periods and the social actors that populated them. In the spirit of Pohl’s work, this study reconsiders the nature of the central Mexican site of Cacaxtla, an Epiclassic fortified settlement with a mural tradition that makes overt stylistic, technical, and iconographic references to the art of the distant Maya lowlands. Though in particular Cacaxtla’s so-called “Battle Mural” has generally been interpreted as a scene depicting the defeat of foreign Maya warriors at the hands of local central Mexicans, I argue that, contrarily, the mural vividly portrays the overthrow of local elites by a coalition of invading mercenaries wearing the trappings of Maya warfare. This foundational event laid the groundwork for the establishment of Cacaxtla as a foreign merchant colony that facilitated the movement of goods and people between central Mexico and the Maya Lowlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bringing the Past to Life, Part 1: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38431.0