Everyday Lived Realities at Indigenous Conqueror Tepeticpac, Tlaxcala, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Gateways to Future Historical Archaeology in Mexico and Central America", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Historians and archaeologists of colonialism in the Americas have increasingly sought to interrupt conqueror:conquered and European:Indigenous binaries, yet to date we have learned little archaeologically of the Indigenous groups who enabled Tenochtitlan’s defeat. This talk presents findings for a household archaeology project in Tlaxcala, where residents successfully petitioned the Spanish king to recognize their military service and avoid the most excessive colonial exploitation. However, they soon suffered from the incursion of Spaniards and epidemic-induced population decline, and they were maligned as “traitors” by Mexican nation-building efforts. The archaeological record offers the potential for a restorative approach for the descendant community and the creation of more nuanced understandings of the everyday lives of their ancestors. This talk compares evidence for 16th century household economic and ritual practices in Tlaxcala to that of more typical colonial subjects at Xaltocan, Mexico, to contemplate, “What, if anything, was different for Indigenous conqueror colonial subjects?”

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Gateways to Future Historical Archaeology in Mexico and Central America

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow