Collaborative Proposal: Elite Strategies and Political Change in Xaltocan, Mexico

这个考古项目将考察墨西哥萨尔托坎的土著精英在面对政治统治条件的变化时是如何构成他们的权力的。哈尔托坎位于墨西哥城以北约50公里处，曾是一个独立的地区首府。它被阿兹特克人征服，后来被并入西班牙帝国。从该遗址的独立时期开始，经过阿兹特克帝国的统治，再到西班牙的统治，萨尔托坎的精英们是如何构成他们的权力的？在萨尔托干的这三个政治变革时期，精英和普通民众的消费模式之间有明显的区别吗？这个项目将审查精英们对社会地位的要求是基于当地还是基于地区权力来源，这反映在他们对当地或地区物质文化和符号的使用上。由于罕见的情况组合，18年来第一次有可能在萨尔托坎核心区进行挖掘，以检查这些问题。活动将包括在萨尔托坎市中心挖掘一个5x10米的单位，并对挖掘过程中发现的所有材料和建筑进行分析。这项分析的三个主要目标是：1)制定挖掘环境的年表；2)确定哪些材料是在当地制造的，哪些是进口到遗址的；3)将不同的材料与遗址内挖掘的其他地区进行比较，以确定遗址核心和外围地区之间的消费模式是否存在显著差异。这种对精英战略的长期考古将与研究阿兹特克帝国主义的学术相关，并将用于研究中美洲以外的帝国和精英。历史编年史可以提供城市中心阿兹特克精英的一个视角，但它们提供的关于农村遗址的信息很少。此外，历史编年史为精英战略提供了一种非历史的视角。该项目将提供农村地区精英战略的长期视角，这将有助于超越历史编年史中捕捉到的精英战略的静态视角。这项研究将有助于最近对帝国、国家和合法化战略的比较和区域研究。通过与世界不同地区的类似工作进行比较，这项研究将有助于澄清国家和帝国如何随着时间的推移而变化，以及这些帝国内的精英如何改变他们的权力基础。该项目的更广泛影响包括将学生整合到田野工作和分析的不同方面，向广泛的非学术受众传播知识，以及少数民族(特别是西班牙裔)和妇女参与该项目，这两个方面在学术考古学中的代表性都很低。该项目将把德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校和西北大学的本科生和研究生纳入项目的实地考察、分析和撰写阶段。该项目还将向萨尔托坎当地人展示和传播知识，他们对自己的历史和考古产生了极大的自豪感，部分原因是他们所在的城镇正在进行田野调查。

This archaeological project will examine how indigenous elites constituted their power in Xaltocan, Mexico when faced with changes in the conditions of political domination. Xaltocan, located approximately 50 km north of Mexico City, was once an independent regional capital. It was conquered by the Aztec, and it was later incorporated into the Spanish Empire. How did elites in Xaltocan, from the period of the site's independence, through domination by the Aztec Empire, and then under Spanish control, constitute their power? Are there clear distinctions between the patterns of consumption of elites and those of commoners during these three periods of political change in Xaltocan? This project will examine whether elites based their claims of social status upon local or upon regional sources of power, as reflected in their use of local or regional material culture and symbols. Due to a rare combination of circumstances, for the first time in 18 years of fieldwork it will be possible to excavate in the core area of Xaltocan to examine these questions. Activities will include excavation of a 5 x 10m unit in the center of Xaltocan, and analysis of all the materials and architecture recovered during excavation. The three main goals of the analysis will be: 1) to formulate a chronology for the excavated contexts, 2) to determine which materials were made locally, and which were imported to the site, and 3) to compare the different materials to other areas excavated within the site to determine whether there were significant differences in patterns of consumption between the site's core and peripheral areas. This long-term archaeology of elite strategies will be relevant to scholarship on Aztec imperialism, and to work on empires and elites beyond Mesoamerica. Historical chronicles can provide a view of Aztec elites in urban centers, but they provide little information on rural sites. Furthermore, historical chronicles provide an ahistorical view of elite strategies. This project will provide a long-term view of elite strategies in a rural site, which will help move beyond the static view of elite strategies captured in historical chronicles. This study will contribute to recent comparative and regional studies on empires, states, and strategies of legitimation. By comparison with similar work in different world regions, the study will help clarify how states and empires change over time, and how elites within those empires transform their basis of power.The broader impacts of the project include the integration of students in different aspects of fieldwork and analysis, the dissemination of knowledge to a broad non-academic audience, and the participation of ethnic minorities (specifically Hispanic) and women in the project, both of which are underrepresented in academic archaeology. The project will integrate undergraduate and graduate students from both the University of Texas at Austin and Northwestern University into the fieldwork, analysis, and write-up stages of the project. The project will also result in exhibits and dissemination of knowledge to locals in Xaltocan, who have developed great pride in their history and archaeology in part as a result of ongoing fieldwork in their town.