Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Household Spaces and Everyday Practices at Xaltocan Under Aztec Imperial Expansion

博士论文改进补助金：阿兹特克帝国扩张下 Xaltocan 的家庭空间和日常实践

• 批准号: 0968551
• 负责人: Elizabeth Brumfiel
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-01 至 2012-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0968551&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Household

Under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, Lisa Overholtzer will examine the social, political, and economic transition at the Postclassic Central Mexican site of Xaltocan upon its conquest and integration into the Aztec empire. Thus, this project will shed light on warfare, imperial expansion, and abandonment and displacement processes, topics of perennial concern within anthropology. Ms Overholtzer will evaluate ethnohistoric assertions that, having been conquered after a long war, Xaltocan was abandoned by its native population and then resettled with Aztec tribute payers. She will also explore the ways in which commoners reformed everyday life in this new context. Fieldwork will include horizontal excavations of two house mounds known to contain domestic deposits dating to before and after incorporation into the Aztec empire. Careful excavation should reveal evidence of site destruction, rapid abandonment, and a hiatus in occupation, if ethnohistoric statements are accurate. The contextual analysis of houses and the distribution of artifacts within them will help reconstruct the spatial routines of daily life before and after incorporation into the Aztec state. However, because many household items were regularly swept up and placed in trash or were taken by their owners when the house was abandoned, their presence and location within a house may not reflect their places of use. Therefore, Ms Overholtzer will also employ analyses of micro-residues - such as chemical signatures of ancient activities and small fragments of artifacts that become imbedded in floors with trampling -that are not affected by these processes. This research will make a theoretical contribution by 1) offering a long-term case study of commoner experiences of war and conquest, and 2) considering bottom-up processes and household decisions at Xaltocan, such as the decisions to flee or rebuild, that contributed to the character of the Aztec empire. This project critically shifts the frame of analysis to focus on commoner choices within a changing political economy, rather than on top-down elite constraints on commoner life. As a result, it will allow one to understand empires in a more comprehensive way that considers the roles of all people in imperial processes. Within Mexico a strong sense of pride rests on national heritage. Ms Overholtzer will create additional knowledge of this heritage and distribute it in several contexts: by training residents in archaeological methods, providing site tours to local schools, constructing an exhibit in the local museum, and distributing research results through the local cultural center. More broadly, research findings will be disseminated in the form of reports to Mexico's National Institute for Anthropology and History, and in dissertation and publication form to academic communities worldwide. Additional broader impacts include the promotion of teaching and learning internationally. The project will provide opportunities for two young archaeologists from underrepresented groups in Mexico and the United States to gain valuable field experience. Through the development of new multi-media curriculum materials and the dissemination of archaeological information via an internet website, the author will encourage learning in university classrooms and beyond.

在伊丽莎白·M·布鲁姆菲尔（Elizabeth M. Brumfiel）博士的指导下，丽莎·霍尔特策（Lisa Overholtzer）将在墨西哥后墨西哥中部Xaltocan征服并将其整合到阿兹台克帝国的情况下检查社会，政治和经济转变。因此，该项目将阐明战争，帝国的扩张以及遗弃和流离失所过程，这是人类学内多年生关注的话题。 Overholtzer女士将评估民族历史的断言，即在一场长期战争之后被征服后，Xaltocan被其本地人口抛弃，然后与阿兹台克人致敬的付款人重新安置。她还将探索在这种新背景下平民改革日常生活的方式。现场工作将包括两个房屋丘的水平发掘，这些丘陵已知，这些土墩包含融合到阿兹台克帝国之前和之后的家庭矿床。如果民族历史陈述是准确的，则仔细的发掘应揭示现场破坏，迅速遗弃和占用中的停滞性的证据。房屋的上下文分析和其中的伪影分布将有助于重建纳入阿兹台克国家之前和之后的日常生活的空间常规。但是，由于许多家居用品经常被扫除并放置在垃圾中，或者在房屋被遗弃时被所有者捕获，因此他们在房屋内的存在和位置可能无法反映其使用场所。因此，Overholtzer女士还将采用对微生物的分析 - 例如古代活动的化学特征和一小部分文物碎片，这些文物被嵌入到具有践踏的地板上 - 不受这些过程的影响。这项研究将通过1）对战争和征服的共同经历进行长期案例研究做出理论上的贡献，2）考虑Xaltocan的自下而上的过程和家庭决定，例如逃离或重建的决定，这促进了阿兹台克帝国的特征。该项目批判性地将分析框架转移到了不断变化的政治经济学中的平民选择，而不是对平民生活的自上而下的限制。结果，它将允许人们以更全面的方式理解帝国，以考虑所有人在帝国进程中的作用。在墨西哥，强烈的自豪感基于国家遗产。 Overholtzer女士将在几种情况下对这种遗产创造更多的知识，并在几种情况下分发它：通过培训考古学方法的居民，向当地学校提供现场旅行，在当地博物馆建造展览，并通过当地文化中心分发研究结果。更广泛地说，研究结果将以向墨西哥国家人类学和历史研究所的报告以及全球学术社区的论文和出版形式传播。更广泛的影响包括在国际上促进教学和学习。该项目将为来自墨西哥和美国代表性不足的团体的两位年轻考古学家提供机会，以获得宝贵的现场经验。通过开发新的多媒体课程材料和通过互联网网站传播考古信息，作者将鼓励在大学教室及其他地区学习。