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·布伦菲尔博士的指导下，丽莎·奥弗霍尔策将研究墨西哥中部后经典遗址萨尔托坎征服并融入阿兹特克帝国后的社会、政治和经济转型。因此，这个项目将揭示战争、帝国扩张、遗弃和流离失所过程，这些都是人类学中长期关注的话题。奥沃霍尔策女士将评估民族史学断言，即在长期战争后被征服的萨尔托干人被当地居民抛弃，然后被阿兹特克贡献者重新安置。她还将探讨普通人如何在这种新的背景下改革日常生活。田野工作将包括对两个已知含有国内矿藏的房丘进行水平挖掘，这些矿藏可以追溯到并入阿兹特克帝国之前和之后。如果民族史学的陈述是准确的，仔细的挖掘应该揭示遗址被破坏、迅速被遗弃和占领中断的证据。对房屋的背景分析和其中文物的分布将有助于重建并入阿兹特克国家之前和之后日常生活的空间常规。然而，由于许多家用物品经常被清扫和扔进垃圾桶，或者在房子被遗弃时被主人拿走，它们的存在和在房子里的位置可能不能反映它们的使用场所。因此，Overholtzer女士还将使用不受这些过程影响的微量残留物的分析--例如古代活动的化学特征和嵌入地板的被践踏的文物的小碎片。这项研究将通过以下方式做出理论贡献：1)提供平民战争和征服经历的长期案例研究；2)考虑萨尔托坎自下而上的过程和家庭决策，如逃离或重建的决定，这些决定促成了阿兹特克帝国的特征。这个项目批判性地改变了分析框架，将重点放在不断变化的政治经济中的平民选择上，而不是自上而下地精英阶层对平民生活的限制。因此，它将使人们能够以更全面的方式理解帝国，考虑到所有人在帝国进程中的角色。在墨西哥，一种强烈的自豪感依赖于民族传统。Overholtzer女士将创造更多关于这一遗产的知识，并在几种情况下传播它：通过培训居民使用考古方法，提供对当地学校的实地参观，在当地博物馆建造一个展览，以及通过当地文化中心传播研究成果。更广泛地说，研究成果将以报告的形式向墨西哥国家人类学和历史研究所传播，并以论文和出版物的形式传播给世界各地的学术界。其他更广泛的影响包括在国际上促进教与学。该项目将为来自墨西哥和美国代表性不足群体的两名年轻考古学家提供机会，以获得宝贵的实地经验。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，作者将鼓励在大学课堂和其他地方学习。