Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Effects of Aztec Conquest on Provincial Commoner Households at Calixtlahuaca, Mexico

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Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Smith, Ms Angela Huster will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will analyze archaeological ceramics from the site of Calixtlahuaca (1100-1430 CE) to evaluate provincial peoples' responses to being conquered and made part of the Aztec Empire. Calixtlahuaca was an important regional capital that was conquered by the Aztec Empire in the 1470s, and this project compares the time periods before the founding of the Aztec Empire, during the beginning of the empire but before Calixtlahuca's conquest, and after the Aztec conquest of the site. Comparative work on empires shows that when a power conquers an area, it has to follow up with negations with multiple local factions to establish lasting control over the region. Because an empire wants a stable, taxable population, conquered populations retain some degree of leverage in this process of establishing the terms of their rule. Both the empire and the province are likely to use multiple, often contradictory strategies to improve their position. Provincial actions can support imperial interests, undercut them, or be effectively neutral. This project tests the conditions under which conquered peoples are likely to adopt particular types of responses. The knowledge which emerges from this project has the potential to inform on multi-ethnic states which exist today in many regions of the world. The project looks at responses in the form of changes in trade patterns and household activities likely related to ethnic identity. It uses three complementary methods of analyzing ceramics - type classification, attribute analysis, and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) - to map out trade patterns for each time periods. The patterns will be used to look at how the Aztec conquest changed what and with whom people were trading, what they were making, and general degree of well being. The project also looks at changes in both ritual items including figurines and incense burners, and as well as food serving vessels to see how these spheres of behavior were affected by Aztec contact. In addition providing information of the Aztec Empire, the project results will be useful for comparative work at a variety of levels, including investigations of imperial rule, comparisons between regions of the Aztec Empire, comparisons between sites within the Toluca Valley, and correlations between early Spanish written records and archaeological evidence. The broader impacts of the project include promoting interaction between American and Mexican scholars, providing training for both graduate and undergraduate students, and presenting project findings to both scholarly and public audiences. Ms Huster will do her field analysis at the Colegio Mexiquense in Toluca, Mexico, where she will consult with Mexican historians. The project will involve undergraduate volunteers in Mexico and Arizona, providing students with hands-on training in ceramics analysis, statistics, and database management. Findings will be presented through entries to the existing Calixtlahuaca Archaeological Project blog, community presentations in Mexico and the United States, conference presentations, and journal publications. The raw data from the project will be made publically available through The Digital Archaeological Repository. In addition, the INAA data collected will become part of a widely used University of Missouri ceramics reference database thus strengthening its regional coverage.