Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T02:11:37.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Archaeology and the Aztec Economy: The Social Scientific Use of Archaeological Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Michael E. Smith
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Recent theoretical and methodological developments within anthropological archaeology have transformed the discipline in such a way that archaeology is now beginning to make contributions to a number of areas of social science. Two of the more significant of these areas are the question of socioeconomic change over long time spans and the study of past economic systems. The former contribution arises out of the stratigraphie character of the archaeological record and the development of increasingly accurate methods of measuring past time. Archaeological studies typically deal with change over periods of time equivalent to or even longer than Braudel’s (1980) “longue durée” (e.g., Sanders, Parsons, and Santley, 1979; Blanton et al., 1981), and many archaeologists see this diachronic social perspective as the primary contribution of archaeology to social science knowledge (Plog, 1973). The second major contribution of archaeology—the study of past economic systems—is made possible by archaeologists’ reliance upon material culture. Beyond the obvious link between material objects and the study of ancient technology, material culture can be quite revealing about many types of economic activities as well as other sociocultural phenomena (e.g., Gould and Schiffer, 1981). This focus on material objects is so crucial to archaeologists that some have suggested that the major social science contribution of the field is its concern with the relationship between behavior and material culture in modern as well as ancient societies (e.g., Rathje and Schiffer, 1982; Rathje, 1979).

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , Fall 1987 , pp. 237 - 259
Copyright
copyright © Social Science History Association 1987 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

A condensed version of this paper was presented at the symposium, “Economic Organization and Optimization in the Distant Past” at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association in Chicago, Illinois (November, 1985). I would like to thank Thomas J. Riley, organizer of the session, for the opportunity to participate. My understanding of the Aztec economy has benefitted from discussions with the following people: Frances Berdan, Richard Blanton, Elizabeth Brumfiel, Thomas Charlton, Susan Evans, Kenneth Hirth, Druzo Maldonado, Jeffrey Parsons and William Sanders.

References

Anderson, A. J. O., Berdan, F. and Lockhart, J. (1976) Beyond the Codices: The Nahua View of Colonial Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Berdan, F. F. (1975) Trade, Tribute and Market in the Aztec Empire. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Berdan, F. F. (1982) The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. New York: Holt, Rinehart.Google Scholar
Binford, L. (1983) Working at Archaeology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Blanton, R. E. (1972) Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Ixtapalapa Region, Mexico. Pennsylvania State University, Occasional Papers in Anthropology, no. 6.Google Scholar
Blanton, R. E., Kowalewski, S. A., Feinman, G. and Appel, J. (1981) Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Borah, W. and Cook, S. F. (1963) The Aboriginal Population of Central Mexico on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest. Ibero-Americana 45.Google Scholar
Boserup, E. (1965) The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Braudel, F. (1980) On History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, E. M. (1980) “Specialization, market exchange, and the Aztec state: A view from Huexotla.” Current Anthropology 21: 459–478.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, E. M. (1985) “The division of labor at Xico: The chipped stone industry,” in Isaac, B. L. (ed.) Economic Aspects of Prehispanic Highland Mexico, Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement no. 2. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press: 245–279.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, E. M. (1986) “Elite and utilitarian crafts in the Aztec state,” in Brumfiel, E. M. and Earle, T. K. (eds.) Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies, New York: Cambridge University Press: 102–118.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1982) Archaeology as Human Ecology: Method and Theory for a Contextual Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carrasco, P. (1976) “Estratificación social indígena en Morelos durante el siglo XVI,” in Carrasco, P. and Broda, J. (eds.) Estratificación Social en la Mesoamérica Prehispánica, Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia: 102–117.Google Scholar
Carrasco, P. (1978) “La economía de México prehispánico,” in Carrasco, P. and Broda, J. (eds.), Economía Política e Ideología en el México Prehispánico, pp- 13–74. Mexico City: Nueva Imagen.Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H. (1972) Post-Conquest Developments in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico (I, Excavations). Office of the State Archaeologist, Report no. 5 (Iowa City, Iowa).Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H. (1976) “Contemporary central Mexican ceramics: A view from the past.” Man 11: 517–525.Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H. (1981a) “Archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnology: Interpretive interfaces.” Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 4: 129–176.Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H. (1981b) “Otumba: Archaeology and Ethnohistory.” Paper presented at the 46th Annual Meeting, Society for American Archaeology (San Diego).Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H. (n.d.) “Excavations at TA-40, T1. 15,” in Sanders, W. T. (ed.) Teotihuacan Valley Project Final Report (in preparation).Google Scholar
Mendoza, Códice (1980) Mendicino, Colección de Mendoza o Códice, Troncoso, F. de Paso y (ed). Mexico City: Editorial Innovación (reprint of 1925 ed).Google Scholar
Cortés, H. (1978) Relación, Cartas de. Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa.Google Scholar
Curtin, P. D. (1984) Cross-Cultural Trade in World History. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Deetz, J. (1977) In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life. Garden City: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Earle, T. K. and Ericson, J. E. [eds.] (1977) Exchange Systems in Prehistory. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. (1980a) A Settlement System Analysis of the Teotihuacan Region, Mexico, AD 1350-1520. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. (1980b) “Spatial analysis of Basin of Mexico settlement: Problems with the use of the central place model.” American Antiquity 45: 866–875.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. (1985a) “The Cerro Gordo Site: A rural settlement of the Aztec period in the Basin of Mexico.” Journal of Field Archaeology 12: 1–18.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. (1985b) “Siguatecpan: An Aztec period rural village in the Teotihuacan Valley.” Paper presented at the 50th Annual Meeting, Society for American Archaeology (Denver).Google Scholar
Gibson, C. (1964) The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519-1810. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gould, R. A. and Schiffer, M. B. [eds.] (1981) Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Griffeth, R. and Thomas, C. G. [eds.] (1981) The City-State in Five Cultures. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio.Google Scholar
Halperin, R. H. (1982) “New and old in economic anthropology.” American Anthropologist 84: 339–349.Google Scholar
Harrison, P. D. and Turner, B. L. II [eds.] (1978) Prehistoric Maya Agriculture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Hassig, R. (1985) Trade, Tribute and Transportation: The Sixteenth Century Political Economy of the Valley of Mexico. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Healan, D. M., Kerley, J. M. and Bey, G. J. III (1983) “Excavation and preliminary analysis of an obsidian workshop in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico.” Journal of Field Archaeology 10: 127–146.Google Scholar
Hicks, F. (1984) “Rotational labor and urban development in Prehispanic Tetz-coco,” in Harvey, H. R. and Prem, H. J. (eds.) Explorations in Ethnohistory: Indians of Central Mexico in the Sixteenth Century. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press: 147–174.Google Scholar
Hirth, K. G. (1983) Proyecto Cartográfico Xochicalco: Informe Final. Report submitted to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Hirth, K. G. [ed.] (1984) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Hodge, M. (1985) Aztec City-States. University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology, Memoirs, no. 18.Google Scholar
Marquina, I. (1964) Arquitectura Prehispánica, 2nd ed. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Mason, R. D. (1980) Economic and Social Organization of an Aztec Provincial Center: Archaeologial Research at Coatlan Viejo, Morelos, Mexico. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Matos Moctezuma, E., [ed.] (1982) El Templo Mayor: Excavaciones y Estudios. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Netting, R. McC ,Wilk, R. R. and Arnould, E. J. [eds.] (1984) Households: Comparative and Historical Studies of the Domestic Group. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ortiz, S., [ed.] (1983) Economic Anthropology: Topics and Theories. Lanham MD: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Parsons, J. R. (1966) The Aztec Ceramic Sequence in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico. 2 vols. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Parsons, J. R. (1976) “The role of chinampa agriculture in the food supply of Aztec Tenochtitlan,” in Cleland, C. (ed.) Cultural Change and Continuity: Essays in Honor of James B. Griffin. New York: Academic Press: 233–257.Google Scholar
Parsons, J. R. Brumfiel, E. M., Parsons, M. H. and Wilson, D. J. (1982a) Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Southern Valley of Mexico: The Chalco-Xochimilco Region. University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology, Memoirs, no. 14.Google Scholar
Parsons, J. R. Brumfiel, E. M., Parsons, M. H., Popper, V. and Taft, M. (1982b) Late Prehispanic Chinampa Agriculture on Lake Chalco-Xochimilco, Mexico: Preliminary Report. Report submitted to the National Science Foundation.Google Scholar
Parsons, J. R. Parsons, M. H., Popper, V. and Taft, M. (1985) “Chinampa agriculture and Aztec urbanization in the Valley of Mexico,” in Farrington, I. S. (ed.) Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Tropics. British Archaeological Reports, International Series, no. 232: 49–96.Google Scholar
Plog, F. T. (1973) “Diachronic anthropology,” in Redman, C. L. (ed.) Research and Theory in Current Archaeology, pp. 181–198. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rathje, W. L. (1979) “Modern material culture studies.” Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 2: 1–37.Google Scholar
Rathje, W. L. and Schiffer, M. B. (1982) Archaeology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Sahagun, Fray B. de (1950–1969) Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain. 12 books. Anderson, A. J. O. and Dibble, C. E. (trans, and eds.). Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and University of Utah.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. (1965) The Cultural Ecology of the Teotihuacan Valley: Preliminary Report of the Results of the Teotihuacan Valley Project. Unpublished report, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. (1970) “The population of the Teotihuacan Valley, the Basin of Mexico and the central Mexican symbiotic region in the 16th century,” in Sanders, W. T. (ed.) The Teotihuacan Valley Project Final Report, vol. 1. Pennsylvania State University, Occasional Papers in Anthropology, no. 3: 385–457.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. Parsons, J. R. and Santley, R. S. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smith, C. A. (1976) “Regional economic systems: Linking geographical models and socioeconomic problems,” in Smith, C. A. (ed.) Regional Analysis, vol. 1 (Economic Systems). New York: Academic Press: 3–63.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. (1979) “The Aztec marketing system and settlement pattern in the Valley of Mexico: A central place analysis.” American Antiquity 44: 110–125.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. (1986) “The role of social stratification in the Aztec empire: A view from the provinces.” American Anthropologist 88: 70–91.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. (1987a) “The expansion of the Aztec empire: A case study in the correlation of diachronic archaeological and ethnohistorical data.” American Antiquity 52: 37–54.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. (1987b) “Household possessions and wealth in agrarian states: Implica tions for archaeology.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6 (in press).Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. (n.d.) Household Archaeology at Three Late Postclassic Sites in Morelos, Mexico: Preliminary Report. Report in preparation.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. Sorensen, J. H. and Hopke, P. K. (1984) “Obsidian exchange in Postclassic central Mexico: New data from Morelos.” Paper presented at the 1984 International Symposium on Archaeometry (Washington, DC).Google Scholar
Spence, M. W. (1985) “Specialized production in rural Aztec society: Obsidian workshops of the Teotihuacan Valley,” in Folan, William J. (ed.) Contributions to the Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Greater Mesoamerica. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press: 76–125.Google Scholar
Vaillant, G. C. (1962) Aztecs of Mexico, revised ed. Baltimore: Penguin.Google Scholar
Wilk, R. R. and Rathje, W. L. [eds.] (1982) Archaeology of the Household: Building a Prehistory of Domestic Life. American Behavioral Scientist 25, no. 6.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R. and Sabloff, J. A. (1980) A History of American Archaeology, 2nd ed. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, R. N. (1982) “Toward a more comprehensive model of interregional commodity distribution: Political variables and prehistoric obsidian procurement in Mesoamerica.” American Antiquity 47: 260–275.Google Scholar