Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-26T13:23:08.059Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MEASURING THE LONG ARM OF THE STATE: TEOTIHUACAN'S RELATIONS IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2013

Sarah C. Clayton
Sarah C. Clayton*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 1180 Observatory Drive, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
*
E-mail correspondence to: sclayton@wisc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The city of Teotihuacan has long been viewed as a primate center, dominating surrounding settlements in the Basin of Mexico politically and economically, but its specific relationships with subordinate polities are not well understood. In this article I consider the diverse roles that two rural settlements played in the intraregional structure of the Teotihuacan state. Specifically, I investigate differences in architecture and ceramic assemblages at Axotlan, in the Cuauhtitlan region to the west, and Cerro Portezuelo, in the Texcoco region to the south. Results of this research demonstrate that Teotihuacan's relationships with smaller settlements in the Basin of Mexico differed considerably in intensity and changed through time. This variation reflects specific administrative and economic strategies crafted by the state as well as varying degrees of political and economic autonomy among rural settlements.

Type
Special Section: Recent Research at Cerro Portezuelo
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , Spring 2013 , pp. 87 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Berdan, Frances F., Blanton, Richard E., Boone, Elizabeth Hill, Hodge, Mary G., Smith, Michael E., and Umberger, Emily 1996 Aztec Imperial Strategies. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L., and Neff, Hector 1989 Compositional Data Analysis in Archaeology. In Archaeological Chemistry IV, edited by Allen, Ralph O., pp. 57–86. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L., Rands, Robert L., and Holley, George R. 1982 Ceramic Compositional Analysis in Archaeological Perspective. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, edited by Schiffer, Michael B., pp. 275–330. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blucher, Darlena 1971 Late Preclassic Cultures in the Valley of Mexico: Pre-Urban Teotihuacan. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.Google Scholar
Borah, Woodrow, and Cook, Sherburne F. 1963 The Aboriginal Population of Mexico on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest. University of California Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Branstetter-Hardesty, Barbara 1978 Ceramics of Cerro Portezuelo, Mexico: An Industry in Transition. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
Braswell, Geoffrey E. (editor) 2003 The Maya and Teotihuacan. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Cabrera Cortés, M. Oralia 2011 Craft Production and Socio-Economic Marginality: Living on the Periphery of Urban Teotihuacan. Ph.D. dissertation, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Carballo, David M. 2007 Effigy Vessels, Religious Integration, and the Origins of the Central Mexican Pantheon. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:53–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charlton, Thomas H. 1987 Teotihuacan Non-Urban Settlements: Functional and Evolutionary Implications. In Teotihuacan: Nuevos datos, nuevas síntesis, nuevos problemas, edited by Tapia, Emily McClung de and Rattray, Evelyn C., pp. 473–488. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Charlton, Thomas H. 1991 The Influence and Legacy of Teotihuacan on Regional Routes and Urban Planning. In Ancient Road Networks and Settlement Hierarchies in the New World, edited by Trombold, Charles D., pp. 186–197. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Charlton, Thomas H. 2000 Urban Influences at Rural Sites: Teotihuacan and its Near Hinterlands. Report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI). Electronic document, www.famsi.org/reports/97025/97025Charlton01.pdfGoogle Scholar
Clayton, Sarah C. 2005 Interregional Relationships in Mesoamerica: Interpreting Maya Ceramics at Teotihuacan. Latin American Antiquity 16:427–448.Google Scholar
Clayton, Sarah C. 2009 Ritual Diversity and Social Identities: A Study of Mortuary Behaviors at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Ph.D. dissertation, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Clayton, Sarah C. 2011 Gender and Mortuary Ritual at Ancient Teotihuacan, Mexico: A Study of Intrasocietal Diversity. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21:31–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, Geoffrey W., and Demarest, Arthur A. 1984 Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 1997 State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of Anthropology 26:129–161.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 2003 Teotihuacan: Cosmic Glories and Mundane Needs. In The Social Construction of Ancient Cities, edited by Smith, Monica L., pp. 37–55, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 2004 Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:525–549.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 2008 Teotihuacan as an Urban Place. In EI Urbanismo en Mesoamerica/Urbanism in Mesoamerica, Vol. 2, edited by Cobean, Robert H., Mastache, Alba Guadalupe, Cook, Ángel García, and Hirth, Kenneth G., pp. 85–112. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Pennsylvania State University, Mexico City and University Park.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L., Altschul, Jeffrey H., and Sload, Rebecca S. 1984 Spatial Analysis of Teotihuacan: A Mesoamerican Metropolis. In Intrasite Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, edited by Hietala, Harold J.. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Crider, Destiny 2013 Shifting Alliances: Epiclassic and Early Postclassic Interactions at Cerro Portezuelo. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:107–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietler, Michael, and Herbich, Ingrid 1998 Habitus, Techniques, Style: An Integrated Approach to the Social Understanding of Material Culture and Boundaries. In The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, edited by Stark, Miriam T., pp. 233–263. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Drewitt, Bruce 1987 Measurement Units and Building Axes at Teotihuacan. In Teotihuacan: Nuevos datos, nuevas síntesis, nuevos problemas, edited by Tapia, Emily McClung de and Rattray, Evelyn C., pp. 389–398. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Falconer, Steven E. 1994 Village Economy and Society in the Jordan Valley: A Study of Bronze Age Rural Complexity. In Archaeological Views from the Countryside: Village Communities in Early Complex Societies, edited by Schwartz, Glenn M. and Falconer, Steven E., pp. 121–142. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
García Chávez, Raúl 1991 Desarrollo cultural en Azcapotzalco y el area suroccidental de la Cuenca de México, desde el preclásico medio hasta el epiclásico. Tésis de Licentiatura, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
García Chávez, Raúl, Cabezas, Luis Manuel Gamboa, and Vélez Saldaña, Nadia V. 2004 Informe final de las actividades realizadas en el Predio de San Ignacio y La Loma, del poblado de Axotlan, Municipio de Cuautitlan Izcalli, Estado de Mexico. Unpublished manuscript on file at the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
García Chávez, Raúl, Cabezas, Luis Manuel Gamboa, and Vélez Saldaña, Nadia V. 2005 Excavaciones recientes en un sitio de la fase Tlamimilolpa en Cuautitlan, Izcalli, Estado de México. In Arquitectura y urbanismo: Pasado y presente de los espacios en Teotihuacan. Memoria de la tercera mesa redonda de Teotihuacan, edited by Gallut, Maria Elena Ruiz and Peralta, Jesus Torres, pp. 487–506. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
García Cook, Angél 1981 The Historical Importance of Tlaxcala in the Cultural Development of the Central Highlands. In Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. 244–276. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 1, Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. general editor, University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Gibson, Charles 1964 The Aztecs under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519–1810. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Gómez Chávez, Sergio 2000 La Ventilla: Un barrio de la antigua ciudad de Teotihuacan. Tésis de Licentiatura, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Gorenflo, Larry J. 2006 The Evolution of Regional Demography and Settlement in the Prehispanic Basin of Mexico. In Urbanism in the Preindustrial World: Cross-cultural Approaches, edited by Storey, Glenn R., pp. 295–314. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Hicks, Frederic 2005 Excavations at Cerro Portezuelo, Basin of Mexico. Unpublished manuscript on file, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Hicks, Frederic 2013 The Architectural Features of Cerro Portezuelo. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:73–85.Google Scholar
Ma, Marina 2003 Examining Prehispanic Ceramic Exchange in the Basin of Mexico: A Chemical Source Analysis from Azcapotzalco. Undergraduate honors thesis, Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.Google Scholar
McBride, Harold W. 1974 Formative Ceramics and Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Cuautitlan Region, Mexico. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Manzanilla, Linda 2002 Houses and Ancestors, Altars and Relics: Mortuary Patterns at Teotihuacan, Central Mexico. In The Space and Place of Death, edited by Silverman, Helaine and Small, David B., pp. 55–65. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Arlington, VA.Google Scholar
Mayer-Oakes, William J. 1960 A Developmental Concept of Pre-Spanish Urbanization in the Valley of Mexico. Middle American Research Records 18(8):165–175.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1973 The Teotihuacan Map. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1988 The Last Years of Teotihuacan Dominance. In The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations, edited by Yoffee, Norman and Cowgill, George L., pp. 102–164. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Montoya, Janet 2008 Changing Faces of Cerro Portezuelo. Paper presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Múnera Bermúdez, Luis Carlos 1985 Un taller de cerámica ritual en la Ciudadela, Teotihuacan. Tésis de Licentiatura, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector 2002 Quantitative Techniques for Analyzing Ceramic Compositional Data. In Ceramic Production and Circulation in the Greater Southwest, edited by Neff, Hector and Glowacki, Donna, pp. 15–35. University of California Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Nichols, Deborah L. 1980 Prehispanic Settlement and Land Use in the Northwestern Basin of Mexico, the Cuautitlan Region. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.Google Scholar
Nichols, Deborah L., Neff, Hector, and Cowgill, George L. 2013 Cerro Portezuelo: States and Hinterlands in the Pre-Hispanic Basin of Mexico. Ancient Mesomerica 24:47–71.Google Scholar
Novotny, Anna C., and Clayton, Sarah C. 2007 The Teotihuacan Social Identity Project: Biodistance. Paper presented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.Google Scholar
Ohnersorgen, Michael A. 2006 Aztec Provincial Administration at Cuetlaxtlan, Veracruz. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25:1–32.Google Scholar
Parsons, Jeffrey R. 1971 Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Texcoco Region, Mexico. Memoirs No. 3. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Parsons, Jeffrey R. 2010 The Pastoral Niche in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. In Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Staller, John E. and Carrasco, Michael, pp. 109–136. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Rattray, Evelyn Childs 2001 Teotihuacan: Ceramics, Chronology, and Cultural Trends. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, and University of Pittsburgh, Mexico City and Pittsburgh, PA.Google Scholar
Robertson, Ian G. 2008 ‘Insubstantial’ Residential Structures at Teotihuacan, México. Report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI). Electronic document, www.famsi.org/reports/06103/06103Robertson01.pdfGoogle Scholar
Sackett, James R. 1977 The Meaning of Style: A General Model. American Antiquity 42:369–380.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1961 Review of Mayer-Oakes (1960). American Antiquity 27:259–260.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1981 Ecological Adaptation in the Basin of Mexico: 23,000 b.c. to the Present. In Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. 147–197. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 1, Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. general editor,. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Gorenflo, Larry J. 2007 Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Cuautitlan Region, Mexico. Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 29. Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., Parsons, Jeffrey R., and Logan, Michael H. 1976 Summary and Conclusions. In The Valley of Mexico: Studies in Pre-Hispanic Ecology and Society, edited by Wolf, Eric R., pp. 161–178. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., Parsons, Jeffrey R., and Santley, Robert S. 1979 The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Santley, Robert S. 1983 A Tale of Three Cities: Energetics and Urbanization in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico. In Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Vogt, Evon Z. and Leventhal, Richard M., pp. 243–291. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Schreiber, Katharina J. 1992 Wari Imperialism in Middle Horizon Peru. Anthropological Papers No. 87. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, James C. 1998 Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Soja, Edward W. 2000 Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions. Blackwell Publishers, Malden, MA.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael W. 1974 Residential Practices and the Distribution of Skeletal Traits in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Man (N.S.) 9:262–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanish, Charles 1997 Nonmarket Imperialism in the Prehispanic Americas: The Inka Occupation of the Titicaca Basin. Latin American Antiquity 8:195–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuart, David 2000 “The Arrival of Strangers”: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History. In Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited by Jones, Lindsay, Carrasco, David and Sessions, Scott, pp. 465–513. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Kristin S. 2006 Specialized Production of San Martin Orange Ware at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 17:23–53.Google Scholar
Widmer, Randolph J., and Storey, Rebecca 1993 Social Organization and Household Structure of a Teotihuacan Apartment Compound: S3W1:33 of the Tlajinga Barrio. In Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household, Compound, and Residence, edited by Santley, Robert S. and Hirth, Kenneth G., pp. 87–104. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Yoffee, Norman 1995 Political Economy in Early Mesopotamian States. Annual Review of Anthropology 24:281–311.Google Scholar