Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-05T02:44:20.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Excavations of Aztec Urban Houses at Yautepec, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael E. Smith ,
Cynthia Heath-Smith  and
Lisa Montiel
Michael E. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222.
Cynthia Heath-Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222.
Lisa Montiel
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Our recent excavations at the site of Yautepec in the Mexican state of Morelos have uncovered a large set of residential structures from an Aztec city. We excavated seven houses with associated middens, as well as several middens without architecture. In this paper, we briefly review the excavations, describe each house, and summarize the nature of construction materials and methods employed. We compare the Yautepec houses with other known Aztec houses and make some preliminary inferences on the relationship between house size and wealth at the site.

Resumen

Resumen>

En nuestras excavaciones recientes en el sitio de Yautepec en el estado mexicano de Morelos, encontramos un grupo grande de casas habitacionales en una ciudad azteca. Excavamos siete casas con sus basureros, tanto como otros basureros sin arquitectura. En este artículo revisamos las excavaciones, decribimos cada casa y discutimos los patrones de materiales y métodos de construcción. Hacemos comparaciones entre las casas de Yautepec y otras casas aztecas, y presentamos algunas conclusiones preliminares sobre la relación entre el tamaño de las casas y la riqueza.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 1999 , pp. 133 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1999

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.)

References

References Cited

Abrams, E. M. 1994 How the Maya Built Their World: Energetics and Ancient Architecture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Acuña, R. (editor) 1984–1987 Relaciones geográficas del siglo XVI. 9 vols. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Berdan, F. F., and Anawalt, P. R. (editors) 1992 The Codex Mendoza. 4 vols. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Berdan, F. F., Blanton, R. E., Boone, E. H., Hodge, M. G., Smith, M. E., and Umberger, E. 1996 Aztec Imperial Strategies. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Blanton, R. E. 1972 Prehistoric Settlement Patterns of the Ixtapalapa Region, Mexico. Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 6. Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.Google Scholar
Blanton, R. E. 1994 Houses and Households: A Comparative Study. Plenum, New York.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, E. M. 1996 Figurines and the Aztec State: Testing the Effectiveness of Ideological Domination. In Gender and Archaeology, edited by R. P. Wright, pp. 143–166. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Calnek, E. 1974 Conjunto urbana y modelo residencial en Tenochtidan. In Ensayos sobre el desarollo urbano de México, edited by W. Borah, pp. 11–65. Secretaría de Educatión Pública, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Cascio (Montiel), L. M., Hare, T. S., and Smith, M. E. 1995 Archaeological Survey of the Yautepec Valley, Morelos, Mexico. Paper presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H. 1972 Post-Conquest Developments in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico: Part I, Excavations. Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Charlton, T. H., Nichols, D. L., and Otis Charlton, C. 1991 Aztec Craft Production and Specialization: Archaeological Evidence from the City-State of Otumba, Mexico. World Archaeology 23:98–114.Google Scholar
Cline, S. L. 1986 Colonial Culhuacan, 1580–1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Cline, S. L. 1993 The Book of Tributes: Early Sixteenth-Century Nahuatl Censuses from Morelos. UCLA Latin American Center, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
de Vega Nova, H. 1996 Proyecto de investigación arqueológico en Yautepec, Morelos. In Memoria, III Congreso Interno del Centro INAH Morelos, Acapantzingo, Cuernavaca, 1994, pp. 149–168. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Centro INAH Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos.Google Scholar
de Vega Nova, H., and Mayer Guala, P. 1991 Proyecto Yautepec. Boletín del Consejo de Arqueología 1991:79–84.Google Scholar
Durán, Fray D. 1967 Historia de las Indias de Nueva España. Translated by A. M. Garibay K. 2 vols. Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Elson, C.M. 1999 An Aztec Palace at Chiconautla, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 10:151–167.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. 1988 Excavations at Cihuatecpan, an Aztec Village in the Teotihuacan Valley. Publications in Anthropology No. 36. Vanderbilt University, Nashville.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. 1991 Architecture and Authority in an Aztec Village: Form and Function of the Tecpan. In Land and Politics in the Valley of Mexico, edited by H. R. Harvey, pp. 63–92. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Evans, S. T. 1993 Aztec Household Organization and Village Administration. In Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household, Compound, and Residence, edited by R. S. Santley and K. G. Hirth, pp. 173–189. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Hare, T. S. 1998 Changing Political Boundaries in the Periphery of the Aztec Empire. Paper presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Seattle.Google Scholar
Hare, T. S., and Smith, M. E. 1996 A New Postclassic Chronology for Yautepec, Morelos. Ancient Mesoamerica 7:281–297.Google Scholar
Hinz, E., Hartau, C., and Heimann-Koenen, M. 1983 Aztekischer Zensus: Zur lndianischen Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im Marquesado urn 1540. Verlag fur Ethnologie, Hanover.Google Scholar
Maldonado Jiménez, D. 1990 Cuauhnahuac y Huaxtepec: Tlalhuicas y Xochimilcas en el Morelos Prehispánico. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca.Google Scholar
Montiel, L. 1998 On the Border of the Teotihuacan Empire: Archaeological Investigations in the Yautepec Valley. Paper presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Seattle.Google Scholar
Otis Charlton, C, Charlton, T. H., and Nichols, D. L. 1993 Aztec Household-Based Craft Production: Archaeological Evidence from the City-state of Otumba, Mexico. In Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household, Compound, and Residence, edited by R. S. Santley and K. G. Hirth, pp. 147–171. CRC Press. Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Rosas Sánchez, F. 1996 Excavación de la unidad 512—Proyecto Yautepec. In Memoria, III Congreso Interno del Centro INAH Morelos, Acapantzingo, Cuernavaca, 1994, pp. 169–180. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Centro INAH Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray B. de 1950–1982 Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain. 12 books. Translated and edited by A. J. O. Anderson and C. E. Dibble. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and the University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Santley, R. S., and Hirth, K. G. (editors) 1993 Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household. Compound, and Residence. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. 1992 Archaeological Research at Aztec-Period Rural Sites in Morelos, Mexico. Volume 1, Excavations and Architecture/lnvestigaciones arqueológica.s en sitios rurales de la época azteca en morelos, tomo 1, excavaciones y arquitectura. Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology No. 4. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. 1993 Houses and the Settlement Hierarchy in Late Postclassic Morelos: A Comparison of Archaeology and Ethnohistory. In Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household, Compound, and Residence, edited by R. S. Santley and K. G. Hirth, pp. 191–206. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. 1994 Economies and Polities in Aztec-Period Morelos: Ethnohistoric Introduction. In Economies and Polities in the Aztec Realm, edited by M. G. Hodge and M. E. Smith, pp. 313–348. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, Albany.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. 1996 The Aztecs. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E. 1997 Working Together: Archaeology in the Middle of Political Conflict in Yautepec, Mexico. SAA Bulletin 15(4): 12–14. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E., and Berdan, F. F. 1992 Archaeology and the Aztec Empire. World Archaeology 23:353–367.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E., and Heath-Smith, C. 1994 Rural Economy in Late Postclassic Morelos: An Archaeological Study. In Economies and Polities in the Aztec Realm, edited by M. G. Hodge and M. E. Smith, pp. 349–376. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, Albany.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E., Heath-Smith, C.. Kohler, R., Odess, J., Spanogle, S., and Sullivan, T. 1994 The Size of the Aztec City of Yautepec: Urban Survey in Central Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 5:1–11.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E., Sterpone, O., and Heath-Smith, C. 1992 Modern Adobe Houses in Tetlama, Morelos. In Archaeological Research at Aztec-Period Rural Sites in Morelos, Mexico, Part I: Excavations and Architecture, edited by M. E. Smith, pp. 405–418. Monographs in Latin American Archaeology No. 4. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar