Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T17:48:09.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A New Bayesian Chronology for Postclassic and Colonial Occupation at Xaltocan, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Lisa Overholtzer*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount St., Wichita, KS 67260, USA. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This article proposes a new four-phase chronology for Postclassic and colonial occupation at Xaltocan, Mexico, using Bayesian statistical modeling of a suite of 54 radiometric dates. Of these, 46 samples come from recent extensive excavations of sealed, stratified household deposits, facilitating improved understanding of sample context and resulting in a more accurate chronology. The timing of the adoption of major ceramic wares at the site and intrasite level is outlined and contextualized within broad, regional phases. These results are particularly valuable given recent research that repudiates a uniform chronological framework for the Basin of Mexico in the Postclassic period, and indicates instead a significant amount of chronological overlap and regional variation in the use of distinct ceramic types.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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

Bayliss, A, Bronk Ramsey, C, McCormac, FG. 1997. Dating Stonehenge. Proceedings of the British Academy 92:3959.Google Scholar
Beramendi-Orosco, LE, Gonzalez-Hernandez, G, Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J, Manzanilla, LR, Soler-Arechalde, AM, Goguitchaishvili, A, Jarboe, N. 2009. High-resolution chronology for the Mesoamerican urban center of Teotihuacan derived from Bayesian statistics of radiocarbon and archaeological data. Quaternary Research 71(2):99107.Google Scholar
Blanton, RE, Parsons, JR. 1971. Appendix I: ceramic markers used for period designations. In: Parsons, JR, editor. Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Texcoco Region. Ann Arbor: Memoirs No. 3 Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. p 255313.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009a. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–60.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009b. Dealing with outliers and offsets in radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 51(3):1023–45.Google Scholar
Brown, T, Nelson, D, Vogel, J, Southon, JR. 1988. Improved collagen extraction by modified Longin method. Radiocarbon 30(2):171–7.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, EM. 2005a. Ceramic chronology at Xaltocan. In: Production and Power at Postclassic Xaltocan. Mexico City and Pittsburgh: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and University of Pittsburgh. p 117–52.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, EM. 2005b. Production and Power at Postclassic Xaltocan. Mexico City and Pittsburgh: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, EM. 2009. Estrategias de las Unidades Domésticas en Xaltocan Posclásico, México. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Buck, CE, Cavanaugh, WG, Litton, CD. 1996. Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Buck, CE, Christen, JA, James, GN. 1999. BCal: an online Bayesian radiocarbon calibration tool. Internet Archaeology 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.l1141/ia.7.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charlton, TH. 1966. Aztec Ceramics: The Early Colonial Period. Mexico City: Departmento de Monumentos Prehispánicos.Google Scholar
Charlton, TH. 1968. Post-conquest Aztec ceramics: implications for archaeological interpretation. Florida Anthropologist 21(4):96101.Google Scholar
Charlton, TH. 1972. Post-Conquest developments in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico, part 1: excavations. Iowa City: Report No. 5, Office of the State Archaeologist.Google Scholar
De Lucia, K. 2011. Domestic economies and regional transition: household production and consumption in Early Postclassic Mexico [PhD dissertation]. Evanston: Northwestern University.Google Scholar
De Lucia, K. 2013. Domestic economies and regional transition: household multicrafting and lake exploitation in pre-Aztec central Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(4):353–67.Google Scholar
Evans, ST, Freter, A. 1996. Teotihuacan Valley Mexico, Postclassic chronology. Ancient Mesoamerica 7(2):267–80.Google Scholar
Franco, JL. 1945. Comentarios sobre tipología e filogenía de la decoración negra sobre color natural del barro en la cerámica ‘Azteca II.’ Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos 7:163–86.Google Scholar
Franco, JL. 1949. Algunos problemas relativos a la ceramica azteca. Mexico Antiguo VII:162208.Google Scholar
Franco, JL. 1957. Motivos Decorativos en la Cerámica Azteca. Mexico City: Museo Nacional de Antropología, Serie Científica No. 5.Google Scholar
Friedrich, WL, Kromer, B, Friedrich, M, Heinemeier, J, Pfeiffer, T, Talamo, S. 2006. Santorini eruption radiocarbon dated to 1627–1600 B.C. Science 312(5773):548–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffin, JB, Espejo, A. 1947. La alfarería correspondiente al último periodo de ocupación Nahua del Valle de México, I. Tlatelolco a Troves de los Tiempos 6:320.Google Scholar
Griffin, JB, Espejo, A. 1950. La alfarería correspondiente al ultimo periodo de ocupación Nahua del Valle de México, II. Tlatelolco a Traves de los Tiempos 9:354.Google Scholar
Hare, T, Smith, ME. 1996. A new Postclassic chronology for Yautepec, Morelos. Ancient Mesoamerica 7(2):281–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodge, M. 1998. Archaeological views of Aztec culture. Journal of Archaeological Research 6(3):197238.Google Scholar
Lu, X, Guo, Z, Ma, H, Yuan, S, Wu, X. 2001. Data analysis and calibration of radiocarbon dating results from the cemetery of the Marquises of Jin. Radiocarbon 43(1):5562.Google Scholar
Manning, SW, Bronk Ramsey, C, Kutschera, W, Higham, T, Kromer, B, Steier, P, Wild, EM. 2006. Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700–1400 B.C. Science 312(5773):565–9.Google Scholar
Nichols, DL, Charlton, TH. 1996. Postclassic occupation at Otumba: a chronological assessment. Ancient Mesoamerica 7(2):231–44.Google Scholar
O'Neill, G. 1962. Postclassic Ceramic Stratigraphy at Chalco in the Valley of Mexico. New York: Columbia University.Google Scholar
Overholtzer, L. 2012. Empires and everyday material practices: a household archaeology of Aztec and Spanish imperialism at Xaltocan, Mexico [PhD thesis]. Evanston: Northwestern University.Google Scholar
Overholtzer, L. 2013. Archaeological interpretation and the rewriting of history: deimperializing and decolonizing the past at Xaltocan. American Anthropologist 115(3):481–95.Google Scholar
Overholtzer, L, De Lucia, K. Forthcoming. A multiscalar approach to early Aztec social change in Postclassic central Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica.Google Scholar
Parsons, JR. 1966. The Aztec Ceramic Sequence in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Parsons, JR, Brumfiel, E, Hodge, M. 1996. Developmental implications of earlier dates for early Aztec in the Basin of Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 7(2):217–30.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111–50.Google Scholar
Sanders, WT, Parsons, JR, Santley, RS. 1979. The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. New York City: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sejourne, L. 1970. Arqueología del valle de México. 1 Culhuacan. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Smith, ME. 1987. The expansion of the Aztec Empire: a case study in the correlation of diachronic archaeological and ethnohistorical data. American Antiquity 52(1):3754.Google Scholar
Smith, ME, Doershuk, JF. 1991. Late Postclassic chronology in western Morelos, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 2(4):291310.Google Scholar
Smith, ME, Borejsza, A, Huster, A, Frederick, CD, Rodríguez López, I, Heath-Smith, C. 2013. Aztec period houses and terraces at Calixtlahuaca: the changing morphology of a Mesoamerican hilltop urban center. Journal of Field Archaeology 38(3):227–43.Google Scholar
Tolstoy, P. 1958. Surface survey of the northern Valley of Mexico: the Classic and Postclassic periods. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 48(5):1101.Google Scholar
Vaillant, GC. 1938. A correlation of archaeological and historical sequences in the Valley of Mexico. American Anthropologist 40(4):535–73.Google Scholar
Whalen, ME, Parsons, JR. 1982. Appendix 1: ceramic markers used for period designations. In: Parsons, JR, Brumfiel, E, Parsons, MH, Wilson, DJ, editors. Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Southern Valley of Mexico: The Chalco Xochimilco Region. Ann Arbor: Memoirs No. 14 Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. p 385459.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Overholtzer. Supplementary material 1

Download Overholtzer. Supplementary material 1(File)
File 38.4 KB
Supplementary material: File

Overholtzer. Supplementary material 2

Download Overholtzer. Supplementary material 2(File)
File 25.2 KB