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An Aztec Palace at Chiconautla, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christina M. Elson
Christina M. Elson*
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, 1109 Geddes Ave., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-1079.
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Abstract

The results of George Vaillant's 1935 excavation at the Postclassic site of Chiconautla are presented. Vaillant suggested that the structure he excavated. Casas Reales, was the palace of an elite family. My analysis of the architecture and associated artifacts supports his proposition. The Postclassic (A. D. 1150-1520) artifacts from the palace provide evidence that the elites at Casas Reales engaged in household rituals, obsidian working, and cotton-cloth production. This analysis contributes to a better understanding of elite behavior in the Basin of Mexico and enables us to evaluate the degree of fit between archaeological and ethnohistoric data.

Resumen

Resumen>

Se presentan los resultados de la excavación hecha en 1935 por George Vaillant en el sitio Postclásico de Chiconautla, México. Vaillant propuso que el edificio que había excavado, Casas Reales, era un palacio de una familia de élite y mi análisis de la arquitectura y los elementos culturales apoya su propuesta. Durante la época Postclásica (d. C. 1150-1520), las élites de Casas Reales participaron en actividades rituales y ceremoniales y invirtieron su tiempo en la producción de obsidiana y tela de algodón. El tecpan provee datos hacia un mayor entendimiento del comportamiento de las élites en la Cuenca de México y sirve como una evaluación arqueológica de fuentes etnohistóricas.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 1999 , pp. 151 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1999

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