Los juegos de pelota en el Altiplano Central de México

The following represents a pre-press draft submitted in English and subsequently translated to Spanish.Los juegos de pelota más antiguos de Mesoamérica se encuentran en las Tierras Bajas; sin embargo, los habitantes del Altiplano Central adoptaron y construyeron canchas formales desde principios del Preclásico Medio. En periodos posteriores, el predominio de canchas varió según el sitio, los contactos regionales y las tendencias sociopolíticas más generales. Las canchas de juegos de pelota fueron particularmente numerosas en Puebla y Tlaxcala hacia finales del periodo Preclásico, y abundantes durante el Epiclásico en todo el Altiplano Central de México. Las mejores descripciones de cómo se jugó pelota en toda Mesoamérica durante los tiempos prehispánicos provienen de documentos del siglo xvi, del Altiplano; incluso el juego fue llevado a España por Cortés.Although the earliest ball-courts appear in the Mesoamerican lowlands, the inhabitants of the central highlands eagerly adopted and elaborated formal courts beginning during the Middle Preclassic period. In subsequent periods, the prevalence of ball-courts varied by site, regional contacts and broader sociopolitical forces. Courts were particularly numerous in Puebla-Tlaxcala during the later Preclassic period and throughout cent ral Mexico during the Epiclassic period. Sixteenth century documents from the Altiplano provide the best descriptions concerning how prehispanic games throughout Mesoamerica were played, even having been exported to Spain by Cortés (Figure 1)

Lithic economies and community organization at La Laguna, Tlaxcala

Site-wide, assemblage-based lithic analyses help to elucidate community dynamics including variability in domestic economies, technological skill and decision making, exchange networks, and ritual practices. In this study we present the results of an analysis of over 36,000 lithic artifacts from the site of La Laguna, Tlaxcala. We compare Middle to Late Formative period (ca. 600–400 b.c.) and Terminal Formative period (ca. 100 b.c.–a.d. 150) deposits to examine transformations associated with urbanization and state formation during this interval. The residents of La Laguna had relatively equal and ample access to obsidian, and most production was organized independently by households. We identify blade production zones and variability in consumption patterns suggestive of different domestic, communal, and ceremonial activities. The introduction of bloodletters, elaborate large bifacial knives, and zoomorphic eccentrics to the Terminal Formative assemblage may indicate the emergence of higher statuses, new social roles, and militaristic symbolism during this period

Aztec obsidian industries

Obsidian was the primary lithic or stone material used for cutting activities in Aztec society, including domestic food production, craft production, hunting, warfare, and ritual. The demands of millions of consumers within and outside of the Aztec Empire shaped a diversity of industries and distribution networks that operated through merchants, markets, and state taxes in goods and labor. This chapter provides an overview of the primary obsidian sources, quarry activities, artifact types, use contexts, and innovations in lithic technology during the Aztec (Middle and Late Postclassic) period. A particular focus is the Sierra de Las Navajas (or Pachuca) mine and the detailed history of quarrying and manufacturing activities that have been documented there

Bridging prehistory and history in the archaeology of cities

Archaeology is ideally suited for examining the deep roots of urbanism, its materialization and physicality, and the commonalities and variability in urban experiences cross-culturally and temporally. We propose that the significant advances archaeologists have made in situating the discipline within broader urban studies could be furthered through increased dialog between scholars working on urbanism during prehistoric and historical periods, as a means of bridging concerns in the study of the past and present. We review some major themes in urban studies by presenting archaeological cases from two areas of the Americas: central Mexico and Atlantic North America. Our cases span premodern and early modern periods, and three of the four covered in greatest depth live on as cities of today. Comparison of the cases highlights the complementarity of their primary datasets: the long developmental trajectories and relatively intact urban plans offered by many prehistoric cities, and the rich documentary sources offered by historic cities

La casa en Mesoamerica

Tanto en la Mesoamérica prehispánica como en los pueblos indígenas actuales, las familias se definen por medio de sus casas físicas –animadas por rituales de consagración y comunión. Se definen también por sus actividades laborales dentro del grupo doméstico y por las relaciones cooperativas y comunitarias entre tales grupos. Por lo tanto, la arqueología de la casa y de la vida cotidiana ayuda a comprender la variabilidad entre familias e individuos respecto a su género, edad, subsistencia, ocupación, estatus, redes sociales y creencias fundamentales, en fin, la base de la sociedad y de la historia. Los pueblos prehispánicos de Mesoamérica se organizaron en una amplia gama de unidades domésticas; los textos que conforman esta edición proporcionan una visión actualizada de la casa y la cotidianidad mesoamericana

Del preclásico al epiclásico en Tlaxcala

En los dos milenios que abarcan los periodos Preclásico (o Formativo), Clásico y Epiclásico en Tlaxcala (1600 a.C.-900 d.C.) se dieron significativos desarrollos que incluyen la transición a la agricultura, la formalización de tradiciones religiosas, la urbanización, el auge y el colapso de estados, y la migración. Visto desde la perspectiva de Tlaxcala, ese periodo incluyó el florecimiento de centros regionales durante el Preclásico, un estancamiento durante el Clásico y un segundo florecimiento durante el Epiclásico

Governance strategies in precolonial central Mexico

Among the Indigenous polities of precolonial Mesoamerica, the Aztec empire, headed by a confederation of three city-states, was the largest recorded and remains the best understood, due to its chronicling in Spanish and Nahuatl texts following the Spanish-Aztec war and colonial transformation to New Spain. Yet its political organization is routinely mischaracterized in popular media, and lesser-known contemporaries and predecessors in central Mexico exhibit variability in governing strategies over time and space of interest to comparatively oriented scholars of premodern polities. Common themes in governance tended to draw from certain socio-technological realities and shared ontologies of religion and governing ideologies. Points of divergence can be seen in the particular entanglements between political economies and the settings and scales of collective action. In this paper, I review how governance varied synchronically and diachronically in central Mexico across these axes, and especially in relation to resource dilemmas, fiscal financing, the relative strength of corporate groups versus patron-client networks, and how rulership was legitimated.Published versio

El desarrollo de la sociedad urbana en el Altiplano Central mexicano durante el Formativo y la transición al Clásico

During the two millennia designated the Formative period (1500 BC – AD 100) and the Classic period (AD 100–650), societies of the central Mexican highlands undertook many of the key transformations typically associated with premodern social complexity. These include the transition to agricultural and sedentary lifeways; the creation of urban centers with monumental architecture; the diversification of economic production, intensification of exchange networks, differentiation of status, and heightened social inequality; and the formalization of depictions of gods, symbols, and sacred spaces of a religious system that was widely shared and long lasting. This summary of the period focuses on such transitions, especially during the interval of ca. 600 BC – AD 250, covering the periods designated in central Mexico as the end of the Middle Formative, the Late Formative, the Terminal Formative, and the beginning of the Early Classic.Durante los dos milenios denominados periodos Formativo (1500 a.C.-100 d.C.) y Clásico (100-650 d.C.), las sociedades del Altiplano Central mexicano realizaron muchos de los cambios claves típicamente asociados con la complejidad social pre-moderna. Estos incluyen la transición a una vida agrícola y sedentaria, la creación de centros urbanos con arquitectura monumental, diversificación de la producción, intensificación de redes de intercambio, diferenciación de estatus y desigualdad social; así como la apariencia de dioses, símbolos y espacios sagrados de un sistema religioso compartido y de larga duración. Este resumen se enfoca en tales transiciones, sobre todo durante el intervalo aproximado comprendido entre el 600 a.C. y 250 d.C., que cubre los períodos designados como finales del Formativo Medio, Formativo Tardío, Formativo Terminal y el inicio del Clásico Temprano.Published versio