Beyond the basic classification and description of artifacts, new technological analyses have revolutionized the discipline. We routinely use methods such as radiocarbon dating or obsidian hydration dating to determine the ages of artifacts and deposits, and new techniques of chemical analysis permit artifacts to be traced to their often distant points of origin. Some of the advances made possible by these methods are discussed in chapters 4 and 5.
Nearly all of our interpretations of ancient society from archaeological remains depend upon inductive logic, also called reasoning by analogy. For example, I have interpreted small bowls with tripod supports as tools used in the spinning of cotton thread based on an analogy with modern cotton handspinning techniques. When modern Maya women spin cotton, they use a small bowl to control the twirling spindle. The small Aztec bowls resemble modern spinning bowls, so I argued by analogy that the ancient artifacts functioned in a similar manner. An analogy is a hypothesis, so the next step was to test this interpretation with independent data. Several lines of evidence converge to support this hypothesis: pictorial sources from the Early Colonial period such as the Codex Mendoza show women spinning cotton using a small bowl; the artifacts show traces of abrasion where the spindle has worn away the interior surface of the bowl; and these artifacts are found in domestic contexts where we know from other evidence that spinning took place.27
This example shows the importance of modern (and historical) analogues for our interpretation of many aspects of Aztec culture. Thus our knowledge of the Aztecs comes not only from ethnohistory and archaeology but also, indirectly, from Mesoamerican ethnology, the study of modern and historic cultures. Two other branches of modern anthropology – physical anthropology and linguistics – also contribute greatly to Aztec studies. Physical anthropologists study the skeletal remains of the Aztecs in order to determine their sex, age, health and nutrition, and sometimes cause of death. Linguists have expanded greatly our knowledge of Nahuatl and its historical development in Aztec and more recent times. Geographers have also provided new information on the physical environment, farming systems, and settlement patterns.
Art History
After the initial work by the chroniclers in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, scholarly study of the Aztecs started in the eighteenth century with a growing appreciation for Aztec art, particularly stone sculpture and painted codices. An interest in Aztec architecture and archaeological sites did not come until much later. In the nineteenth century, museums in Mexico, the United States, and Europe were busy filling their exhibit halls and back storerooms with Aztec sculptures, ceramic vessels, metal, and other objects. The richest collection was at Mexico's National Museum, where items of Aztec art filled storerooms to their limit (figure 1.12). Today, Aztec art may be found in museums throughout Mexico and in the larger museums in the United States and Europe. The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City has an outstanding exhibit of the finest examples of Aztec art, and the Museum of the Templo Mayor has another excellent exhibit. These and other museums also have large collections of objects in storage that are open to researchers.
Figure 1.12 “Mexican antiquities which exist in the National Museum of Mexico, 1857.” Lithograph by Casimiro Castro, published in México y sus alrededores (Castro 1855–1857)
Ever since the rebirth of interest in Aztec art in the eighteenth century, the rigorous study of Aztec objects by art historians has been one of the major components of Aztec studies. Art historians have made major contributions not only to the historical and aesthetic study of Aztec art, but also to the topics of Aztec religion, writing, cosmology, iconography, astronomy, and social organization.28
Aztec Studies Today
Scholarly interest in the Aztecs began with the chroniclers in the aftermath of the Spanish Conquest. Research on documents and major sculptures developed gradually over the centuries, but archaeology lagged because most Aztec sites were buried under colonial and modern cities and towns. After the Mexican Revolution of 1910, several important Aztec sites were excavated by the government as part of a program to emphasize Aztec culture as a historical source for modern Mexican identity. The single most important event in the history of Aztec scholarship was the start of the Templo Mayor project in 1978. Apart from the significance of the Templo Mayor itself, the attention and energy generated by the project led to increased archaeological research at other sites and a renewed focus on codices, administrative records and other documentary sources.29
If any overarching theme can be identified within the recent boom of research on Aztec civilization, it is an explicit focus on people. Ethnohistorians, archaeologists, and art historians are reconstructing the activities of families, social groups, and villages while they explore the social conditions of the people who lived in all parts of the Aztec world. Whereas many earlier scholars restricted their studies to lords, temples, gods, and cities, the advances of social archaeology and recent trends in ethnohistory and art history now give us access to peasants, workshops, and villages. Themes that were unheard of a few decades ago, such as women's roles, farming methods, domestic crafts, and standards of living, are now topics of research.30
Modern anthropology, the study of human cultures and their variations over space and time, provides the best framework for our emerging understanding of Aztec civilization, and I use an anthropological approach to structure the narrative that follows. Chapter 2 sets out the historical outline of Aztec culture, from its predecessors through the Spanish Conquest. Chapters 3 through 12 discuss specific aspects of Aztec culture, beginning with settlement (chapter 3), followed by economics (chapters 4 and 5), social organization (chapter 6), politics (chapter 7), urbanism (chapter 8), religion (chapters 9 and 10), and intellectual and aesthetic life (chapters 11 and 12). Chapter 13 recapitulates the glory of the final century of Aztec civilization, tells the story of the Spanish Conquest, and ends with an account of the legacy of the Aztecs today. I begin my account in central Mexico before the Aztecs arrived on the scene.
Chapter two
The Rise of Aztec Civilization
So great were the feats and exploits of the Aztecs, so full of adventure, that those who are not acquainted with these exploits and with these people will enjoy hearing of their ancient customs and of their origins and descendants.
Diego Durán, The History of the Indies of New Spain
The evolution of Aztec civilization is partly a rags-to-riches story of the sudden rise of the Nahuatl speakers from obscurity to power and partly a chronicle of continuity in the cultural achievements of central Mexican civilizations. These two themes were important elements in Aztec native historical accounts, and they loomed large in the Aztecs' own sense of identity and heritage. The rags-to-riches theme centers on the Mexica people, following them from their origin as a simple nomadic tribe in the northern desert, their migration to the Valley of Mexico, the founding of Tenochtitlan, and their rise to power as the lords of the Aztec Empire. Native historical accounts of this story suggest that the rise of Aztec civilization was due to the genius and accomplishments of the Mexica and their leaders.
In contrast to the rags-to-riches story, the theme of cultural continuity stresses the debt that the Aztecs (Mexica and others) owed to both their Toltec ancestors and the still earlier Teotihuacan culture. The last in a series of advanced urban civilizations, the Aztecs inherited much of their culture from these earlier peoples. Although the progress of the Mexica people may make a more exciting story, most scholars today find the theme of cultural continuity provides a more satisfactory account of cultural evolution in Postclassic central Mexico. The rise of Aztec civilization was due less to the genius and success of one small group (the Mexica) than to the larger social forces that had shaped the rise and fall of central Mexican civilizations over the centuries.
In this chapter I trace the historical course of the Aztec peoples from their predecessors at Classic-period Teotihuacan (AD 150–750) up to their conquest by the Spaniards in
1519. But first I review the archaeological and native historical timetables through which Aztec history is written.
Timetables
The central Mexican archaeological record goes back thousands of years to the small bands of early hunters and gatherers who flourished at the end of the Pleistocene ice age. Maize and other Mesoamerican food crops were first domesticated between 5000 and 7000 BC, but agriculture did not become the main form of subsistence until around 2000 BC. During the next two millennia, a period archaeologists call the Formative or Preclassic, central Mexico was the setting for small villages and towns, a few of which grew into centers of modest-sized chiefdoms. Chalcatzingo in Morelos, for example, became an influential chiefdom during the Middle Formative or Olmec period. Around 100 BC two of these towns – Cuicuilco in the southern Valley of Mexico and Teotihuacan in the northern Valley – became large and powerful enough to be called states. The eruption of the Mount Xitle volcano in the first century AD buried Cuicuilco under a thick mantle of lava, and soon after Teotihuacan grew into the largest urban center in Mesoamerica.1
The era of Teotihuacan ascendancy in central Mexico is known as the Classic period (AD 150–700). The burning of Teotihuacan around AD 700 ushered in a time of decentralized city-states called the Epiclassic period (AD 700–900). The final six centuries of pre-Hispanic cultures are known as the Postclassic era (AD 900–1519), which archaeologists divide into Early, Middle, and Late Postclassic periods (figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1 Archaeological and native historical chronologies for Aztec civilization
The Early Postclassic period (AD 900–1150) is sometimes called the Toltec period, since it corresponds to the flourishing of Toltec culture. The story of the Aztecs themselves begins with the arrival of Nahuatl-speaking peoples in central Mexico at the start of the Middle Postclassic period (AD 1100–1300). The “Early Aztec phase” is the term archaeologists use to describe Middle Postclassic sites in the Valley of Mexico, and in this book I use the term Early Aztec phase or period for all of central Mexico. During this crucial epoch most Aztec towns, cities, and dynasties were first established. The 50-year overlap between the end of the Early Postclassic period and the start of the Early Aztec period is intentional; it signals the likelihood that the first Aztec sites were established prior to the fall of the city of Tula.
The Late Aztec period, part of the wider Mesoamerican Late Postclassic period (AD 1300–1520), includes the growth of Tenochtitlan and the formation and expansion of the Triple Alliance empire. In some regions of central Mexico, archaeologists have subdivided the Late Aztec period into two subperiods (referred to here as “Late Aztec A” and “Late Aztec B”) covering the intervals before (1350–1430) and after the formation of the empire (1430–1520). In other regions, including the Valley of Mexico, only a single archaeological phase is in use, which can make fine-grained study of change difficult. Chronological refinement remains an important topic of research by archaeologists working on the Aztecs.2
The native historical timetable for Aztec civilization begins with the Toltecs, but the early part of the historical record is not very reliable. There are fewer native historical sources, and their content is more obviously mythological in character than later documents. For the final century of Aztec civilization, there are numerous independent native historical accounts that can be cross-checked to gauge their accuracy. The expansion of the Aztec Empire after 1430 is covered in great detail, and most scholars believe that much of the historical information is correct, if biased. The extent to which the archaeological and native historical records can be compared and correlated is a topic of continuing research, but most authorities agree on the outline of Aztec history presented in figure 2.1.
Pre-Aztec Civilizations
The Aztecs were heirs to a long tradition of central Mexican urban civilizations and owed a great cultural debt to the earlier peoples of Teotihuacan and Tula. The inhabitants of Tula – the Toltecs – figured heavily in Aztec native history, but the more ancient peoples of Teotihuacan were a mystery to the Aztecs. A brief review of these earlier peoples sets the scene for the rise of Aztec civilization.
Teotihuacan
The great Classic-period metropolis of Teotihuacan flourished between AD 150 and 700 in the northeastern Valley of Mexico. At its height between 450 and 600, Teotihuacan's 150,000 inhabitants, spread over 21 sq km, made it one of the largest cities in the world.3 The city was laid out according to a strict grid pattern, oriented around a central north–south avenue called the “Street of the Dead” (figure 2.2). The massive Pyramid of the Sun stood adjacent to the central avenue, with the smaller Pyramid of the Moon at the northern end of the street. Most people lived in large walled apartment compounds, which were tightly packed together, with only narrow alleys and passages between them. The city's rulers and elite class had larger and more elaborate residences along the Street of the Dead.
Figure 2.2 Air photo of the ruins of Classic-period Teotihuacan (photograph courtesy of Companía Mexicana de Aerofoto)
During the Classic period, Teotihuacan's renown and influence spread over all of Mesoamerica. Within its immediate hinterland in the Valley of Mexico, the city's rulers maintained a tight grip on economic activities and peoples' lives. Outside of the valley, Teotihuacan's armies conquered nearby peoples and forged one of the earliest empires of Mesoamerica. Beyond the reach of its empire, Teotihuacan engaged in trade relationships with many parts of Mesoamerica, and the city was viewed as an important sacred center by peoples as far away as the Maya lowlands in Guatemala.4
Teotihuacan's prosperity and success came to an end in the seventh century when the city was burned and largely abandoned for reasons still unknown. A remnant population continued to live on the site of the Classic city throughout the pre-Hispanic era, and there was an Aztec town located at the edge of the old city. But by the time the Aztecs came to power, the city's center had lain in ruins for centuries. To the Aztecs, the city was a mystical and sacred place, the birthplace of the gods, and they named the ruins Teotihuacan, which means “city or place of the gods” in Nahuatl. The modern popular names of the main pyramids (sun and moon) and the “Street of the Dead” are translations of the Aztec terms. We do not know what the city or its buildings were called in the Classic period, nor what languages were spoken there.
A number of Aztec traits can be traced back to Teotihuacan. Among these are a number of religious features, including human sacrifice as a state-sponsored ritual and the worship of a feathered-serpent god (the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl) and a goggle-eyed deity (the Aztec Tlaloc). The Aztecs adapted these older gods to their own purposes. Tlaloc, for example, was a peaceful rain god to the Aztecs, whereas his goggle-eyed predecessor at Teotihuacan was a more militaristic state god. The Aztecs were the only other Mesoamerican culture to build a city as large as Teotihuacan, or to create a zone of economic and political influence as extensive as Teotihuacan's. The Mexica recognized the greatness of the earlier city and used Teotihuacan objects and styles to promote their legitimacy as rulers of an extensive empire. For example, ancient Teotihuacan ceramic vessels were buried in offerings at Tenochtitlan, Mexica sculptors deliberately imitated Teotihuacan styles, and Teotihuacan's planned grid layout was duplicated at Tenochtitlan.5
Tula and the Toltecs
The fall of Teotihuacan initiated a period of warfare and disruption throughout central Mexico. A series of large and impressive fortress-cities, protected by walls and ditches, were founded at Xochicalco, Cacaxtla, and Teotenango. Stone carvings and painted murals emphasized military themes and sacrifice. These warring cities flourished between AD 700 and 900 (the Epiclassic period; see figure 2.1), after which time they were largely abandoned.6 Then in the succeeding Early Postclassic period (AD 900–1100), the city of Tula grew into the first center large and powerful enough to warrant the title of successor to the great Teotihuacan. Modern understanding of Tula's role in Mesoamerican history is made difficult, however, by contradictions between native historica
l descriptions and the results of archaeological fieldwork. The Aztecs referred to the capital of the Toltecs as Tollan, a term meaning great metropolis.7 Although scholars have linked the Tollan of the native histories to the ruined city at the site of Tula in the modern state of Hidalgo, other cities were sometimes called by this name as well. To the Aztecs, Tollan was a fantastic city of mythical proportions and qualities, and the Toltecs almost superhuman in their accomplishments. They were said to have invented most of Mesoamerican culture, including all of the arts and crafts, writing, and the calendar. In Aztec eyes, the Toltecs were the wise, healthy, rich and morally superior lords of a far-flung empire ruled by semidivine kings.
Archaeology paints a different picture, however. Mesoamerican crafts, writing, and the calendar originated long before the Toltecs arrived on the scene. Although Tula was the largest city in central Mexico at the time, it was far smaller and more modest than either Teotihuacan or Tenochtitlan. Tula had a population of about 50,000, covering approximately 13 sq km. The central ceremonial core had two large pyramids, two impressive ballcourts, and other civic buildings arranged around a large public plaza (figure 2.3). There is no archaeological evidence for a Toltec empire, and in fact, Toltec artifacts are notable for their rarity outside of Tula itself. At Tula, exotic trade goods are less abundant than at either Teotihuacan or Tenochtitlan. Although Tula was an important local urban center whose inhabitants traded widely in Mesoamerica, the scale and luxury of the city certainly do not accord with the lavish imaginings of the Aztecs. The end of Toltec civilization came about with the abandonment of Tula in the mid-twelfth century, although like Teotihuacan, the city continued to have a minor occupation through Aztec times. As noted above, it seems likely that the first Aztec sites may have been established prior to the fall of Tula, although this is impossible to prove given the current state of Postclassic archaeological chronologies.
The Aztecs Page 5
