Aztec Teotihuacan: Political Processes at a Postclassic and Early Colonial City-State in the Basin of Mexico

Abstract

Teotihuacan, located in the northeastern Basin of Mexico, is best known for its Preclassic and Classic period occupations (ca. 150 B.C.–A.D. 700) but was also an important city-state during the Aztec and Early Colonial periods, circa A.D. 1200–1650. Much has been written about political relations among Aztec city-states in the basin. However, the internal political structures of most city-states remain largely unknown because colonial chroniclers focused mostly on Tenochtitlan-Mexico City and collected little information on the 40 to 50 smaller city-states in the basin. This article addresses the internal political organization of Aztec Teotihuacan and how it changed over time based on analyses of pottery data from the surface collections of the Teotihuacan Mapping Project. A seriation of sherd assemblages using correspondence analysis provides a chronological framework for diachronic analyses. Changes through time pertaining to interresidential status differences and the spatial distributions of elite residences suggest a gradual process of political decentralization. Additionally, pottery and obsidian data, in conjunction with settlement pattern changes, reveal a relocation of the city-state center in the late 1300s or early 1400s, possibly indicating an episode of political upheaval or reorganization.