The Spatial Patterning of Aztec Ceramics: Implications for Prehispanic Exchange Systems in the Valley of Mexico

Abstract

Data gathered by regional archaeological surveys in the Valley of Mexico are used in the following study to investigate patterns of exchange during Aztec times. Decorated ceramics from 130 sites in the Texcoco, Ixtapalapa, and Chalco Survey Regions were tabulated, and the relative concentrations of ceramic wares and types (six dating to the Early Aztec period, eight to the Late Aztec) at sites in 12 polities were mapped. Ceramic distributions in the Early Aztec period (A.C. 1150–1350), when the valley was divided into a number of autonomous polities, are compared to those of the Late Aztec period (A.C. 1350–1520), a time of greater political unification brought about by the emergence of the Aztec empire. Results for the Early Aztec period indicate an overlapping series of local market systems, in which neighboring city-states exchanged ceramics more frequently than did polities at a greater distance. The results further identified two sub-regions of greater internal exchange, with reduced exchange between these regions. Spatially, these areas are congruent with the territories known to have been occupied by two regional political confederations, suggesting that Early Aztec confederations constrained economic interaction across their boundaries. In the Late Aztec period, more similar ceramic assemblages overall indicate a greater level of exchange among all polities. The restricted spatial distribution of particular ceramic types in the southern lakeshore polities, however argues for the continued operation of local production and exchange systems in this area and a lesser degree of integration into the regional Late Aztec exchange system. Documentary evidence indicates that these polities were conquered and incorporated into the empire later than others in the study area, and thus they may represent an area of the Valley of Mexico where tribute outweighed trade as an imperial strategy for economic integration.