The 1585 Relación Geográfica Map of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala gives scholars a rare glimpse of sixteenth- century southern Guatemala. The map displays the use of Spanish, Nahua, and Maya perspectives. The coexistence of indigenous Nahua versus Spanish or European iconographies and narratives is a theme constantly explored in the studies of the Relaciones Geográficas maps. However, the opposition of two different indigenous narratives and iconographies, as well as Spanish, is not. This project examines the convergences and conflicts among these narratives and iconographies as evidenced on the map and in the accompanying text. The individual discussion of each narrative is followed by a critical discussion to provide theoretical and authorial contexts for the map. In effect, this study complicates the view of sixteenth-century Mesoamerican Relaciones Geográficas maps.

(in English): This thesis examines and tests the hypothesis whether political entity, in literature traditionally referred to as the "Aztec Empire", was actually an empire equivalent to European states of that age. Based on this hypothesis there are two objectives in this paper. The first one is to answer the question of what principles really stood on this political entity, how the relationships between the core of the empire and other provinces varied and what affected these relationships. The second objective is to examine the economic system of the Aztec empire because that was extensively intertwined with its political actions and influenced them. All three components of the Aztec economy are analyzed, thus supplying the Triple Alliance on its own (intensive agriculture, trade) and extracting tributes from conquered territories. Attention is also paid to the history of "Aztec empire" and its Mesoamerican context. The main sources are edited sources from early colonial times, depicting the situation before the arrival of Europeans and secondary literature, stemming mainly from ethnohistorical research.

Este trabalho resulta de um estudo sobre as instituições oficiais educativas mexicas no contexto de hegemonia política da Tríplice Aliança estabelecida no Planalto Central Mexicano, no Pós-Clássico Tardio (1428 d.C. e 1521 d.C), período em que unificaram-se as forças bélicas de Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco e Tacuba. Os templos-escola oficiais mexicas se incumbiam da formação religiosa e militar dos jovens para a participação nas atividades vinculadas à organização estatal. O objetivo do estudo foi demonstrar a vital importância do sistema educacional na organização sócio-política mexica, entendido como elemento articulador das atividades religiosas, militares e econômicas. Para a realização da pesquisa foram adotadas como fontes primárias crônicas e documentos pictográficos produzidos no século XVI, bem como dados arqueológicos relativos a um templo-escola escavado no Templo Mayor de Mexico- Tenochtitlan. / This work presents the results of a systematic analysis of data concerning the official mexica educational institutions in the context of the Triple Aliance´s political hegemony established by the governing powers of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tacuba. The temple-schools administrated by the mexica were mainly responsible for transmitting the military and religious precepts in order to prepare individuals for state matters and official duties. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the fundamental importance of the educational system in mexica\'s social and political organization. The institutions known as the mexica temple-schools are viewed here as common ground in which perpassed religious, military and economical activities. The research was based upon the comparative analysis of XVI century chronicles, pictorial manuscripts and archaeological evidence.

The spatial relationships that exist between ancient and modern settlement and natural resources have the potential to suggest ways in which humans organized themselves into communities. This study evaluates the applicability of the concept, "quebrada community," for understanding human-environmental relationships in northwest Honduras during the Late Classic period (AD 650-900). Existing archaeological, quantitative, and geological evidence for quebrada communities are linked with spatial data on two contemporary local communities, Palmarejo and Palos Blancos. A geographic information system (GIS) is constructed and implemented in order to achieve this goal. It is argued that there are specific relationships that exist between ancient and modern populations, their environment, and quebradas and that these relationships support the hypothesis that organization around water resources is present at the level of the community.

The primary concern of this thesis is to quantify and analyze the lithic (chipped stone) assemblage previously excavated by Hepp (2015) and the La Consentida Archaeological Project (LCAP) at the archaeological site of La Consentida in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. The lithic assemblage is comprised of over 500 artifacts mainly of obsidian and chert. This research represents a study of all primary context lithic artifacts from La Consentida and focuses on obsidian, the material most used at the site. In the first part of this thesis I provide an analysis of all lithic artifacts of this primary context assemblage collected during the 2012 field season. Additionally, I present technological considerations regarding manufacturing techniques and subsequent issues regarding technique implementation. The second part of this thesis examines the distribution of lithics, in addition to other artifact classes (i.e. ceramics and ground stone), at the site and relates this to manufacturing techniques and inferences towards social organization. Results indicate that the people of La Consentida favored obsidian as a material for lithic manufacture. While other materials were used to produce chipped stone, obsidian dominates the assemblage. Further, these materials were used in expedient lithic reduction, which characterizes the majority of the assemblage. In addition to expedient flakes, specialized tools are also present, although minimal. Additionally, the way in which lithics, and more importantly obsidian artifacts, are distributed at the site indicates a purposeful designation for manufacture and use in specific locations. The artifacts I examine here are crucial to determining the economic practices of this Early Formative period (2000–1000 B.C.) site. Ascertaining how the lithic artifacts were distributed at the site will help expand current understandings of Early Formative period exchange, crafting, and subsistence practices. Furthermore, these results may have implications for developing our understanding of social organization at the earliest known settled village in coastal Oaxaca.

The representation of social affiliation is dependent upon material signifiers that can serve as communicative links between individuals or communities. This study evaluates the material manifestation of an elite social identity during the Late Classic (AD 650-900) period at the site of Palmarejo, northwest Honduras. Previous studies on social identity in prehistory point to the importance of site plans, monumental architecture, ceramics, and human burials in conveying sociocultural messages. A regional comparison of these types of data is made between Palmarejo and three coeval sites in northwest Honduras, La Sierra, El Coyote, and Las Canoas. I argue that the chosen style of site plans, monumental architecture, ceramics, and human burials worked to convey different types of messages to specific populations. Patterns revealed by the regional comparison indicate that paramounts were able to access a common affiliation while maintaining localized distinctiveness. Finally, I argue that Palmarejo elites may have utilized a common regional belief system to reinforce their power and authority during the Late Classic.

Humans have always been fascinated by wild carnivores. This has led to a unique interaction with these beasts, one in which these key figures played an important role as main icons in state imperialism and domination. At the Classic period site of Teotihuacan, Mexico (A.D. 1-550) this was no exception as large carnivores (mainly eagles, felids, canids and rattlesnake) were sacrificed and deposited as associated offerings in large-scale dedicatory rituals. This study investigates the zooarchaeological remains of nearly two-hundred animals found in offertory chambers at the Moon Pyramid and the Sun Pyramid to question: 1) What were the dynamic ritual processes that took place during the dedication ritual? 2) What changes do we see in the types of human-animal interactions with wild carnivores? 3) How did the participation of animals in ritualized activities lead to the concretion of a stratified sociopolitical landscape? And, 4) what were some of the meanings and functions behind the dedicatory acts? This project applies a multi-methodological approach integrating zooarchaeological, isotopic, and iconographic analyses interpreted in light of existing ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and religious studies literature. The dataset resulting from this dissertation provides the most comprehensive evidence of the central role animals played in rituals linked to monumentalism and state domination. Ferocious carnivores not only participated as victims of sacrifice and ritual paraphernalia, but were also kept in confinement in anticipation to the ritual slaughter. A shift in human-animal interactions, now characterized by dominance and control of the most powerful beast on the landscape, was central to creating a new perception of the animal hierarchy. The fauna deposited at these offering caches were social agents that helped negotiate and maintain social hierarchies, even ascribe meaning into the monuments themselves, through their participation in ritualized performances. / Anthropology

This dissertation research examines the political significance of plazas in ancient Maya society from the Late Preclassic period through the Terminal Classic period (ca. 150 B.C.- A.D. 900). I consider plazas not as by-products of temples and palaces, but as political arenas in which different social actors created and transformed social realities and values. My primary question is how power relations and ideologies emerge from people's practices and their engagements with materiality--more specifically, the construction of plazas and ritual performances. I address this question through the combination of various methods including the following: spatial analyses based on GIS, extensive excavations, epigraphic studies, and material analyses through petrographic microscopy and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Using these methods, I conducted archaeological research at El Palmar, a Maya polity located in southeastern Campeche of Mexico. During the 2007-2014 field seasons, I investigated eleven plazas in total with eight located in the urban core and three in its outlying areas. The results from the urban core suggest that the power relations at El Palmar changed through time. Such changes are reflected in the designs of both public and exclusive plazas and associated ritual events. The results in the north outlying plaza, where a hieroglyphic stairway was built around A.D.726, further suggest that a group of officials negotiated their status and power with rulers. The protagonist of the event was not an El Palmar ruler but an official who emphasized diplomatic relations with foreign rulers, giving the El Palmar ruler only scant reference. Considering inter-regional contexts, however, they were not only engaged in internal power struggles, but also cooperated to negotiate with foreign dynasties. This complex mechanism of power was closely tied to the remodeling of the plaza and ideological symbolism materialized by mortuary practice, fire rituals, and termination rituals. My dissertation concludes that ritual performances in outlying plazas were not merely a reflection of royal ideology promoted by rulers but could have introduced new power and ideological relations in the community, relations that would be difficult to identify solely through the analysis of the main plaza.

abstract: This research focuses upon the intersection of social complexity and leadership among commoners in complex societies as expressed through mortuary ritual. I study how ideology, materialized through treatment of the deceased body, was a potential source of power among commoners in ancient Maya society and how this materialization changed through time. Mortuary data are drawn from mid-level settlements of the Belize River Valley, located in western Belize within the eastern Maya lowlands. The primary research question addresses whether mid-level leaders in the Belize River Valley targeted certain human bodies for ancestral veneration through tomb re-entry and ritual interaction with skeletal remains. The ritual-political strategy of mid-level leaders is measured using archaeothanatology, an analysis of grave taphonomy based on forensic data, to reconstruct cultural beliefs about death based on treatment of deceased bodies, radiogenic strontium isotope analysis to reconstruct residential history, and analysis of dental metrics to assess biological kinship. While preservation of osseous material was poor, results indicate that the frequency of disarticulated and secondary burials was higher in eastern structures than in other locales, although eastern structures were not the only loci of these types of deposits. Overall, it does not seem like secondary burials were regularly and purposefully created for use as ritual objects or display. Radiogenic strontium isotope data enrich this analysis by showing that eastern structures were not a burial locale exclusive to individuals who spent their childhood in the Belize Valley. Data from upper-level eastern structures also suggests that within that part of society local birth did not guarantee interment in a local manner; perhaps the social network created during one's life shaped treatment in death more than residential origin. Biological distance analyses were inconclusive due to missing data. Comparison of mortuary practices to nearby regions shows distinct mortuary patterning across space and time. This is consistent with reconstructions of ancient Maya sociopolitical organization as regionally diverse and moderately integrated. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2015

abstract: This archaeological study analyses households at the Postclassic site of Calixtlahuaca (State of Mexico, Mexico), to evaluate the directness and collectiveness of local and imperial Aztec rule based on their effects on the commoner population. Scholars are divided as to whether Aztec rule was generally positive (due to opportunities for economic and cultural interaction) or negative (due to taxation and loss of autonomy). Contexts at Calixtlahuaca date to three periods, the Dongu (AD 1130-1370), Ninupi (1370-1450), and Yata (1450-1530) phases. The first two phases show the pre-Aztec trajectory, which is compared to the final period under Aztec rule to disentangle general trends toward regional integration from Aztec effects. Each phase includes six excavated households. I assess economic changes on three dimensions: foreign trade, local craft production, and household wealth. Trade is evaluated for obsidian and ceramics (INAA, petrography, type classification) and local crafting is evaluated for ceramic, lithic, textile, and molded ceramic items. Wealth is measured using all excavated artifacts, with the relative values of artifact classes based on Colonial Nahuatl wills. Prior to Aztec rule, trade was increasing and diversifying, but craft production was low. Under Aztec rule, trade reoriented toward the Basin of Mexico, craft production remained low, and household wealth stabilized. Pre-Aztec inter-household variation for all dimensions is low, before increasing during the Yata phase. Cultural changes are evaluated for ritual activities and foodways. I evaluate the degree of interhousehold variability, the overall similarity to other parts of Central Mexico, the degree of change under Aztec rule, and immigration versus emulation as potential explanations for that change. Evaluation is based on the distinction between high and low visibility objects and practices. The Dongu and Ninupi phase households at Calixtlahuaca were culturally homogeneous and regionally distinctive. During the Yata phase, the site became moderately more Aztec, but this change was unevenly distributed among households. Together, the economic and cultural patterns at Calixtlahuaca indicate that the pre-Aztec local organization of power was relatively collective, but that this was partially overlaid by relatively indirect and non-collective Aztec imperial rule, with mildly negative effects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2016