Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory

Cover
Half-title
Series information
Title page
Copyright information
Table of contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of cases
Acknowledgments
A Word about Terminologies
Nahuatl Pronunciation Guide
Part 1 Setting the Stage
	Chapter 1 Discovering, Uncovering, and Interpreting the Aztec World
		Discovering and Uncovering the Aztec World
			Pictorial Codices and Other Historical Documents
				Pictorial Codices
				Spanish Documents
				Nahuatl Documents
				Assessing the Documentary Record
			Physical Remains: Architecture and Artifacts
				Architecture
				The Fate of Material Objects
				Assessing the Remains
			Human Remains
			The Value of Ethnography
		Interpreting the Aztec World
			Complexity
			Diversity and Variation
			Interaction
			Dynamics and Causality
	Chapter 2 The Aztecs as Mesoamericans
		Mesoamerica: A Matter of Perspective
		Aztec Precedents
		The Merging of Chichimec and Toltec: The Aztecs in Mesoamerica
		Challenges, Innovations, and Mexica Responses
		The Role of Ethnicity
Part 2 Aztec Society and Culture
	Chapter 3 Living on the Land
		Environmental Features of the Aztec World
			The Basin of Mexico
			The Central Mexico Plateaus
			The Broader Imperial Domain
			Beyond the Empire
		Demography
			Sorting Out the Numbers
			Urban and Rural
		The Acquisition of Food and Other Necessities
			Provisioning an Aztec Household
				Commoner Houses
				Elite Houses or Palaces
				Food, Drink, and Clothing
			Agricultural Techniques and Technology
				Terracing
				Irrigation and Drained Fields
				Chinampas
				Household Gardens
				Additional Strategies
				The Farmer and his Tools
			Nonagricultural Food Resources
	Chapter 4 Craft Specialization, Commerce, and Trade
		Craft Specialization
			Diversity of Production
			Strategies and Decisions in Craft Production
				Scale
				Intensity
				Concentration
				Organization and Context
			The Production Process
		Commercial Exchange
			Travel and Transport
			Markets, Marketplaces, and Market Systems
				Types and Scales of Marketplaces
				Marketplace Rules
				Barter and Money
				Markets: Some General Assertions
			Professional Merchants: Economic Goals and Political Connections
				Regional Merchants
				Long-Distance Merchants
		Specialization and Trade in Aztec Imperial Expansion
			Luxury Artisans
			Pochteca and Oztomeca
			Intra-Empire Professional Merchants
			Economy and Polity
	Chapter 5 City-States and Imperial Rule
		Political Organizations: From Altepetl to Empire
			The Altepetl, or City-State
			Conquest States and Confederacies
			The Aztec Triple Alliance
		Political Actors: Rulers and Emperors
			Rulers and Rulerships
			Duties and Expectations
			The Establishment and Maintenance of Legitimacy and Power
				Choosing a Legitimate Ruler
				Legitimacy and the Bases of Power
					Practical: Control over Land and Labor
					Control over Symbols: Wealth and Display
					Control over the Sacred World
				Exercising Power
		Political Dynamics: Building an Empire
			Warfare and Conquest
				Goals of Warfare and Expansion
				Justifying, Mobilizing, and Financing Wars
				Tribute and Imperial Finance
			Imperial and Provincial Strategies
				The Perspective of the Empire
					Imperial Strategies
					The Idea of Provinces
				The Perspective of the Conquered
	Chapter 6 Living as an Aztec
		Nobles and Commoners: Restrictions and Opportunities
			Statuses Ascribed by Birth
				Nobles
				Commoners
			Intermediate Positions and Achievement in Aztec Society
		Family and Daily Life
			Family Formation and Roles
				Kinship Rules
				Inheritance
				Marriage Rules and Household Dynamics
			Life Cycle and Education: The Dynamics of Age
				Birth and Naming
				Childhood and Education
				Adulthood: Men and Women in Complementary Roles
				Life, Death, and the Afterlife
			Crime and Punishment
	Chapter 7 Religion, Science, and the Arts
		Calendrics and Fate
		Dynamics and Structure of the Cosmic World
		Deities and Their Earthly Retinues
			The Idea of Divinity
			The Deities
			Priests and Priestesses
		Gods and Humans: Rituals and Ceremonies
			Adorned Images and Sacred Bundles
			Public Ceremonies and Offerings
			Ritual Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism
			Domestic Rituals and More Offerings
			Divination, Magic, and Curing
		Medicine as Empirical and Applied Science
		Arts in the Service of Religion and the State
			Books and Writing
			Oral Expression and Philosophy
			Monumental Sculpture
	Chapter 8 The Aztec World
		Emblems of Prestige and Wealth: Aztec Warrior Regalia as Inalienable Wealth
			Symbolic and Historic Repositories
			Symbolic and Practical Obligations between Donor and Receiver, Encouraging Heterogeneity and Legitimating Authority and Identities
			Maintaining Connections with the Identity of the Original Owner
			The Matter of Heritability and Transferability
			Absolute versus Commercial Value
			Warrior Regalia Embedded in the Aztec Economic, Social, Political, and Symbolic World
		A World System
			The Nature of Cores and Peripheries
			The Mutual Relations among Cores and Peripheries
			The Significance of Luxuries
			The Defining and Dynamic Roles of Trade and Markets
		A Culture under Duress: Aztec Responses to Spanish Pressure
			What Happened to the Aztec Empire?
			What Happened to the Aztec Elite?
			What the Commoners Did
			Old and New Material Things
			Old and New Ways of Thinking, Believing, and Communicating
			Cultural Resilience
Glossary
Notes
	Chapter 1. Discovering, Uncovering, and Interpreting the Aztec World
	Chapter 2. The Aztecs as Mesoamericans
	Chapter 3. Living on the Land
	Chapter 4. Craft Specialization, Commerce, and Trade
	Chapter 5. City-States and Imperial Rule
	Chapter 6. Living as an Aztec: Social Status and Daily Life
	Chapter 7. Religion, Science, and the Arts
	Chapter 8. The Aztec World: An Integrated View
References
Index