Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Regime Development in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The fundamental goal of the project is to determine the mechanisms which, in small scale societies, serve to create integrated social groups. It will provide insight into how control is established and maintained, and this issue has contemporary relevance since many societies at similar levels of complexity exist in the world today. Under the guidance of Dr. Peter Lape, Anna Cohen will assess differences in ceramic production and consumption from private and public contexts to examine changes in Purépecha (Tarascan) regime development within the ancient city of Angamuco, Mexico. This project will test assumptions central to Purépecha development models by examining whether residents living in the Pátzcuaro Basin imperial core region were integrated through agent-led sociopolitical practices or through top-down processes of control. These hypotheses will be tested through (1) excavation of domestic and public architectural features at the newly documented site of Angamuco, and (2) the morphological, stylistic, and geochemical analysis of ceramic artifacts recovered from excavation. This research will produce a local chronology using ceramic typologies and radiocarbon dating, which will contribute to the temporal sequence for the wider region. Inter- and intra-phase variation in production will be compared to changes in household and public consumption activities. The study of ancient political growth and consolidation provides insight into understanding of how political regimes develop and maintain power, which are important topics throughout the social sciences and of particular importance to the general public where processes of regime change, revolution, and resistance are ongoing in several parts of the world. This project emphasizes that archaeologists must evaluate the micropolitics of regime-subject relations before making broad statements about regime behavior. For western Mexico, this study of Purépecha regime development will substantially alter the existing prehistory of the region and contribute to a more refined chronology of occupation and social complexity. Although the Purépecha defeated the better-known Aztecs in battle and their descendants currently live in western Mexico, the empire remains poorly understood. By focusing on local ceramic production and consumption processes at Angamuco - one of the largest and most complex sites uncovered in the imperial core region - this research will test some of the basic assumptions concerning Purépecha development models including how political economic control and ideological changes occurred on the ground. Detailed study of ceramics that can be carefully dated using architecture, stratigraphy, and radiocarbon data will contribute to the chronology for the Pátzcuaro Basin. This is vital for future research in western Mexico and useful for scholars working in nearby regions including the Basin of Mexico. The broader impacts of this project include educational and outreach activities in communities located in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin and in the U.S. This project will continue to work with the Fontezuelas ejido community for advice and to present ongoing research at the local primary school. Site tours will be given to community members on the weekends and the Co-PI will help to create teaching materials for local schoolchildren based on project research which will add to the conservation efforts at the heritage council community center in Tzintzuntzan. This research will aid in the training of young scientists from many different backgrounds, and will foster international relationships between several institutions. Working with the Legacies of Resilience Project (LORE-LPB), Cohen will continue to collaborate with students from Mexico, France, and the United States. Results from these collaborations have already been presented at national meetings, such as a 2011 Society for American Archaeology conference session co-organized by the Co-PI, and at workshops in Colorado and France. Updates from ongoing fieldwork will be posted on the LORE-LPB blog and the results will be used in undergraduate teaching material at the University of Washington.