Reassessing the Aztatlán World
Ethnogenesis and Cultural Continuity in Northwest Mesoamerica

Michael D. Mathiowetz (Edited by), John M. D. Pohl (Edited by)

9781647691493

Hardback, published 30 December 2024

258 pages, 51 colour illustrations, 49 b&w illustrations
27.9 x 21.6 x 2.9 cm, 1.114 kg

“The editors do an excellent job of bringing together all the leading figures on the subject and producing a naturally coherent volume.”—Matthew Pailes, The University of Oklahoma

The AztatlÁn tradition of northwest Mesoamerica (AD 850/900–1350+) is one of the most understudied and enigmatic cultural developments in the Americas. This volume presents a spectrum of interdisciplinary research into AztatlÁn societies, combining innovative archaeological methods with historical and ethnographic investigations. The results offer significant revelations about west Mexico’s critical role in over a millennium of cultural interaction between Indigenous societies in northwest and northeast Mexico, the Greater U.S. Southwest, Mesoamerica, lower Central America, and beyond.

Volume contributors show how those responsible for the AztatlÁn tradition were direct ancestors of diverse Indigenous peoples such as the NÁayeri (Cora), WixÁrika (Huichol), O’dam (Tepehuan), Caz’ Ahmo (Caxcan), Yoeme (Yaqui), Yoreme (Mayo), and others who continue to reside across the former AztatlÁn region and its frontiers. The prosperity of the AztatlÁn tradition was achieved through long-distance networks that fostered the development of new ritual economies and integrated peoples in Greater Mesoamerica with those in the U.S. Southwest/Mexican Northwest.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface

Introduction. Integrated Approaches to the AztatlÁ
n Tradition: History, Scale, and New Directions by John M. D. Pohl and Michael D. Mathiowetz

Part I. What is AztatlÁ
n?: A Historical Perspective
Chapter 1. The Current Status of the AztatlÁ
n Phenomenon in Far Western Mexico: What? Where? and When?
Joseph B. Mountjoy

Part II. Local and Regional Viewpoints: AztatlÁ
n Sociopolitical Organization and Complexity from Continental to Local Scales
Chapter 2. Coast-to-Coast: Evidence for AztatlÁ
n Articulation in Supraregional Interaction Networks
Laura Solar Valverde
Chapter 3. Ritual Objects as Cultural Capital: A Comparison between the Mixtec-Zapotec, AztatlÁ
n, and Casas Grandes Cultural Co-Traditions
John M. D. Pohl
Chapter 4. Social Organization in the AztatlÁ
n Tradition (AD850 –
1350): The Sayula and Chapala Basins (Jalisco), a Case Study
Susana RamÍ
rez Urrea
Chapter 5. San Felipe AztatÁ
n: An AztatlÁ
n Political and Ceremonial Center in the Lower Basin of the RÍ
o Acaponeta, Nayarit
Mauricio GarduÑ
o Ambriz
Chapter 6. Not All that Glitters is AztatlÁ
n Ceramics: The Development of Complex Societies in Southern Sinaloa
Luis Alfonso Grave Tirado
Chapter 7. Was There a Coastal Colony in the Eastern Valleys of Durango?: Notes on AztatlÁ
n-Chalchihuites Interaction
Cinthya Isabel Vidal Aldana
Chapter 8. Interaction and Integration on the Northern AztatlÁ
n Frontier in Sinaloa
John P. Carpenter and Guadalupe SÁ
nchez
Chapter 9. Selective Influence of West Mexico Cultural Traditions in the Ó
navas Valley, Sonora, Mexico
Cristina GarcÍ
a Moreno, James T. Watson, and Danielle Phelps

Part III. Technologies, Economies, and Trade in the AztatlÁ
n Region and Beyond
Chapter 10. Obsidian Usage and Trade in Postclassic West Mexico
Daniel E. Pierce
Chapter 11. A Spatial and Temporal Comparative Analysis of Metal Objects from MichoacÁ
n to the Greater Southwest
JosÉ
Luis Punzo DÍ
az and Lissandra GonzÁ
lez

Part IV. AztatlÁ
n Religion, Ritual Practice, and Worldview: The Archaeological Past and Continuities in the Ethnographic Present
Chapter 12. Funerary Practices during the Epiclassic and Postclassic: La Pitayera, Nayarit
JosÉ
Carlos BeltrÁ
n Medina, MarÍ
a de Lourdes GonzÁ
lez Barajas, Jorge Arturo Talavera GonzÁ
lez, and Juan Jorge Morales Monroy
Chapter 13. A World Within the World: Portraiture Effigy Bowls and Cargo Systems in Mitote Cycles of the AztatlÁ
n Culture
Michael D. Mathiowetz
Chapter 14. The Flowering World of the Gran Nayar: An Ethnographic Approach for Conceptualizing Political Legitimacy in the AztatlÁ
n World
Philip E. Coyle

Part V. Concluding Thoughts and New Directions
Chapter 15. Discussion: The Three Transitions of AztatlÁ
n
Christopher S. Beekman

References Cited
Contributors
Index