Political economy and market economy under Aztec rule: A regional perspective based on decorated ceramic production and distribution systems in the Valley of Mexico. (Volumes I and II).

Abstract

The impact of Aztec imperial consolidation on market production and exchange systems within the Valley of Mexico remains a topic of active debate. Prior views on the degree of political interference in the market system range from administrative laissez faire (leading to commercial development and a market-integrated economy) to extensive governmental manipulation (involving the centralization and direct control over many aspects of commodity production and exchange). This study examines the interaction between political process and market system structure, and argues that administrative strategies of political consolidation indirectly distorted market system structure. Examination of documentary sources suggests that oligopolistic controls over the elite prestige goods used to remunerate and manipulate political dependencies (in conjunction with problems of urban supply in the imperial core) functioned to deter the development of an interlocking market network, while creating centripetal flows of desired foodstuffs into urban centers. The alignment of political and economic interests emphasized vertical rather than horizontal commodity flows--an arrangement that satisfied urban needs, yet led to the underdevelopment of the rural hinterland. To evaluate this model and to assess changes in market system organization under Aztec rule, this study focuses on temporal changes in the production and exchange of decorated Red ware ceramics. Ceramic collections generated by regional archaeological surveys within the southern and eastern portions of the Valley of Mexico are utilized to two ends. First, the spatial distributions of distinct ceramic types are analyzed to reconstruct the organization of the exchange systems through which these goods moved. Second, trace-element analyses of ceramic pastes are employed to examine the organization of ceramic production on a regional scale. Ceramic production and distribution systems are examined for two archaeological periods: the pre-imperial Early Aztec period (ca. A.D. 1150-1350), and the Late Aztec period (ca. A.D. 1350-1520), during which the Aztec empire emerged and flourished. This diachronic perspective reveals significant changes in the organization of decorated ceramic production and exchange, and indicates the extent to which Aztec imperialism restructured the larger commodity marketing system to emphasize vertical flows of goods between political centers and their dependencies.