Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the La Montaña of Guerrero: Patterns in the Political and Territorial Expansion of a Tlapaneco-Mixteco Polity in Post-Classic Mesoamerica

Results

Some 80 documents in the Ramos de Indios, General de Partes and Tierras were consulted for the pueblos in the jurisdictions of Tlapa and Chilapa. The results of this research were:

(1.)  No document was found that contradicts or denies the narration contained in the codices of Azoyú 1 and 2.

(2.)  Several documents confirm the ascendancy of the Alvarado-Cortés lineage in the region supposedly conquered by the prehispanic lords of Tlapa-Tlachinollan.

(3.)  Document AGN, Ramo Indios, vol. 34, exp. 140 confirms that seven regional Caciques of the main Pueblos of the region recognized Tlachinollan as the main Cabecera of the region and their Caciques as the most important (Figure 6).

I concluded from this that the information contained in the codices of Azoyú can be used with reliability, but always with caution.

Archaeology provided an independent way to test both the accuracy of ethnohistorical sources and my individual interpretation of the documents through an examination of the material remains from where the events supposedly took place. The basic assumptions and scenarios hypothesized from the ethnohistorical sources that needed to be tested archaeologically were:

(1.)  Field confirmation that the place names in the documents had been interpreted correctly.

(2.)  The existence of a settlement system dominated by Tlapa-Tlachinollan.

(3.)  The existence of a military frontier between Tlapa-Tlachinollan’s territory with the northern Náhuatl villages.

(4.)  Test the sequence and direction of the expansion according to the framework proposed by the codices.

A geographic model was created to interpret the strategies used by the lords of Tlapa-Tlachinollan according to the sequence of expansion and the shape of the territorial extend after each conquest period (Figure 7a and Figure 7b). The territorial expansion was analyzed as a spatial phenomenon subject to costs of movement and friction. This provided insights into the costs of expansion in specific directions.

A key site survey was designed to study the archaeology of eastern Guerrero. I decided to use this methodology because I wanted to find the sites that represented the rivals and/or allies involved in Tlachinollan’s expansion, that is, the sites that were strategically and economically important for Tlapa-Tlachinollan. Key site survey was used because of the logistic problems created by the insecurity of the region, the difficult topographic conditions, and the enormous size of the area I needed to cover, more than 4,000 sq. km. (Figure 8, shown below and Figure 9)

A field season partially financed by FAMSI was carried out in the area during 2000 in which 190 archaeological sites were found. From these 123 were reported to have Postclassic ceramics or other features associated to this period. Once the exact position, size, and architectural features of conquered places was identified (Figure 10), I was able to examine the political expansion of Tlapa-Tlachinollan.

The results of the archeological research were:

(1.)  The interpretation of the codices’ place names was very accurate. In more than 80% of the time I found a Postclassic site of importance where I had predicted it would be, based on the place names recorded in the codices.

(2.)  The aridity of northeastern Guerrero resulted in archaeological sites being concentrated close to the Tlapaneco River, the only permanent source of water throughout the year (Figure 11). Codex Humboldt fragment 1 shows an agricultural system along the Tlapaneco River which was controlled and monopolized by high status nobles during the early 16^th century. Effectively a complex irrigation system called Trompezón was observed along the main valleys of the Tlapaneco River. This system required the construction of complex perimeter walls that protect the fields from the torrential inundations of the Tlapaneco River. Centralized management and organization was required to build them, especially to protect the plots larger than 100 hectares.

Three main clusters of archaeological sites in the region were closely associated with complex systems of Trompezón fields which suggests that they were valuable prizes in the political competition. These three clusters of sites are: Tlachinollan’s regal-ritual cores (Contlaco-Cerro Quemado); Ixcateopan-Alpuyeca; and Huamuxitlan-Coyoahualco (Figure 12). Native leaders probably used the agricultural surplus obtained from this fertile system to promote political allegiance and finance the costs of their political expansion.

(3.)  The results of the log-normal distribution applied to eastern Guerrero settlement system proved that Tlapa-Tlachinollan was in fact the dominant center of a primate settlement system during the Postclassic period. Although, this test was not conclusive and did not prove that Tlapa-Tlachinollan actually expanded, it showed that the archaeological settlement pattern of eastern Guerrero does not contradict the ethnohistoric scenarios of Tlapa-Tlachinollan’s expansion. Tlapa-Tlachinollan one way or another did become the primary settlement over a vast region (Figure 13).

(4.)  A system of fortified villages was identified along both margins of the Zizintla River confirming the existence of political tensions and possible conflict between Tlapa-Tlachinollan (predominately Mixtec-Tlapanec) and the Náhuatl villages in the Quiahuateopan province. This received further support from the observation that the archaeological sites around Chiepetlan and Olinalá have insignificant percentages of the ceramic type T1BGB. This ceramic type has been found predominantly in the area under Tlapa-Tlachinollan political control.

(5.)  The direction of growth proposed by the ethnohistorical documents suggested territorial expansion in a marked southwest direction. This suggests that Tlapa-Tlachinollan lords focused their efforts on the control of the trade route leading to the Pacific coast. Cacao, cotton, fish, and salt were the prizes they were after. Control of this route also gave them control over villages in different ecological zones providing access to resources of the temperate and high Montaña as well as gemstones and gold in the high Montaña and the Costa Chica.

It is really difficult to reconstruct a sequence of political expansion using archaeological materials. This not withstanding I proposed that the most powerful political units in eastern Guerrero were conquered during the latter stages of Tlachinollan’s expansion. This idea was corroborated. Previous to A.D. 1461, Tlachinollan only conquered small polities and it avoided the territories of the strong altepeme of Cuitlapan, Yoallan and Alcozauca. These larger polities were conquered after A.D. 1461 and only after Tlachinollan became a client state of Tenochtitlán.

Previous Page  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Page

Return to top of page