Historical Archaeology and Indigenous Identity at the Ex-Hacienda
San Miguel Acocotla, Atlixco, Puebla, México

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Research Year:  2006
Culture:  Nahua
Chronology:  Colonial to Contemporary
Location:  Puebla, México
Site:  San Miguel Acocotla, Atlixco

Table of Contents

Abstract
Resumen
Introduction: Historical Archaeology in México
The Mexican Hacienda: History and Archaeology
The Hacienda San Miguel Acocotla: Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology
Research Problem
Documentary Research
Ethnoarchaeology and Oral Tradition
The Calpanería of Acocotla
Summary of Previous Excavations–Summer 2005
Preliminary Excavation Results–January-March 2007
Unit A
The Calpanería
The Midden
Conclusions and Ongoing Research Goals
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Photographs
Sources Cited

Abstract

This report describes a second season of archaeological research at the ex-hacienda San Miguel Acocotla, Atlixco, Puebla, México. During the last five years, the project has used a multi-disciplinary approach, documentary, ethnographic and archaeological, to investigate the lives of the indigenous workers who toiled on this estate from 1577 to the Mexican Revolution. Significant numbers of Mexican hacienda-based peasants, largely invisible in the historic documentary sources, have emerged from a background of indigenous culture, in this case a Nahua heritage. The project seeks to reconstruct indigenous identity through archaeological signatures of material culture linked to continuities in a descendant community. The approach articulates with current theoretical themes in subaltern Latin American studies, dominance/resistance and ethnicity.

Resumen

Este informe describe una segunda etapa de investigación en la ex-hacienda San Miguel Acocotla, Atlixco, Puebla, México. Por los últimos cinco años el proyecto ha empleado un abordaje multidisciplinario, documental, etnográfico y arqueológico para investigar la vida de los peones indígenas que trabajaron arduamente en esta propiedad desde 1577 hasta la Revolución Mexicana. Un número significativo de campesinos mexicanos, básicamente invisibles en las fuentes documentales históricas, ha surgido de un trasfondo de cultural indígena, en este caso de una herencia Nahua. El proyecto propone reconstruir la identidad del trabajador indígena a través de firmas arqueológicas de la cultura material relacionadas con las comunidades contemporáneas de sus descendientes. Este acercamiento se articula con temas teóricos actuales en estudios latinoamericanos subalternos, la arqueología de la dominación/resistencia y la etnicidad.

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Submitted 11/09/2007 by:
Elizabeth Terese Newman
Yale University
Department of Anthropology
P.O. Box 208277
New Haven, CT 06520-8277
elizabeth.t.newman@yale.edu

This report is dedicated in memory of:
Dr. Harold Juli
Connecticut College
New London, CT

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