Resumo

BRUMFIEL, Elizabeth M.. El estudio de la clase común: el asentamiento de Xaltocan durante el Posclásico en la cuenca de México. Cuicuilco [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.47, pp.59-86. ISSN 0185-1659.

Bill Sanders was devoted to the study of commoners, the mass of the population who with their labor sustained the opulent lifestyle of the ruling elites. Through regional survey, Bill Sanders and his students traced the history of commoners from the remains of their agricultural landscapes and their settlement patterns. This paper seeks to answer two questions regarding the status of commoners in the Postclassic basin of Mexico. First, did commoners benefit from Aztec rule? Did the political unification of the Central Mexican Symbiotic Region permit the exchange of products across ecological zones, foster specialization and produce a higher standard of living for commoners despite the tribute payments demanded by the Aztecs? Second, did commoners contribute ideas as well as labor to the social development of Postclassic Mesoamerica? If, as Sanders claimed, "innovations and variations are constantly arising" that permit societies to adapt more effectively to their environments, were commoners a source of innovation or was innovation the product of urban-based administrators, priests and craftsmen? Household archaeology at Postclassic Xaltocan in the northern basin of Mexico enables us to address these questions.

Palavras-chave : Basin of Mexico; Postclassic period; Xaltocan; commoners; household archaeology.