West Mexico Postclassic

expand_more Description

This tradition was located in western Mexico from 1100 to 480 BP and consisted of small, militaristic regional chiefdoms and states, many of which were unified into the Tarascan empire after 700 BP. Warfare was endemic in this period and carried out to secure resources such as obsidian, precious metals, sacrificial victims, and to help promote the social advancement of the successful warrior. Societies were highly stratified with hereditary theocracies and large hierarchical bureaucracies. They shared a similar worldview and culture with other Mesoamerican traditions evident in the presence of ball courts, pyramids, stelae, a cyclical view of time, and human sacrifice.

Identifier

Region

• Middle America and the Caribbean

Subregion

• Central Mexico

Subsistence Type

• intensive agriculturalists

Samples

• SRS

Countries

• Mexico