Trade, tribute, and neutron activation: The colonial political economy of Xaltocan, Mexico

•We characterized pottery and obsidian from colonial Xaltocan, Mexico by INAA and XRF.•We discovered local production of lead-glazed earthenware in Xaltocan.•Lead-glazed pottery, plain ware, and other types were made locally and imported.•Obsidian came from a greater variety of sources than during the Aztec era.•The colonial market system was complex, and towns were not isolated. In Trade, Tribute, and Transportation, Ross Hassig argues that indigenous towns in the northern Basin of Mexico during the colonial period were largely self-sufficient. They traded with Mexico City mostly in elite goods, but for the most part they produced for their own subsistence or traded with nearby towns. Chemical characterization by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) of ceramics and obsidian from post-conquest contexts in Xaltocan, a site in the northern Basin of Mexico, reveals that Hassig’s model is partly correct for describing Xaltocan. The town focused on trade with nearby towns and it produced some ceramics for local consumption. However, Xaltocan was hardly isolated and self-sufficient in the post-conquest period. Instead, the data suggest that the people of Xaltocan also obtained ceramics and obsidian from a greater variety of sources than under Aztec domination. Rather than being an isolated rural site, Xaltocan either increased its external connections and number of trading partners after the Spanish conquest, or it managed to obtain a greater variety of products than before through a bustling market system.