Home

ANTH 325 Archaeology of Mesoamerica Spring 2024, Comparative Essay Due Tuesday, April 30th by 11:59pm
General Topic: Comparison between the Aztec and Spanish Empires
Coverage: All course materials with emphasis on Part 3 of the course
Technical Requirements: 2.5-3 pages, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, pages numbered at the bottom of all pages.
Summary Instructions: This comparative essay will give you the opportunity to critically reflect on what you have learned about the Aztec and Spanish American Empires during Part 3 of the course. Your essay should include information from multiple modules (at least two), demonstrating that you understand the course content sufficiently to go beyond simple summarization to synthesize, compare, and contrast empires drawing upon multiple themes (social and economic structures, warfare, ideology, urbanism, or technology). Your essay should include details on three of these themes. In your discussion, you should also consider how those themes intersect and provide specifics regarding the evidence upon which your comparisons rely.
Grading:
Basic Elements
1. Introduction: Clearly identify the empires that you are comparing (including who, what, and when). Then identify the themes that will be your focus (approx. 0.5 pages; 15 points)
2. Compare/contrast: Briefly consider how empires compared or contrasted across three themes, selecting from social and economic structures, warfare, ideology, urbanism, and technology. Include an example or other specifics clearly indicating whether the evidence you are drawing upon is archaeological, ethnohistorical, or both (at least 0.5 pages per theme; 20 points per theme).
3. Conclusion: Were the Aztec and Spanish Empires more similar or different? Did they share more in common in some ways than others? Why do you think this was the case? What does this comparison reveal about the history of empires? (approx. 0.5 pages; 25 points)
Basis for evaluation
1. Competency: Discussion reflects knowledge and engagement with all course content, including the readings and in-class materials. An effective essay will selectively interweave specific detail to make an argument.
2. Efficiency: Available space is used effectively to discuss key ideas, evidence, specific examples, and critical discussion.
3. Critical Thinking: Evidence of critical thinking about course content. Your essay should go beyond basic facts to critically evaluate those facts.
Essay Sources: You must draw not only on lectures and exercises, but also the readings from Part 3 of the course. Your essay must cite readings with in-text parenthetical references [Example: (Smith 2008:120)] and provide a full bibliographic list of works cited at the end. Bibliographic references should be formatted using the Society for American Anthropology Style Guide (https://www.saa.org/publications/the-saa-press or see next page). See also the bibliographic list provided on the next page.
Spelling and grammar: I am most interested in your critical thinking about course content, reflecting a solid grasp of material presented in readings, lectures, exercises, and discussions. That said, chronic misspellings and grammatical errors may result in a grade reduction.
Bibliography
Sources should come mainly from Part 3 of the course (readings listed below), but you are welcome to draw on other sources from prior modules if appropriate.
Berdan, Frances F.
2007 Con􏰀nuity and Change in Aztec Culture: From Imperial Lords to Royal Subjects. In Globaliza􏰀on
and Change in Fi􏰁een Cultures, edited by George Spindler and Janice E. Stockard, pp. 1-23. Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont.
Berdan, Frances F.
2021 A Battle Far Afield. In Everyday Life in the Aztec World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Deagan, Kathleen
1995 After Columbus: The Sixteenth-Century Spanish Caribbean Frontier. In The Archaeology of a
Sixteenth-Century Spanish Town in Hispaniola, edited by Kathleen Deagan, pp. 419-456. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Hirth, Kenneth and Deborah L Nichols
2017 The Structure of Aztec Commerce: Markets and Merchants. In The Oxford Handbook of the
Aztecs, edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Oudijk, Michel R., Ma􏰂hew Restall
2007 Mesoamerican Conquistadors in the Sixteenth Century. In Indian Conquistadors: Indigenous
Allies in the Conquest of Mesoamerica, edited by Laura, E. Ma􏰂hew and Michel R Oudijk, pp.28- 63. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Smith, Michael
2008 Form, Meaning, and Urban Planning. In Aztec City-State Capitals. pp. 124-150. University Press
of Florida, Gainesville. Smith, Michael
2011 Family and Social Class. In The Aztecs, by M. Smith, pp. 125-139. Blackwell.
Smith, Michael
2011 Temples and Ceremonies. In The Aztecs, edited by M. Smith. Blackwell.