ICP–ES analysis of the clay pastes of Postclassic (c. ad 850–1524) slipped pottery from the central Petén lakes region establishes chemical composition groups that provide information concerning manufacturing traditions and trading patterns. These data demonstrate that manufacturing traditions and trading patterns change throughout the Postclassic period, reflecting possible socio‐political alliances as different ethnic groups migrated to and from the Yucatán peninsula into the central Petén lakes region. The chemical composition groups also demonstrate that some manufacturing traditions imitate those from the Late Classic period and that some clay sources were used throughout the Postclassic period for multiple ceramic groups.

Chiconautla, situated on the northeastern shore of Lake Texcoco and the southern edge of the Teotihuacan Valley, lay at an important juncture for east-west exchange in the Basin of Mexico with connections to asfar away as the Gulf Coast. Recently, we completed an INAA study on ceramics from Chiconautla to examine marketing and exchange patterns from A. D. 950 to 1521. We present these data and contextualize them in light of contexts excavated at the site by George C. Vaillant, in particular materials from an Aztec noble residence he called “Casa Reales.” We also examine historical information regarding Chiconautla’s role in Aztec society as it existed at the eve of Spanish conquest. We evaluate the site’s particular position at the crossroads of important trade routes in light of recent models of Aztec markets and exchange and what these patterns say about shifting political affiliations in this critical region.

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