Charlotte, North Carolina, Mar 26 (EFE).– The Aztec empire was not as powerful as previously thought and did not enjoy total domination of its central Mexican heartland, according to a study published by the Journal of Archaeological Science.

“The Geopolitics of Obsidian Supply in Postclassic Tlaxcallan” is the product of a collaboration among researchers from North Carolina State University, the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados from the Instituto Politecnico Nacional-Unidad Merida, El Colegio de Michoacan and Purdue University.

The group spent more than eight years studying the independent republic of Tlaxcallan, established in the mid-13th century some 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of present-day Mexico City.

By 1500, Tlaxcallan was completely surrounded by the Aztec empire.

“What this study does is to put Tlaxcallan on the map, the place where the Spaniards arrived and where they sought help for the conquest of Mexico,” co-author Verenice Heredia Espinoza of Colegio de Michoacan told Efe. “We found that, despite the Aztec siege, the local population could hold their own.”

The goal of the investigation was to discover Tlaxcallan’s source of obsidian, a volcanic glass used to make knives, arrowheads and household items that was relatively scarce in the immediate environs.

“It turns out that they got the material from a place called El Paredon, a deposit nobody was exploiting because it was on the outskirts of the Aztec empire,” another co-author, NCSU anthropology professor John Millhauser, told Efe.

“The question is why the Aztecs, who were openly hostile to Tlaxcallan, did not intervene,” he added.

The research, he said, that “the popular idea that the Aztec Empire was all powerful before the arrival of Spanish explorer (Hernan) Cortes is exaggerated. The region’s political and cultural landscape was complicated.” EFE