The bulk of any small settlement was made up of the buildings of tribute-paying households. We still know less than we should about them. We do know that they varied widely in the amounts of different pottery objects they used and threw away. Elizabeth Brumfiel has made suggestive cases for variation in frequencies of spindle whorls as reflections of different degrees of resistance or incorporation into the Aztec political economy. In some villages, she shows that spinning declined as production of food increased, possibly for sale in the markets, and she suggests that women's work was changing in households in these areas. Based on her research, we can think about small households facing incorporation into the Aztec "empire" in unique ways, affecting residents quite differently.
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