ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests the need for an interactive model of trade and tribute in imperial cities. It attempts to define the economic consequences of the transition. The chapter discusses that the tribute paid the Triple Alliance rulers was the result of conquest and subjugation. It also discusses that exchanges between commoners and the ruler were accomplished by tribute payment and gift giving. Xaltocan's political decline began in the mid-thirteenth century when Xaltocan entered a lengthy war against neighboring Cuauhtitlan. In the Valley of Mexico, fabric-marked pottery occurs in very heavy concentrations at places of salt production, and it occurs in very light concentrations at places of salt consumption. Xaltocan's situation improved little when Azcapotzalco was defeated by the Aztec Triple Alliance in 1428. Outside the workshop areas, the Early Aztec pattern of obsidian consumption is much the same at Xaltocan as it is elsewhere in the Valley of Mexico.
