In this article, I examine the use of ceramic fragments to mark sacred spaces at the Postclassic central Mexican site of Xaltocan. Recent excavations in Xaltocan's central precinct revealed a series of ritual features dating to Xaltocan's Middle Postclassic period (a.d. 1240–1350) that were carefully constructed with ceramic fragments. I argue that this practice might represent an effort on the part of Xaltocan's Postclassic leaders to mark these features as sacred. Although Xaltocan was ruled by Otomi peoples during this time, the careful incorporation of ceramic fragments into ritual spaces might be related to the Nahua concept of tlazolli and possibly reflects the increasing influence of Nahua ideologies across the Basin of Mexico. Despite its generally negative connotations, tlazolli was a powerful substance that central Mexicans could manipulate to energize ritual spaces. By carefully reordering ceramic fragments in and around ritual features, Xaltocan's leaders might have imbued these spaces with sacred energy. While the concept of tlazolli might have been quite widespread during this time, the specific practices discussed in this article appear to have been isolated to Xaltocan's Middle Postclassic leaders. Perhaps the specific practices observed were an invention of Xaltocan's Middle Postclassic leaders that never spread.

中文翻译：

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珍贵的垃圾：在墨西哥后经典 XALTOCAN 的精英仪式环境中陶瓷碎片的神圣意义

在这篇文章中，我研究了使用陶瓷碎片来标记墨西哥中部后经典遗址 Xaltocan 的神圣空间。最近在 Xaltocan 中心区的发掘揭示了一系列可追溯到 Xaltocan 中后期古典时期的仪式特征（广告1240-1350）用陶瓷碎片精心建造。我认为这种做法可能代表了 Xaltocan 的后古典主义领导人为将这些特征标记为神圣的努力。虽然夏尔托坎在此期间由乙巳人统治，但将陶瓷碎片小心地融入仪式空间可能与纳瓦人的概念有关。特拉佐利并且可能反映了纳瓦意识形态在墨西哥盆地的影响越来越大。尽管它通常具有负面含义，特拉佐利是一种强大的物质，墨西哥中部人可以操纵它来激发仪式空间。通过仔细重新排列仪式特征内部和周围的陶瓷碎片，Xaltocan 的领导人可能已经为这些空间注入了神圣的能量。虽然概念特拉佐利在这段时间可能已经相当普遍，但本文中讨论的具体做法似乎已被孤立于 Xaltocan 的中后期经典领导人。也许观察到的具体做法是 Xaltocan 的中后古典主义领导人的发明，从未传播开来。