The+Zapotec-Mixtec+Interaction+Sphere

In the Middle Formative Period there were several prominent cultures in the central valley of Mexico. The Mixtec and Zapotec in Oaxaca Valley, as well as Teotihuacán to the North were the most prominent of these groups at the time. Trade of ideas and material culture was common, with such artifacts as pottery, pigments, jewelry, and other goods distinguishable as relics of the individual culture that produced them.

Following is a description of Monte Alban as a site over several hundred years and multiple periods of habitation, as well as it’s relation to the valley of Oaxaca and surrounding sites, and it’s implications as de-facto capital of the Zapotec civilization. Following is the example that best mirrors Monte Alban in the site of Monte Negro. Next are the general relations between the Zapotec and Mixtec over time, and the transfusion of ideas between the two cultures that were refined in Monte Alban during its populated state. An ongoing exchange of goods and ideas can be demonstrated through the near simultaneous social and political developments.

//San Jose Mogote//

Beginning around 1500 BCE and continuing until 1150 BCE, San Jose Mogote became a village in the Northwest of the Oaxaca valley. The valley is in a slanted Y-shape, which offers the village and its bordering communities some distance from other settlements in the valley. It is believed to have been the first community in the valley that had public structures beyond familial homes. Beginning in 1150 BCE and continuing until 500 BCE, San Jose Mogote continued to increase in size and population, reaching it’s apex with approximately 150 acres of land and an estimate of 1000-1500 inhabitants around 700 BCE. It is around this time that Monte Alban began to grow in size as well, and to increase its influence as a ceremonial and economical center point of the growing Zapotec culture (Blanton, 1993).

It is with Monte Alban’s expansion in the Middle Formative Period that influence and population at San Jose Mogote appear to decrease, indicating that Monte Alban most likely supplanted it as the capital city of the developing Zapotec influence in the area. San Jose Mogote, as well as up to 40 other villages and settlements in the valley, were satellite hubs of the political center. Their decrease in population and the same time as Monte Alban’s increase is a clear suggestion that the city was founded by the surrounding settlements as a gathering point closer to the buffer zone between the other parts of Oaxaca Valley, with whose residents the Zapotec appeared to have been in constant conflict with. When considering the placement of Monte Alban within the valley and the lack of easy access to necessary resources to sustain the city, it is unusual that it would displace other sites in leadership.

//Monte Alban//

Located upon a ridge that was leveled and is approximately 1940 meters above sea level, the main site is 400 meters above the valley floor. The site is blocked into units known as terraces, or raised platforms on which structures were built. Utilizing the advantages of defense and maximum use of the meager agricultural space available, the main complex as well the surrounding terraces were located upon the tops of the hills, including the nearby Atzompa and El Gallo hills immediately to the North (Blanton, 1978). While they are geographically distinct locations, having no connecting structures at the valley level between the hills, the sites were unquestionably viewed as one settlement in the eyes of its residents and to modern archaeologists working at the site.

Based on the excavations by Blanton and Flannery, the site appears to have been occupied in several periods, each with its own level of construction and remodeling of older structures. Five distinct periods are generally recognized based on their work, with several of them being split into sub-periods.

Periods I and II have distinct ceramics that can help to distinguish them from one another and separate eras of habitation. Though both periods have similar population sizes and settlement estimates, it is clear that they are separate entities both in ceramic production, style, and distribution. Using this data, it is possible to date habitation of specific parts of the site, and to confirm that, while very small, there was a habitation of the nearby hills of Atzompa and El Gallo previously mentioned by the end Period I, with sherds of that style of ceramics present (Blanton, 1978).



Based on collection of ceramic sherds and excavations of the site, as well as its general isolation from sources of water and arable land, Monte Alban is believed to have been entirely devoid of human settlement before Period I commenced. Period I can be subdivided into Early and Late Period I based on placement of certain ceramic types. A certain style, the G-12 bowl, is one marker of the latter of the two (Caso, 1967).

Period IIIa at Monte Alban is marked by a variety of carved vessels known as G-23, including a specific style which was taken from Teotihuacan. This vessel type, with steep sides, flat bottoms, tripod supports, and coffee bean appliqué is a very defined style that comes from direct trade with Teotihuacan. We know that there was trade with them in style and in material culture, as an orange pigment used for thin orange lines on ceramics is found to come from the other culture’s area, while the vessels use clay and temper available in the Oaxaca valley.

Period IIIb and IV are separated more through the historical record than pottery types, in that between the two, use of the Main Plaza was abandoned. The style of pottery in the Main Plaza does not progress beyond this Period, and it is in ruins while other buildings are still in use, for reasons unknown.

Finally, Period IV-V Monte Alban, which is contemporaneous with Period V Mixtec, can be known in these terms as the Late Postclassic period for the entire Valley of Oaxaca. The rise in population that is associated with this time period is mirrored with evidence of similar growth amongst certain Mixtec sites, such as Monte Negro. Similarly, both appear to have the same ability to draw population from surrounding towns to build up their own (Licon, 1998).

The Mixtec people had a similar period of urban growth and expansion in another part of the valley, about 110 km away, on the hillside site of Monte Negro. Built on a hilltop overlooking Tilantongo, the Mixtec capital in the Oaxaca valley, the site mirrors Monte Alban in several ways. The site was also occupied at around the same time as Monte Alban, with architecture dating as far back as Monte Alban’s Period I. A swell in population size also occurred around the same time (Balkansky, 2000). The debate on regional interaction brings up the observation that study of urbanism and the state needs to consider multiple polities, rather than just the one under consideration (Price, 1977). This view is critical to understanding the complex interactions that these cultures had with one another, especially when the physical evidence is undiscovered or undiscoverable.

Tomb 7 at Monte Alban has been and still is one of the richest tombs discovered in Mesoamerica. Along with over 500 artifacts, including intricate jewelry, ceramics, textiles, and spinning and weaving tools are the remains of 9 separate bodies (Caso, 1932). While even the details as seemingly simple as the gender of the main tomb occupant being debated (as seen in the work of the McCafferty’s, 1994), it is undoubtedly true that a system of inequality is evident at the site. This hierarchical system is also evident in Mixtec society, and Monte Negro is no different. Prestige goods and the quality of burial offerings paint a similar picture of high-ranking elites and social inequality (Autry, 1973).

As previously discussed, there is debate over the gender of the remains of Individual A. Caso and others have placed the remains as male, while others, such as the McCafferty’s, believe that the excavation’s interpretations may have been engendered by expected anthropological and cultural norms. The bones and burial offerings are more indicative of a female, and iconography in the tomb may help identify the remains as one of the noblewomen identified in the Codex Nuttall, possibly Lady 4 Rabbit. Historical accounts and records identify Lady 4 Rabbit as a noblewoman from Tilantango, the Mixtec capital, who married Lord 5 Flower of the Zapotec and founded the Zaachila dynasty, which is recorded in the codex (Hamaan, 1997). If this were the case, it would be further proof that the two cultures had formal relations with one another, and would most likely have been sharing more than material goods, but also cultural ideas and beliefs.

The collapse of Monte Alban followed shortly after the collapse of it’s counterpart in the North, Teotihuacán. After the latter’s collapse late in the seventh century, one of the main reasons for Monte Alban’s existence was removed, and coupled with a severe drought that depleted resources in the valley, the site began a quick decline. This was also the case with Monte Negro, and several other sites of both the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures. The fact of the matter is that the site could not support itself, and without one of its main lifelines, the outlying capital of a self-embedded society was no longer economically self-sufficient, and it soon crumbled. Excavations of the site near the end of its main occupation place estimate a population at about 18% of its maximum occupation (Blanton, 1978).

There are far too many similarities between the two settlements and cultures to believe that they did not share any of their culture. It is already shown that trade of goods between the two was occurring, more likely directly than indirectly, and that there was an exchange and influence over cultural norms. As further study and excavation is done, I believe that the archaeological evidence will lean ever more strongly in this direction.

Blanton, R. E. 1978 Monte Alban: Settlement Patters at the Ancient Zapotec Capital. New York Academic Press. American Anthropological Association.

Carballo, David and Pluckhahn, Thomas 2007 Cerro Transportation corridors and political evolution in highland Mesoamerica: Settlement analyses incorporating GIS. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Vol. 26, No. 4. Society for American Archaeology.

Gorenflo, Larry and Gale, Nathan 1986 Population and productivity in the Teotihuacán valley: Changing patters of spatial association in prehispanic central Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Vol. 5, No. 3

O’Brien, Michael and Lewarch, Dennis 1992 Regional Analysis of the Zapotec Empire, Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. World Archaeology, Vol. 23, No. 3.

Juneston, John S. 1986 The Origin of Writing Systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica. World Archaeology, Vol. 17, No. 3

Blanton, Richard E, Kowalewski, Stephen A, Feinman, Gary M, and Finsten, Laura M 1993 Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions. Cambridge University.

Balkansky, Andrew K, Perez Rodriguez, Veronica, and Kowalewski, Stephen A 2004 Monte Negro and the Urban Revolution in Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 15, No. 1, Society for American Archaeology.

Nelson, Sarah M. 2003 Ancient Queens: Archaeological Explorations. Rowman Altamira

Evans, Susan Toby, and Pillsbury, Joanne 1998 Palaces of the Ancient New World. A Symposium at Dunbarton Oaks, 10th and 11th Octber 1998. Dunbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.