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Circular Architecture and Symbolic Boundaries in the Mixtec Sierra, Oaxaca

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Laura Finsten ,
Stephen A. Kowalewski ,
Charlotte A. Smith ,
Mark D. Borland  and
Richard D. Garvin
Laura Finsten
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L9, Canada
Stephen A. Kowalewski
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Charlotte A. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Mark D. Borland
Affiliation:
D.R. Poulton & Associates, 429 Wharnecliffe Road S., London, Ontario N6J 2M6, Canada
Richard D. Garvin
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Environmental Studies, University College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, British Columbia V2C 5N3, Canada
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Abstract

Systematic survey of 1,000 km2 in a mountainous zone of the Mixteca Alta in Oaxaca, Mexico, has produced detailed architectural data at a large number of pre-Hispanic settlements. One unusual architectural form, circular stone foundations, apparently dates to the Late Postclassic period. Comparisons to similar architectural forms described in the archaeological and ethnographic literature of Mesoamerica and in the Mixtec codices suggest that they may have been sweatbaths. Analysis of their regional distribution and site contexts leads to interesting conclusions about additional contexts for sweatbath ritual. The symbolic link between royal birth, marriage, and sweatbath ritual is clear in the Mixtec codices. An additional use may have been in rituals affirming community identity and marking community boundaries. We suggest a further connection to the use of sweatbaths in Mixtec toponyms and their association with sacred places on the Mixtec landscape, both of which reflected the importance of marriage alliance and female royal inheritance in the territorial strategies of Postclassic Mixtec kingdoms.

Type
Articles
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , Spring 1996 , pp. 19 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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