Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:15:54.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Polychrome Pottery Economics and Ritual Life in Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Marc N. Levine ,
Lane F. Fargher ,
Leslie G. Cecil  and
Jamie E. Forde
Marc N. Levine
Affiliation:
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73072, ([email protected])
Lane F. Fargher
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología Humana, Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional—Unidad Mérida, Km. 6 antigua carretera a Progreso, Cordemex, 97310, Mérida, Yuc., México, (lanefargher@ yahoo .com)
Leslie G. Cecil
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Geography, and Sociology, P.O. Box 13047—SEA Station, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX 75962, ([email protected])
Jamie E. Forde
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology 1350 Pleasant St., Hale Science 350, Campus Box 233 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Tututepec was a regional capital that dominated much of southern Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1100-1522). This article synthesizes the results of compositional (neutron activation and petrography), stylistic, and iconographic analyses of pottery from commoner household excavations at Tututepec to address questions concerning ceramic production and distribution and also to shed light on aspects of political economy and domestic ritual at the capital. The study focuses primarily on Mixteca-Puebla polychromes, painted serving vessels bearing complex decorative motifs. Our compositional analyses, interpreted in light of the bedrock geology of the region, indicate that commoners obtained at least six to ten distinct varieties of pottery made from raw materials available locally within greater Tututepec. We argue that households probably acquired pottery through a central marketplace at the capital. In addition, our study demonstrates that commoners had regular access to polychromes from multiple producers, challenging the widespread notion that these vessels were restricted to elites who controlled their production. We argue that polychrome serving vessels played a prominent role in commonly occurring domestic rituals. Furthermore, commoners appear to have consciously selected vessels painted with imagery associated with warfare and sacrifice, suggesting that they actively supported the official imperial ideology of Tututepec.

Resumen

Resumen

Tututepec fue una capital regional que dominó gran parte del sur de Oaxaca, Mexico, en el Posclásico tardío (1100—1522 d.C). Este articulo sintetiza los resultados de los análisis de la compositión (análisis por activatión neutrónica y petrografía), estilo e iconografía de la cerámica de las excavaciones de conjuntos habitacionales de la gente comũn en Tututepec para abordar cuestiones sobre la productión y la distributión de cerámica, y también para aclarar los aspectos de la economía politíco y ritual doméstica en la capital. El estudio se centra más intensamente en la cerámica polácroma Mixteca-Puebla, vasijas para servir con motivos decorativos complejos. Nuestros andlisis de la composition, interpretados a la luz de la geologia de la region, indican que la gente comun obtuvo entre seis y diez variedades distintas de cerdmica, manufacturadas con materiasprimas disponibles localmente—dentro o alrededor de Tututepec. Planteamos que en los conjuntos habitacionales probablemente se adquirió la cerámica a travùs de un mercado central localizado en la capital. Además, nuestro estudio demuestra que la gente común tenía acceso a la cerámica policroma fabricada por varios alfareros, desafiando la idea generalizada de que estas vasijas fueron restringidas a las elites, quienes controlaban su producción. Proponemos que las vasijas policromas de servirjugaron unpapel destacado en los rituales domùsticos ordinarios. Aún más, los comuneros parecen haber seleccionado conscientemente las vasijas pintadas con imágenes asociadas con la guerra y el sacrificio, lo que sugiere que apoyaron activamente la ideología imperial oficial de Tututepec.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 319 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Acuña, René 1984 [ca.1580] Relaciones Geográficas del Siglo XVI: Antequera. Volume 1. Universidad Autónoma de México, México.Google Scholar
Appel, Jill 1982 The Postclassic–A Summary of the Ethnohistoric Information Relevant to the Interpretation of Late Postclassic Settlement Pattern Data, the Central and Valle Grande Survey Zones. In Monte Albán’s Hinterland, Part I: The Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Central and Southern Parts of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, edited by Richard E. Blanton, Stephen Kowalewski, Gary Feinman, and Jill Appel, pp. 139–146. Memoirs No. 15, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Arnold, Dean E. 1985 Ceramic Theory and Cultural Process. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Blackmore, Chelsea 2011 Ritual among the Masses: Deconstructing Identity and Class in an Ancient Maya Neighborhood. Latin American Antiquity 22(2): 159–177.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1996 The Basin of Mexico Market System and the Growth of Empire. In Aztec Imperial Strategies, edited by Frances Berdan, Richard E. Blanton, Elizabeth Hill Boone, Mary G. Hodge, Michael E. Smith, and Emily Umberger, pp. 47–84. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E., Kowalewski, Stephen, Feinman, Gary M., and Appel, Jill 1981 Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Blatt, Harvey, and Tracy, Robert J. 1996 Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic. WH Freeman and Company, New York.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 2004 Meaning by Design: Ceramics, Feasting, and Figured Worlds in Postclassic Mexico. In Mesoamerican Archaeology, edited by Julia A. Hendon and Rosemary A. Joyce, pp. 239–264. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso 1969 El Tesoro de Monte Albán. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Cortés, Hernán 1986 [1519–1525] Letters from Mexico. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Dahlin, Bruce H., Jensen, Christopher T., Terry, Richard E., Wright, David R., and Beach, Timothy 2007 In Search of an Ancient Maya Market. Latin American Antiquity 18(4):363–384.Google Scholar
Ducea, Mihai N., Gehrels, George E., Shoemaker, Sarah, Ruiz, Joaquin, and Valencia, Victor A. 2004 Geologic Evolution of the Xolapa Complex, Southern Mexico: Evidence from U-Pb Zircon Geochronology. Geological Society of America Bulletin 116:1016–1025.Google Scholar
Elías-Herrera, Mariano, Ortega-Gutiérrez, Fernando, Sánchez-Zavala, José Luís, de Consuelo Macías-Romo, María, Ortega-Rivera, Amabel, and Irionda, Alexander 2007 The Caltepec Fault Zone: Exposed Roots of a Long-Lived Tectonic Boundary between Two Continental Terranes of Southern México. In Geology of México: Celebrating the Centenary of the Geological Society of México, edited by Susana A. Alaniz-Alvarez and Angel F. Nieto-Samaniego, pp. 317–342. Geology Society of American Special Paper 422. The Geological Society of America, Inc., Boulder.Google Scholar
Fargher, Lane F, Blanton, Richard E., and Heredia Espinoza, Verenice Y. 2010 Egalitarian Ideology and Political Power in Prehispanic Central Mexico: The Case of Tlaxcallan. Latin American Antiquity 21(3):227–251.Google Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., Kowalewski, Stephen A., Banker, Sherman, and Nicholas, Linda M. 1992 Ceramic Production and Distribution in Late Postclassic Oaxaca: Stylistic and Petrographic Perspectives. In Ceramic Production and Distribution: An Integrated Approach, edited by George J. Bey III and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 235–259. Westview, Boulder.Google Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., and Nicholas, Linda M. 2010 A Multiscalar Perspective on Market Exchange in the Classic Period Valley of Oaxaca. In Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies, edited by Christopher P. Garraty and Barbara L. Stark, pp. 85–98. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Forde, Jamie E. 2006 Ideology, Identity, and Icons: A Study of Mixtec Polychrome Pottery from Late Postclassic Yucu Dzaa (Tututepec), Oaxaca, Mexico. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Gallegos, Roberto 1963 Zaachila: The First Season’s Work. Archaeology 16(4):226–233.Google Scholar
Garraty, Christopher P. 2013 Market Development and Pottery Exchange Under Aztec and Spanish Rule in Cerro Portezuelo. Ancient Mesoamerica 24(1):151–176.Google Scholar
Garraty, Christopher P., and Stark, Barbara L. (editors) 2010 Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 2000 Rethinking Ancient Maya Social Organization: Replacing “Lineage” with “House.” American Anthropologist 102(3):467–484.Google Scholar
Glascock, Michael D. 1992 Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics at MURR by Neutron Activation Analysis and Multivariate Statistics. In Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology, edited by Hector Neff, pp. 11–26. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Gonlin, Nancy, and Lohse, John C. (editors) 2007 Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Heidke, James M., Leary, Susan C., Herr, Sarah A., and Elson, Mark D. 2007 Alameda Brown Ware and San Francisco Mountain Gray Ware Technology and Economics. In Sunset Crater Archaeology: The History of a Volcanic Landscape. Ceramic Technology and Use, edited by Scott Van Keuren, Mark D. Elson, and Sarah A. Herr, pp. 145–183. Anthropological Papers No.32. Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson.Google Scholar
Hernández-Bernal, María del Sol, and Morán-Zenteno, Dante J. 1996 Origin of the Río Verde Batholith, Southern Mexico, as Inferred from its Geochemical Characteristics. International Geology Review 38:361–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernández Sánchez, Gilda 2010 Vessels for Ceremony: The Pictography of Codex-Style Mixteca Puebla Vessels from Central and South Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 21(3):252–273.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G. 1998 The Distributional Approach: A New Way to Identify Marketplace Exchange in the Archaeological Record. Current Anthropology 39:451–476.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G., and Pillsbury, Joanne (editors) 2013 Merchants, Markets, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Hodge, Mary G., Neff, Hector, Blackman, M. J., and Minc, Leah D. 1993 Black on Orange Ceramic Production in the Aztec Empire’s Heartland. Latin American Antiquity 4(2):130–157.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A. 1991 Formative Period Occupation in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico: Interregional Interaction and Social Change. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A., Levine, Marc N., King, Stacie M., Hedgepeth, Jessica, and Barber, Sarah B. 2014 Political Transformations and the Everyday in Postclassic Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 25(2):389–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A., and Mueller, Raymond G. 1997 Prehispanic Human Ecology of the Río Verde Drainage Basin, Oaxaca, Mexico. World Archaeology 29(1):75–94.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A., Neff, Hector, Thieme, Mary S., Winter, Marcus, Michael Elam, J., and Workinger, Andrew 2006 Ceramic Production and Exchange in Late/Terminal Formative Period Oaxaca. Latin American Antiquity 17(4):579–594.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A., Workinger, Andrew G., Hamann, Byron, Kroefges, Peter, Oland, Maxine, and King, Stacie M. 2004 Lord 8 Deer “Jaguar Claw” and the Land of the Sky: The Archaeology and History of Tututepec. Latin American Antiquity 15(3):273–297.Google Scholar
Levine, Marc N. 2007 Linking Household and Polity at Late Postclassic Yucu Dzaa (Tututepec), a Mixtec Capital on the Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Levine, Marc N. 2011 Negotiating Political Economy at Late Postclassic Tututepec (Yucu Dzaa), Oaxaca, Mexico. American Anthropologist 113(1):22–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Marc N. 2014 Obsidian Obsessed? Examining Patterns of Chipped-Stone Procurement at Late Postclassic Tututepec, Oaxaca. In Obsidian Reflections: Symbolic Dimensions of Obsidian in Mesoamerica, edited by Marc N. Levine and David M. Carballo, pp. 159–191. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Marc N., Joyce, Arthur A., and Glascock, Michael D. 2011 Shifting Patterns of Obsidian Exchange in Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(1):123–133.Google Scholar
Lind, Michael 1987 The Sociocultural Dimensions of Mixtec Ceramics. Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology, No. 33. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Lind, Michael 1994 Cholula and Mixteca Polychromes: Two Mixteca-Puebla Regional Sub-Styles. In Mixteca-Puebla: Discoveries and Research in Mesoamerican Art and Archaeology, edited by Henry B. Nicholson and Eloise Quiñones Keber, pp.79–99. Labyrinthos, Culver City, California.Google Scholar
Lucero, Lisa J. 2010 Materialized Cosmology Among Ancient Maya Commoners. Journal of Social Archaeology 10(1):138–167.Google Scholar
Minc, Leah D. 2006 Monitoring Regional Market Systems in Prehistory: Models, Methods, and Metrics. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25(1):82–116.Google Scholar
Monaghan, John 1994 Irrigation and Ecological Complementarity in Mixtec Cacicazgos. In Caciques and Their People: A Volume in Honor of Ronald Spores, edited by Joyce Marcus and Judith F. Zeitlin, pp. 143–161. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Morán-Zenteno, Dante J., Tolson, Gustavo, Martínez-Serrano, Raymundo G., Martiny, Barbara M., Schaaf, Peter, Silva-Romo, Gilberto, María, de Consuelo Macías-Romo, Alba-Aldave, Leticia A., del Sol Hernández-Bernal, María, and Solís-Pichardo, Gabriela N. 1999 Tertiary Arc-Magmatism of the Sierra Madre del Sur, Mexico, and its Transition to the Volcanic Activity of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 12:513–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neff, Hector 1992 Introduction. In Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology, edited by Hector Neff, pp. 1–10. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector 2000 Neutron Activation Analysis for Provenance Determination in Archaeology. In Modern Analytical Methods in Art and Archaeology, edited by Enrico Ciliberto and Giuseppe Spoto, pp. 81–134. Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Bishop, Ronald L., Sisson, Edward B., Glascock, Michael D., and Sisson, Penny R. 1994 Neutron Activation Analysis of Late Postclassic Polychrome Pottery from Central Mexico. In Mixteca-Puebla: Discoveries and Research in Mesoamerican Art and Archaeology, edited by Henry B. Nicholson and Eloise Quiñones Keber, pp. 117–141. Labyrinthos, Culver City, California.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Glascock, Michael D., Charlton, Thomas H., Charlton, Cynthia Otis, and Nichols, Deborah L. 2000 Provenience Investigation of Ceramics and Obsidian from Otumba. Ancient Mesoamerica 11(2):307–321.Google Scholar
Nichols, Deborah L., Brumfiel, Elizabeth M., Hector, Neff, Hodge, Mary G., Charlton, Thomas H., and Glascock, Michael D. 2002 Neutrons, Markets, Cities, and Empires: A 1000-Year Perspective on Ceramic Production and Distribution in the Postclassic Basin of Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 21(1):25–82.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B., and Quiñones Keber, Eloise (editors) 1994 Mixteca-Puebla: Discoveries and Research in Mesoamerican Art and Archaeology. Labyrinthos, Culver City, California.Google Scholar
O’Mack, Scott 1990 Reconocimiento arqueológico en Tututepec, Oaxaca. Notas Mesoamericanas (12): 19–38.Google Scholar
Overholtzer, Lisa 2012 So that the Baby Not Be Formed Like a Pottery Rattle: Rattle Figurines and Aztec Household Social Reproductive Practices. Ancient Mesoamerica 23(1):69–83.Google Scholar
Pohl, John M. D. 1994 The Politics of Symbolism in the Mixtec Codices. Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology, No. 46. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Pohl, John M. D. 2003 Ritual and Iconographic Variability in Mixteca-Puebla Polychrome Pottery. In The Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan, pp. 201–206. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Pohl, John M.D., Monaghan, John, and Stiver, Laura R. 1997 Religion, Economy, and Factionalism in Mixtec Boundary Zones. In Códices y Documentos Sobre México: Segundo Simposio, edited by Salvador Rueda Smithers and Constanza Vega Sosa, pp. 205–232. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Carl James 2011 Sampling, Regression, Experimental Design and Analysis for Environmental Scientists, Biologists, and Resource Managers. Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada.Google Scholar
Smith, Mary Elizabeth 1973 Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico: Mixtec Place Signs and Maps. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 2002 Domestic Ritual at Aztec Provincial Sites in Morelos. In Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Patricia Plunket, pp. 93–114. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 2003 Information Networks in Postclassic Mesoamerica. In The Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan, pp. 181–185. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 2004 The Archaeology of Ancient State Economies. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:73–102.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E., and Berdan, Frances F. 2003 Postclassic Mesoamerica. In The Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan, pp. 3–13. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Smith Michael, E., and Heath-Smith, Cynthia 1980 Waves of Influence in Postclassic Mesoamerica? A Critique of the Mixteca-Puebla Concept. Anthropology 4(2): 15–50.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E., Wharton, Jennifer, and Olson, Jan Marie 2003 Aztec Feasts, Rituals and Markets: Political Uses of Ceramic Vessels in a Commercialized Economy. In The Archaeology and Politics of Food and Feasting in Early States and Empires, edited by Tamara Bray, pp. 235–270. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York.Google Scholar
Spores, Ronald 1993 Tututepec: A Postclassic-Period Mixtec Conquest State. Ancient Mesoamerica 4(1): 167–174.Google Scholar
Stoltman, James B. 1989 A Quantitative Approach to the Petrographic Analysis of Ceramic Thin Sections. American Antiquity 54:147–160.Google Scholar
Stoltman, James B. 2001 The Role of Petrography in the Study of Archaeological Ceramics. In Earth Sciences and Archaeology, edited by Paul Goldberg, Vance T. Holliday, and C. Reid Ferring, pp. 297–326. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
Terraciano, Kevin 2001 The Mixtecs of Colonial Oaxaca: Nudzahui History, Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Tolson, Gustavo 2007 The Chacalapa Fault, Southern Oaxaca, México. In Geology of México: Celebrating the Centenary of the Geological Society of México, edited by Susana A. Alaniz-Alvarez and Angel F. Nieto-Samaniego, pp. 343–357. Geology Society of American Special Paper 422. Geological Society of America, Inc., Boulder.Google Scholar
Vaillant, George C. 1938 A Correlation of Archaeological and Historical Sequences in the Valley of Mexico. American Anthropologist 40(4):535–573.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 14.1 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 21.3 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Figure S1

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 97.9 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Figure S2

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 92.9 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Figure S3

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 385.2 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Figure S4

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 265.2 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Table S1

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 39 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Levine et al. Supplementary Material

Table S2

Download Levine et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 57.1 KB