Oaxaca (archaeological site)
Oaxaca is an archaeological site located in the Valley of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, recognized as a significant center of pre-Columbian civilization, particularly the Zapotec culture. The valley's unique Y-shaped geography, formed by the Atoyac and Salado rivers, has supported human habitation for thousands of years, with evidence of continuous cultural occupation from early hunter-gatherer societies to advanced agricultural communities. Notable sites within the valley include Guilá Naquitz, which dates back to 8750 BCE and showcases early seasonal use by foragers, and San José Mogote, the first known farming village in the region around 1500 BCE.
San José Mogote became a center for public architecture and long-distance trade, influencing the later development of Monte Albán, which emerged as a dominant political and religious center between 500 BCE and 700 CE. Monte Albán maintained connections with other cultures, including Teotihuacán, before experiencing a decline linked to shifts in trade and political structures. The site reflects the complex social organization of the Zapotec civilization, including the establishment of kinship ties among nobility that played a crucial role during the Postclassic period. Today, the Valley of Oaxaca serves as a vital link to understanding the rich history and cultural evolution of ancient Mesoamerican societies.
Oaxaca (archaeological site)
Category: Archaeological site
Date: Since 1600 BCE
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
Cultures affected: Zapotec, Maya
The Valley of Oaxaca, in the highlands of southern Mexico, is one of the New World’s most important centers of pre-Columbian civilization. Zapotec civilization thrived in this valley. The valley itself is Y-shaped, divided into three arms by the confluence of the Atoyac and Salado rivers. The lower portion of the valley is fertile, alluvial bottomland and remains a major area for agriculture production. Research undertaken since the late nineteenth century has revealed one of the longest sequences of indigenous cultural occupation in the Americas, beginning with early Archaic period hunter-gatherers and continuing to the thriving Zapotec communities of today.
One of the earliest sites in the valley is Guilá Naquitz, a rock shelter in the eastern arm of the valley, excavated in 1966 by archaeologist Kent Flannery. Stratified occupation levels date from 8750 to 6670 BCE and represent seasonal use of the shelter by mobile bands of hunter-gatherers who consumed a variety of wild plant foods, including acorns, maguey hearts, mesquite seeds, and hackberries. Squash and beans may have been cultivated. Although no carbonized remains of maize were recovered, pollen from Zea mays was present in some levels.
By 1500 BCE, the earliest pottery-using farming village in the valley had been established at San José Mogote, also investigated by Flannery. Subsistence was based on maize supplemented by wild plants and game. Before 1150 BCE, it had become the largest of about two dozen Early Formative period villages in the valley. It was the first settlement with public architecture in the form of large, rectangular structures. Obsidian, conch shells, and stingray spines indicate long-distance exchange with cultures of central Mexico and the coast, and at least one workshop produced magnetite mirrors that were traded to contemporaneous Olmec sites such as San Lorenzo. San José Mogote remained the center of ceremonial activity in the valley until 500 BCE, when it was supplanted by Monte Albán. A carved Danzante (dancer) slab with a bloodied sacrificial victim placed at the threshold of a ceremonial structure suggests that the processes that led to the establishment of the hilltop center of Monte Albán may have had their beginning at San José Mogote.
Between 500 BCE and 700 CE, Monte Albán dominated the valley as a political and religious center, conducting long-distance relationships with Teotihuacán, in central Mexico, where there is evidence for a barrio (neighborhood) of residents from Oaxaca. The decline of Monte Albán may have been linked in some way to the collapse of the polity at Teotihuacán. Other factors included an increase in craft specialization and economic activity at sites away from the center, reducing Monte Albán’s relative importance in political and exchange networks. From 700 to 1000 CE, it experienced a population decline of about 25 percent, while centers on the valley floor such as Zaachila, Lambityeco, Jalieza, and Mitla increased in size. Monuments of this later phase include a number of genealogical registers, recording the royal marriages of Zapotec nobility. These indicate the importance of the establishment of kinship links between different polities, which played key roles in the reorganization of political alliances during the Postclassic period (1000 to 1500).
World Heritage Site
The modern city of Oaxaca, officially known as Oaxaca de Juárez and part of the Mexican state also called Oaxaca, bases much of its economy on tourism to the various archaeological sites in the region, as well as the continued influence of contemporary indigenous culture. In 1987 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the core of Oaxaca, together with Monte Albán, a World Heritage site as a way to recognize the unique cultural and historical value of the region and work to preserve it for future generations. Officially named the Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán, the site covers both the functional and sacred structures of the Olmec, Zapotec, and Mixtec peoples as well the core of the city of Oaxaca itself, which was built on a grid in the Spanish colonial style beginning in 1529 and retains much of its historic character. At least 1,200 notable monuments have been documented in the city, and its layout featuring a central square and surrounding square blocks speaks to early colonial urban planning efforts. One interesting feature of many of the historic constructions in the region is that they were built with designs adapted to the frequent earthquakes experienced in the area.
Bibliography
Blanton, Richard E., et al. Ancient Oaxaca. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.
Henderson, Justin. Oaxaca. Berkeley: Avalon Travel, 2015. Print.
"Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán." UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2016. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.
"Oaxaca, World Heritage City." VisitMexico. Mexico Tourism Board, 2012. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.
Sacks, Oliver. Oaxaca Journal. New York: Vintage, 2012. Print.