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Corporate Power Strategies in the Late Formative to Early Classic Tequila Valleys of Central Jalisco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christopher S. Beekman
Christopher S. Beekman*
Affiliation:
Campus Box 103, P.O. Box 173364, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80217 (christopher.beekman@cudenver.edu)
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Abstract

Corporate political strategies (Blanton et al. 1996) that privilege power-sharing over exclusionary tactics are recognized to be important yet understudied forms of political behavior in early complex polities. I present the case of the Tequila valleys of western Mexico to illustrate several points about this corporate system: that the component descent groups can be recognized through their different approaches to architectural construction and burial patterns; that they form groups of counterpoised lineages that shared power; that the relationships between these groups become more fixed and hierarchical across different scales of architecture; and that there are distinct strata within the burial patterns that separate power-sharing groups from the rest of the community. It may be easier to identify and trace aspects of political organization here than in complex and layered urban settings that have been the focus of similar research.

Resumen

Resumen

Estrategias políticas corporativas (Blanton y otros 1996) privilegian el compartimiento de poder en vez de las tácticas exclusivas, y se reconocen por su importancia en la política antigua, pero son pocos estudiados. Presento el estudio de caso para los valles de Tequila del occidente de México para ilustrar ciertos puntos sobre un sistema corporativa: que los grupos componentes pueden ser reconocidos por sus acercamientos a la construcción arquitectónica y patrones mortuorios; que forman grupos de linajes contrapuestos que compartieron el poder política; que las relaciones entre estos grupos se hacen mas fijas y jerárquicas a través de las escalas diferentes de la arquitectura; y que hay estratos distintos en los patrones de entierro que separan estos grupos del resto de la comunidad. Jalisco pueda tener más potential identificar y remontar aspectos de las estrategias políticas corporativas que en los contextos urbanos complejos y estratificados que han sido el foco de otras investigaciones de estrategias corporativas.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 414 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

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References

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