Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T10:39:25.648Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pacific Coastal Laguna Zope

A regional center in the Terminal Formative hinterlands of Monte Albán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Robert N. Zeitlin
Robert N. Zeitlin
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02254, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent excavations at Laguna Zope, on the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, provide interesting insights into the nature of a regional center in the hinterlands of Monte Albán. The excavation focused on an elite-status area of the site dating to the Terminal Formative period, a time when the Monte Albán polity in the highland Valley of Oaxaca was thought to have embarked on an imperialist campaign to turn former exchange partners into tribute-paying subjects. In contrast to the evidence from some other regions of Oaxaca, there was little to suggest that Laguna Zope was ever subjugated. On the contrary, exchange between Pacific coastal Laguna Zope and Monte Albán seems to have flourished during the Terminal Formative despite the political unrest that apparently interfered with commerce elsewhere in Oaxaca. In maintaining its political independence and resilience as a center for long-distance exchange during this troubled period, Laguna Zope may have capitalized on its relative distance from the Valley of Oaxaca and on a geographic location that afforded it strategic access to other markets.

Type
Special Section: The Coast Beyond the Clouds: Coastal Highland Interaction in Pre-Hispanic Oaxaca
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993 , pp. 85 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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

Agrinier, Pierre 1975 Mound IA, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Paper No. 37. New World Archaeological Foundation. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Ball, Hugh G., and Brockington, Donald L. 1978 Trade and Travel in Prehispanic Oaxaca. In Mesoamerican Communication Routes and Cultural Contacts, edited by Lee, Thomas A. Jr., and Navarrete, Carlos, pp. 107–114. Paper No. 40. New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Beals, Ralph L. 1975 The Peasant Marketing System of Oaxaca, Mexico. University of California Press, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berdan, Frances E. 1982 The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael 1991 An Emerging Early Formative Chiefdom at Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, Mexico. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by Fowler, William R. Jr., pp. 27–46. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1976 Anthropological Study of Cities. Annual Review of Anthropology 5:249–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1978 Monte Albán: Settlement Patterns at the Ancient Zapotec Capital. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1983 The Founding of Monte Albán. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, J., pp. 83–87. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1990 Theory and Practice in Mesoamerican Archaeology: A Comparison of Two Modes of Scientific Inquiry. In Debating Oaxaca Archaeology, edited by Marcus, J., pp. 1–16. Anthropological Papers No. 84. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Burgoa, Fray Francisco de 1934 Geográfica descripción, tomo II. Publicaciones del Archive General de la Nación, Mexico.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, and Bernal, Ignacio 1965 Ceramics of Oaxaca. In Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, pt. 2, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 871–895. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 3, Robert Wauchope, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, Bernal, Ignacio, and Acosta, Jorge R. 1967 La cerámica de Monte Albán. Memorias del Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia No. 13. Mexico.Google Scholar
Ceja Tenorio, Jorge F. 1985 Paso de la Amada: An Early Preclassic Site in the Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico. Paper No. 49. New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1991 The Beginnings of Mesoamerica: Apologia for the Soconusco Early Formative. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by Fowler, William R. Jr., pp. 13–26. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1961 La Victoria: An Early Site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 53. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Drennan, Robert D. 1983 Monte Albán I and II Settlement in the Mountain Survey Zone between the Valleys of Oaxaca and Nochixtlán. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 110–111. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Eder, Herbert M. 1976 Markets as Mirrors: Reflectors of the Economic Activity and the Regional Culture of Coastal Oaxaca. In Markets in Oaxaca, edited by Cook, Scott and Diskin, Martin, pp. 67–80. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinman, Gary M. 1985 Investigations in a Near-Periphery: Regional Settlement Pattern in the Ejutla Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Mexican 7:60–68.Google Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., and Nicholas, Linda M. 1990 At the Margins of the Monte Alban State: Settlement Patterns in the Ejutla Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 1:216–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., and Nicholas, Linda M. 1993 Shell-Ornament Production in Ejutla: Implications for Highland-Coastal Interaction in Ancient Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:103–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, Kent V. 1983 Monte Negro: A Reinterpretation. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 99–104. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 1983 The Origins of the State in Oaxaca. Editors' Introduction. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 79–83. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., Marcus, Joyce, and Kowalewski, Stephen A. 1981 The Preceramic and Formative of the Valley of Oaxaca. In Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. 48–93. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 1, Victoria R. Bricker, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Schoenwetter, James 1970 Climate and Man in Formative Oaxaca. Archaeology 23:144–152.Google Scholar
Gibson, Charles 1971 Structure of the Aztec Empire. In Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, pt. 1, edited by Ekholm, G.F. and Bernal, I., pp. 376–394. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, Robert Wauchope, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Green, Dee F., and Lowe, Gareth W. 1967 Altamira and Padre Piedra: Early Preclassic Sites in Chiapas, Mexico. Paper No. 20. New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Hassig, Ross 1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A. 1991a Formative Period Social Change in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 2:126–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A. 1991b Formative Period Occupation in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico: Interregional Interaction and Social Change. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A. 1993 Interregional Interaction and Social Development on the Oaxaca Coast. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:67–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1962 Mound 5 and Minor Excavations, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Paper No. 12. New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Maler, Teobert 1942 Descubrimiento de una tumba real zapoteca en Tehuantepec en el año de 1875. El México Antigua 6:1–5.Google Scholar
Malinowski, Bronislaw, and Fuente, Julio de la 1957 La economía de un sistema de mercados en México. Acta Antropológica época 2a 1(2). Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Sociedad de Alumnos, Mexico.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1976 The Origins of Mesoamerican Writing. Annual Review of Anthropology 5:35–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1983 Rethinking the Zapotec Urn. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 144–148. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Markman, Charles W. 1981 Prehispanic Settlement Dynamics in Central Oaxaca, Mexico: A View from the Miahuatlán Valley. Publications in Anthropology No. 26. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1973 The Teotihuacán Map, Part I, Text. Urbanization at Teotihuacán, Mexico, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Moorhead, Max L. 1949 Hernan Cortes and the Tehuantepec Passage. Hispanic American Review 29:370–379.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 1973 El sistema prehispánico de comunicaciones entre Chiapas y Tabasco. Anales de Antropología 10:32–92. Mexico.Google Scholar
Parsons, Lee A. 1969 Bilbao, Guatemala: An Archaeological Study of the Pacific Coast Cotzumalhuapa Region, vol. 2. Publications in Anthropology No. 12. Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Parsons, Lee A. 1978 The Peripheral Coastal Lowlands and the Middle Classic Period. In Middle Classic Mesoamerica: A.D. 400–700, edited by Pasztory, Esther, pp. 25–34. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Paso y Troncoso, Francisco del 1905 Papeles de Nueva España, segunda serie, geografía y estadistica, vol. 4. Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, Madrid.Google Scholar
Pires-Ferreira, Jane W. 1975 Formative Mesoamerican Exchange Networks with Special Reference to the Valley of Oaxaca. Memoirs No. 7. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redmond, Elsa M. 1983 A Fuego y Sangre: Early Zapotec Imperialism in the Cuicatlán Cañada, Oaxaca. Memoirs No. 16. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Nichols, Deborah L. 1988 Ecological Theory and Cultural Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca. Current Anthropology 29:33–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1980 Disembedded Capitals Reconsidered. American Antiquity 45:132–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarcz, Henry P., and Schoeninger, Margaret J. 1991 Stable Isotope Analyses in Human Nutritional Ecology. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 34:283–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sealy, J.C., and Merwe, N.J. van der 1992 On “Approaches to Dietary Reconstruction in the Western Cape: Are You What You Have Eaten?” —A Reply to Parkington. Journal of Archaeological Science 19:459–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 1986 The Role of Social Stratification in the Aztec Empire: A View from the Provinces. American Anthropologist 88:70–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, Charles S. 1982 The Cuicatlán Cañada and Monte Albán: A Study of Primary State Formation. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Spencer, Charles S., and Redmond, Elsa M. 1983 A Middle Formative Elite Residence and Associated Structures at La Coyotera. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 71–72. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Spores, Ronald 1983 Ramos Phase Urbanization in the Mixteca Alta. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Flannery, Kent V. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 120–123Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara (editor) 1989 Ancient Trade and Tribute: Economies of the Soconusco Region of Mesoamerica. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Wallrath, Matthew 1967 Excavations in the Tehuantepec Region, Mexico. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (n.s.) 57(2). Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Whalen, Michael E. 1981 Excavations at Santo Domingo Tomaltepec: Evolution of Formative Community in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Memoirs No. 12. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeitlin, Judith F. 1978 Community Distribution and Local Economy on the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec: An Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Investigation. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropolog, Yale University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Judith F. 1993 The Politics of Classic-Period Ritual Interaction: Iconography of the Ballgame Cult in Coastal Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:121–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1978 Long-Distance Exchange and the Growth of a Regional Center: An Example from the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. In Prehistoric Coastal Adaptations: The Economy and Ecology of Maritime Middle America, edited by Stark, Barbara L. and Voorhies, Barbara, pp. 183–210. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1979 Prehistoric Long-Distance Exchange on the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1982 Toward a More Comprehensive Model of Interregional Commodity Distribution: Political Variables and Prehistoric Obsidian Procurement in Mesoamerica. American Antiquity 48:646–647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1983 Review of The Cuicatlán Cañada and Monte Albán: A Sludy of Primary State Formation, by Charles S. Spencer. American Antiquity 48:646–647.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1986 A Sociocultural Perspective on the Spatial Analysis of Commodity and Stylistic Distributions. In The Human Uses of Fl¯int an Chert, edited by Sieveking, G. de G. and Newcomer, M.H., pp. 173–181. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1990 The Isthmus and the Valley of Oaxaca: Questions About Zapotec Imperìalism in Formative Period Mesoamerica. American Antiquity 55:250–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N., and Joyce, Arthur A. 1992 On the Nature of Highland-Coastal Sociopolitical Interaction in Late Formative Period Oaxaca. Paper presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar