Ceramic Production and Exchange in Late/Terminal Formative Period Oaxaca

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Joyce ◽  
Hector Neff ◽  
Mary S. Thieme ◽  
Marcus Winter ◽  
J. Michael Elam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Use ◽  
Research Reactor ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Chemical Signatures ◽  
Mixteca Alta ◽  
Ceramic Exchange ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Production Practices

Patterns of Late/Terminal Formative period (ca. 500 B.C.–A.D. 300) ceramic exchange in Oaxaca are examined through instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Samples of 453 Late/Terminal Formative period sherds were submitted to the Missouri University Research Reactor for INAA to determine elemental composition. The sherds came from 20 excavated sites and two surveys in the following regions: the Valley of Oaxaca, Mixteca Alta, Mixteca Baja, lower Río Verde Valley, and Cuicatlán Cañada. Selected for the study were vessel fragments from three recognized paste categories: grayware (gris), fine brownware (café fino), and creamware (crema). We also sampled clays and sherds from known sources in four modern pottery-making towns in the Oaxaca Valley. The research adds to the INAA database for Oaxaca by identifying the chemical signatures of six source groupings that we can link to specific regions and, in two cases, to particular source zones within regions. The evidence from chemical composition and typology indicates continuity in resource use and production practices in both Atzompa and Coyotepec from pre-Hispanic into modern times. The data show that the exchange of ceramics in Late/Terminal Formative Oaxaca was multidirectional, with ceramics imported both to and from the Oaxaca Valley.

Context, Cult, and Early Formative Period Public Ritual in the Mixteca Alta

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey P. Blomster
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Social Ranking ◽  
Mixteca Alta ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Early Formative

AbstractFrom the Early and Middle Formative periods, hollow ceramic-baby figurines in the Olmec style—representing a suite of shared symbols and iconography—appear at sites throughout Mesoamerica. Hollow babies are usually reported without provenience, which has prevented a context-based analysis. The recent discovery of a hollow-baby figurine in a bell-shaped pit in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca provides the opportunity to examine the role and purported distribution of these objects across Mesoamenca. Based on consideration of the Etlatongo hollow-baby image, a semiotic analysis of contemporaneous solid figurines from Oaxaca, and the volume and nature of its bell-shaped-pit context, hollow babies are interpreted as ritual paraphernalia used in display and public ceremonies that reflect the emerging social ranking of this period. Moving beyond a socioeconomic interpretation, the interregional relationships expressed through hollow-baby figurines are suggested to evince participation in a regional cult.

The Isthmus and the Valley of Oaxaca: Questions about Zapotec Imperialism in Formative Period Mesoamerica

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N. Zeitlin
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Isthmus Of Tehuantepec ◽  
Outlying Regions

Recent archaeological and epigraphic research suggests the existence of what could be Mesoamerica's first conquest state, centered at Monte Albán, the major Late Formative period Zapotec site in the Valley of Oaxaca. This paper explores the idea of an early Zapotec empire by examining evidence from one of Monte Albán's outlying regions, the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The study is framed in terms of three hypothetical models of political and economic interaction, any one or combination of which could conceivably account for ancient Zapotec relationships with the southern Isthmus and its other hinterland regions.

Identifying ceramic production and exchange in the Valley of Puebla, Mexico: a multifaceted approach

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (341) ◽  
pp. 805-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald A. Castanzo
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Activation Analysis ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Multifaceted Approach ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Insight Into

Pottery production in Formative Period Mesoamerica appears to have been organised at the household level, but its distribution also provides evidence of political or economic boundaries. One distinctive ware from the Valley of Puebla, Tlaquexpa Red, used for the manufacture of sub-hemispherical bowls, was analysed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The results indicated that many of these vessels were being made by families at Tlaquexpa itself, but that some of their products were being traded to other communities, including the nearby civic-ceremonial centre of Xochiltenango. The study gives new insight into the role of pottery production in pre-Hispanic households.

A Microscopic View of Ceramic Production: An Analysis of Thin-Sections from Monte Albán

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lane F. Fargher
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Sedimentary Petrology ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Optical Mineralogy ◽  
Petrographic Study

This paper presents the results of a recent petrographic study of Monte Albán grayware pottery. Using INEGI bedrock maps, optical mineralogy, and sedimentary petrology techniques, I demonstrate that the organization of gray-ware production changed greatly through time at Monte Albán. During the Late-Terminal Formative period (Monte Albán I-II), the majority of the gray wares consumed at Monte Albán were probably imported to this hilltop center from some distance. Furthermore, I found the paste composition of this pottery was highly variable, suggesting that many small-scale part-time specialists were engaged in gray-ware production at this time. With the transition to the Classic period (Monte Albán III-IV), the organization of gray-ware production may have changed dramatically and nearly all of the gray wares recovered from Monte Albán were probably produced at this hilltop center. At the same time, we see extensive evidence of specialized gray-ware production at Monte Albán from both survey and excavation data.

scholarly journals A Lesson in Stone: Examining Patterns of Lithic Resource Use and Craft-learning in the Minas Basin Region of Nova Scotia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Jalbert
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Subsistence Strategy ◽  
Material Production ◽  
Technological Organization ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Basin Region

Examining the Late Woodland (1500-450 BP) quarry/workshop site of Davidson Cove, located in the Minas Basin region of Nova Scotia, a sample of debitage and a collection of stone implements appear to provide correlates to the novice and raw material production practices. Many researchers have hypothesized that lithic materials discovered at multiple sites within the region originated from the outcrop at Davidson Cove, however, little information is available on lithic sourcing of the Minas Basin cherts. Considering the lack of archaeological knowledge concerning lithic procurement and production, patterns of resource use among the prehistoric indigenous populations in this region of Nova Scotia are established through the analysis of existing collections. By analysing the lithic materials quarried and initially reduced at the quarry/workshop with other contemporaneous assemblages from the region, an interpretation of craft-learning can be situated in the overall technological organization and subsistence strategy for the study area.

Houses on a Hill: Classic Period Life at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas ◽  
Helen R. Haines
Keyword(s):  
Household Archaeology ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Present Sample ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Wall Construction

The increasing attention devoted to the investigation of prehispanic houses in Mesoamerica owes much theoretically and methodologically to the early household archaeology undertaken decades ago in the Valley of Oaxaca. Yet despite the large sample of Formative period houses excavated in this region, little is known about domestic life during the later Classic and Postclassic periods. In this paper we broaden the database of Classic period houses by reporting on excavations on five residential terraces at El Palmillo, one of many large hilltop terraced sites in the valley that collectively housed as much as two-thirds of the region"s Classic period population. Occupied for centuries, the terraces and their associated domestic compounds at El Palmillo underwent a series of coordinated episodes of wall construction, repair, and spatial modification. Craft activities-especially the production of chipped stone tools and maguey fiber for cordage and cloth-were an important part of domestic life. The relative importance of these different household economic activities varied from terrace to terrace, indicating that domestic production was specialized and operated at the household level. Maguey and other xerophytic plants also provided important subsistence resources. Differences in access to nonlocal goods have been documented between terraces, although the extent of such variation is not marked in the present sample. Although preliminary, the El Palmillo findings provide a new empirical basis from which to examine domestic life and the economic and organizational foundations of Classic period hill-top terraced settlements in Oaxaca. These findings reflect on larger issues about the basic economy of later prehispanic Mesoamerica and the articulation of domestic units and household production into larger socioeconomic networks that theoretically extended well beyond ancient Oaxaca.

Late to Terminal Formative period political transformations and their household-level impact at Cerro Jazmín, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 199-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Pérez Rodríguez ◽  
Antonio Martínez Tuñón ◽  
Ricardo Higelín Ponce de León
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Mixteca Alta

scholarly journals Ancient palace complex (300–100 BC) discovered in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (15) ◽  
pp. 3805-3814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa M. Redmond ◽  
Charles S. Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
The North ◽  
North Side ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Organizational Features ◽  
State Emergence

Recently completed excavations at the site of El Palenque in Mexico’s Valley of Oaxaca have recovered the well-preserved remains of a palace complex dated by associated radiocarbon samples and ceramics to the Late Formative period or Late Monte Albán I phase (300–100 BC), the period of archaic state emergence in the region. The El Palenque palace exhibits certain architectural and organizational features similar to the royal palaces of much later Mesoamerican states described by Colonial-period sources. The excavation data document a multifunctional palace complex covering a maximum estimated area of 2,790 m2 on the north side of the site’s plaza and consisting of both governmental and residential components. The data indicate that the palace complex was designed and built as a single construction. The palace complex at El Palenque is the oldest multifunctional palace excavated thus far in the Valley of Oaxaca.

An Earlier Sunnī Version of Khomeini’s Rule of the Jurist: Mustafā l-Sibāī on Ulamā and Politics

Arabica ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hatina Meir
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Islamic Movements ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Political Function ◽  
The Status

AbstractThe notion of “the rule of the jurist” is identified exclusively with Ayatollah Khomeini, and was implemented politically following the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. What was perceived as a revolutionary innovation in Šia Islam, however, was seen as alien in Sunnī Islam. Traditionally, Sunnī Ulamā were identified as “men of the pen”, whose task was to preserve religious knowledge but not to assume state authority. Sunnī Islamic movements of the twentieth century did not alter this traditional viewpoint. Most of their leaders actually criticized the Ulamās submission to secular rulers. Indeed, Sunnī circles—as Khomeini himself—spoke of the urgent need to establish an Islamic government to combat imperialism and Westernization, but did not assign any political function to the religious scholars.The paper focuses on a different view, that of Šayh Mustafā l-Sibāī (d. 1964), of Syrian origin, who asserted in the late 1930s that Ulamā are the best guardians of the nation’s rights. Their entry into politics is neither improper nor deviant, he held, but rather a confirmation of the historic reality in the formative period of Islam. Al-Sibāī’s perception was put into practice with the establishment of the Muslim Brethren in Syria in 1946, but this perception failed to gain momentum.The paper illuminates an interesting episode in modern Sunnī political thought: an early Sunnī version of Khomeini’s “the rule of the jurist”. While the Sunnī version remained a textual idea, the Šīite version turned into living political reality, exposing the asymmetry between the status of Sunnī and Šīite Ulamā in modern times.

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