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.

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.

THE EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD IN THE SOUTHERN ISTHMUS: EXCAVATIONS AT BARRIO TEPALCATE, IXTEPEC, OAXACA

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Carla Reyes González ◽  
Marcus Winter
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
San Jose ◽  
San Lorenzo ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Isthmus Of Tehuantepec ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Design Motifs ◽  
The Village ◽  
Early Formative

AbstractBarrio Tepalcate, on the Los Perros River just outside Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca, 18 km upriver from Laguna Zope, is one of the few Early and Middle Formative period sites known in the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec region. Our salvage excavation in 2005 showed that the village covered no more than four hectares. It was probably one of several villages along the river in a two-tiered settlement hierarchy centered on Laguna Zope. The presence of Early Formative period ceramics suggests that the inhabitants of Barrio Tepalcate participated in the Early Olmec style horizon, although the design motifs on their pottery are simpler than those from San Lorenzo 150 km to the north. We found little evidence of imported ceramics from San Lorenzo, which may be due to the small size of the sample and the site, or to differences in how San Lorenzo interacted with highland sites, such as Etlatongo and San José Mogote, and Isthmian sites, such as Barrio Tepalcate. The Early Formative inhabitants of the southern Isthmus were members of the Mixe-Zoque language family, and specifically Mixe speakers by the Late Formative.

Feasting with Zea Mays in the Middle and Late Formative North Coast of Peru

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo C. Ikehara ◽  
J. Fiorella Paipay ◽  
Koichiro Shibata
Keyword(s):  
Zea Mays ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Ceramic Assemblages ◽  
Ritual Spaces ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

This work reports the presence of Zea mays microremains in three feasting episodes performed during the Middle and Late Formative Period in the North Coast of Peru. The remains of the Cerro Blanco de Nepeña feasts may represent a step toward the intensification of Zea mays consumption in ritual contexts, related to changes in the ceramic assemblages, and parallel to the transformation of ritual spaces during the second half of the Formative Period.

Pacific Coastal Laguna Zope

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N. Zeitlin
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Location ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Regional Center ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Political Unrest ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Elite Status ◽  
Isthmus Of Tehuantepec

AbstractRecent 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.

Rituals of Sanctification and the Development of Standardized Temples in Oaxaca, Mexico

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa M. Redmond ◽  
Charles S. Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Hawaiian Islands ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Documented Case ◽  
Early State ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Political Unification ◽  
San Martín

Archaeological investigations at three Formative period sites near San Martín Tilcajete in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, have recovered a sequence of temples. The temples span the period when the Zapotec state emerged with its capital at Monte Albán during the Late Monte Albán I phase (300–100 bc), coinciding with Monte Albán's conquest of neighbouring regions. Zapotec rituals of sanctification practised in pre-state times may have been affected by Monte Albán's military expansionism. The historically documented case of military expansion and political unification of the Hawaiian islands by the paramount, Kamehameha, shows similarities in the adoption of ideology and religious institutions. Among them are the establishment of standardized temples and the ascendance of a militaristic ideology and ritual order attuned to the early state rulers' coercive authority.

A Radiocarbon-dated Collared Urn from Oban

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER LOWE ◽  
ANN MacSWEEN ◽  
KATHLEEN McSWEENEY
Keyword(s):  
The North ◽  
North Side ◽  
Funerary Ritual

A collared urn was found during the course of a watching-brief on the raised beach on the north side of Oban bay. Post-excavation analysis has succeeded in throwing some further light on the chronology of this type of urn and possibly on some elements of the funerary ritual associated with its burial. The same watching-brief also revealed the site of a truncated pit of medieval date, filled with fire-cracked stones.

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