POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION IN THE LATE POSTCLASSIC VALLEY OF OAXACA, MEXICO: AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE

JILL ANN APPEL, Purdue University

Abstract

This study focuses on the political economy of the Late Postclassic Period (ca. 1000-1521 A.D.) in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. It emphasizes the definition and explanation of key evolutionary features of the Late Postclassic, through comparison of the Valley's Early Classic through Late Postclassic regional systems. Specifically, it compares settlement patterns, administrative organization, ceramic and obsidian production and distribution, and central place systems. Ethnohistoric accounts and surface survey by the Valley of Oaxaca Settlement Pattern Project are the primary sources of data. The study is especially concerned with examining why an unprecedented emphasis on commercial activity characterizes the Valley of Oaxaca Late Postclassic; why this commercial development is associated with a relatively high level of political decentralization; and why these two trends appear to distinguish the Late Postclassic from earlier periods not only in the Valley of Oaxaca but also elsewhere in Mesoamerica. Three sets of hypotheses are evaluated. They consider the possibility of a general causal relationship between the strength of regional government and the level of commercial activity, the possibility of more specific causal relationships between the dynamics of Late Postclassic petty kingdom organization and commercial activity, and the potential influence of extra-regional interaction with an especially strong and commercially oriented super-regional power such as the Aztec state. The data indicate that a causal relationship exists between high levels of political decentralization and commercial activity, but that this is insufficient as an explanation of the Valley's Late Postclassic commercial development. Elite political and economic strategies in the context of petty kingdom organization appear to contribute to a fuller explanation. Formal interaction with the Aztec state fails to explain the Valley's Late Postclassic commercial development, since the Valley's incorporation into the Aztec tribute empire occurred very late in the prehispanic sequence; informal interaction with Aztec traders may be significant, but should be considered in relationship to petty kingdom politics rather than as a separate cause.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Archaeology

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