THE CLASSIC-POSTCLASSIC TRANSITION IN THE VALLEY OF OAXACA, MEXICO: A REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE PROCESS OF POLITICAL DECENTRALISATION IN A PREHISTORIC COMPLEX SOCIETY

LAURA FINSTEN, Purdue University

Abstract

A hypothesis is tested concerning the evolutionary relationship among three variables in the Classic and Postclassic periods in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. These are the degrees of regional integration and centralisation, the extent to which political institutions control production and exchange, and the degree of intraregional variability in these characteristics of regional organisation. It is suggested that the Classic Period state core, which was heavily dependent on politically controlled economic institutions, fell together with the regional capital. A relatively weakly integrated sector of the state, the Tlacolula Valley, flourished in the aftermath of Monte Alban's collapse in part because well-developed commercial institutions already existed. This was related to Tlacolula's limited resources for highly productive irrigated agriculture, rendering it less attractive than other Valley sectors for development by the state for the production of large agricultural surpluses. The hypothesis is tested using data collected during the course of extensive settlement pattern survey. These data include: the spatial and rank-size distributions of population centres, the distributions of ceramics and obsidian, and the locations of workshops for the production of ceramics, local chipped stone, ground stone, salt, lime, and obsidian blades and/or materials whose manufacture involved large quantities of obsidian. An index is constructed to scale the changing returns on irrigation labour through time in different sectors of the Valley of Oaxaca, given their capacity for intensive cultivation methods and rainfall characteristics. The results of the various analyses support the hypothesis, suggesting that Tlacolula was a weakly connected part of the Classic period state, with less administrative control over the economy, at least in the Early Classic phase. It emerged as the demographic and commercial core of the Valley of Oaxaca in the politically decentralised Early Postclassic phase, and maintained that position until the Spanish conquest. The data indicate a continued strong elite interest in economic affairs in the Early Postclassic, but this was probably one important means by which competing local lords enhanced personal wealth and prestige. Associated with the continued growth of commercial activity in the Late Postclassic phase was the emergence in Tlacolula of a group of people with very limited access to markets, either because they were unable to produce much surplus or because they lacked control over their surplus production.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Archaeology

COinS