Mixtec (Other Keyword)
1-8 (8 Records)
Current work at the Mixtec urban site of Cerro Jazmín stems from a regional survey of the Central Mixteca Alta led by Stephen Kowalewski. As we refine Cerro Jazmin’s chronology and know more about its history of occupation, we are building upon and sometimes correcting initial understandings of the site gained from that regional survey. We are able to contextualize the new information in relation to the entire Nochixtlan Valley and nearby areas thanks to the work and perspective offered by...
Cosmogenesis in the Mixtec Codices: Visual Narratives of Place, Emergence, and Movement (2017)
In the Postclassic Mixtec codices, the integral and integrative themes of place, emergence, and movement converge. Neglected in much of the scholarly literature on the sacred books of the Mixtec, the visual representation of supernatural and historical figures’ emergence and movement from place to place is an integral component of the codical narratives. Emergence and movement are tethered to and integrative with Mixtec portrayals of place, of various kingdoms through a standardized glyphic sign...
Designing Influence: Aesthetic Choices and Group Identity in Decorated Ceramics of Late Postclassic Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico (2018)
During the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1200-1520) in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, aesthetic qualities of ceramics were utilized as both decorative values and tools for negotiating the creation of group identities and ideologies within communities. Through a stylistic analysis of Yanhuitlan Red on Cream type ceramics recovered from excavations at the site of Etlatongo, in the Nochixtlán Valley, I explore how these vessels and the motifs depicted on them were used during the creation of...
Fringe Identities - Costume in the Mixtec Codices (2017)
The Mixtec codices depict costumes from Postclassic Oaxaca, including clothing, face paint, hairstyles, footwear, and jewelry. Contextualized in religious, military, and other social rituals, costume played an important role in framing the action as well as representing individuals in a variety of social identities. This paper focuses on styles and patterns of clothing as they were used to characterize gender, status, ethnicity, occupation, and religious and political roles. Specifically, we...
Power and Settlement in Prehispanic and Early Spanish Colonial Yucundaa-Pueblo Viejo de Teposcolula, Oaxaca (2017)
Yucundaa-Pueblo Viejo de Teposcolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the urban capital and power center of a Prehispanic and Early Colonial Mixtec state, occupying four square kilometers from AD 1000 to 1550. This research utilizes a convergent archaeological, ethnohistoric, and biological methodology, and focuses on the evolution and transformation of the city and its surroundings until the time of its relocation to the adjacent lowlands in 1550. Of particular concern was identification and analysis of...
Reconstructing the Codex Colombino-Becker (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Bringing the Past to Life, Part 2: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Precolumbian manuscripts provide a view of indigenous life that is largely unmediated by Spanish colonialism. The Colombino-Becker is one of the masterpieces of the Mixtec Codices, but poor preservation, missing pages, and an effort to make the manuscript more palatable in a Christian context by erasing not only...
Untangling Shifting Social Agendas at Colonial Achiutla, Oaxaca, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Disentanglement: Reimagining Early Colonial Trajectories in the Americas" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, I draw on both archaeological and documentary evidence from the site of San Miguel Achiutla, in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, Mexico, to examine the complex relationships that residents of this indigenous community had with colonial Spanish rule. At certain points, members of the community harassed...
The Work of Feline Bones and Feline Imagery at Early Horizon Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Cholula to Chachoapan: Celebrating the Career of Michael Lind" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Large felines play crucial roles in origin narratives, cosmologies, and political authority in Mesoamerican societies, yet actual faunal remains and feline imagery are uncommon for the Early Horizon, from 1400 to 1000 cal BCE, especially in the highlands. Feline imagery appears in the stone sculptural corpus of the Gulf Olmec...