Mapping out Pottery Production and Exchange in the Late Classic Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

Over the past two decades, our understanding of craft production and exchange in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico has changed dramatically, in part owing to new excavations, and in part to the re-analysis of existing collections using robust chemical and mineralogical techniques. This symposium presents current research efforts to document the sources of pottery production during the Late Classic or Xoo phase (ca. 550-850 AD), and to track the movement of ceramic vessels from producers to consumers based on their trace-element composition. As part of a large regional study, natural clays were sampled throughout the Valley of Oaxaca and characterized via INAA to document spatial variability in clay composition. Over 1300 ceramic vessels from key Late Classic sites (including Monte Albán, Jalieza, and Dainzu-Macuilxochitl) have been similarly analyzed, and their locus of production determined based on similarities to clays and ceramic production debris. These trace-element studies provide a rigorous means for monitoring both the spatial organization and intensity of exchange among communities, and greatly enhance our understanding of the ancient Zapotec economy during the decline and/or political reorganization of the Zapotec state.