Mountain Towns and Crossroads: Archaeology of the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)
The goal of this session is to bring together and share information coming from archaeological research in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico. For over half a century, archaeologists have focused research on the Valley of Oaxaca and the coastal lowlands when reconstructing the complex prehispanic history of Southern Mexico. Often left out of the dominant narrative of ancient Oaxaca, the story of the Sierra Sur is important to consider as it provides a broader context for theories of social complexity, conquest and colonialism, migration, and economics. Emerging narratives developing out of data generated from fieldwork in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca suggest that we should continue to reevaluate our current narratives, which are based on research primarily from the Valley of Oaxaca and coastal regions. By bringing together researchers working in the Sierra Sur region, this session will bring attention to this region and enrich our understanding of Southern Mexico as a whole.
Other Keywords
Oaxaca •
Sierra Sur •
Survey •
Arqueología •
Aztec •
Mesoamerica •
Remote Sensing •
Obsidian •
Photogrammetry •
Paleoethnobotany
Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica •
United Mexican States (Country) •
Republic of El Salvador (Country) •
Belize (Country) •
Republic of Guatemala (Country) •
North America (Continent)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)
- Documents (12)
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Arqueología en la Sierra Sur de Oaxaca: El sitio fortaleza de Quiavicuzas (2017)
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El área geográfica denominada Sierra Sur es una de las 8 regiones que comprende el estado de Oaxaca. Desde épocas muy antiguas, las sociedades aquí establecidas han presentado un desarrollo paralelo a los demás grupos culturales que caracterizaron la superárea denominada Mesoamérica. Hasta hace algunas décadas, se pensaba que dichos grupos estuvieron aislados, lejos de la influencia de grandes centros rectores como Teotihuacán, o en su caso Monte Albán. Durante el desarrollo correspondiente a...
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Ballgames and the Social Networks of the Sierra Sur: What Can Ballcourts Tell Us About Political Negotiation in Southern Oaxaca? (2017)
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As a specially marked category of public architecture, ballcourts were both socially-integrative and socially-divisive spaces through hosting games and other important ritual activities. Moreover, research has shown that ballgames in Oaxaca acted as mechanisms of social mediation within and between different ethnolinguistic communities. The distribution of ballcourts is therefore significant and expresses underlying social and political relationships. The Nejapa region is a frontier zone between...
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Linguistic Archeology of the Sierra Sur, Oaxaca (2017)
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In this paper the potential for productive relationships between linguistics and archeology is discussed in the context of the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca, Mexico. The material remains of most traded goods decompose too swiftly to be studied hundreds of years after their circulation in trade networks. However, the vocabulary that describes these goods has the potential to survive in contemporary languages. Thus, comprehensive study of linguistic data can support historical and archeological...
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Motherhood at Majaltepec: A Hypothesis Based on an Early Colonial Period Cemetery in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
In 2011 and 2013, the Nejapa/Tavela Archaeological Project explored a possible Early Colonial period cemetery (A.D. 1550-1650) at the site of Majaltepec. The excavated portion of the cemetery included eight individuals from five burials, wherein four were sub-adults, at least one of which is likely a woman, and four were children. In spite of the overall poor preservation, it is clear that the children and sub-adults were buried together, without accompanying household members of older ages and...
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Narratives of Quiechapa in light of material evidence from survey (2017)
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Our knowledge of the prehispanic past of Quiechapa and the surrounding regions has been largely based on a combination of historic sources, modern day linguistic classification, and previous archaeological work in nearby regions. El Proyecto Arqueológico de Quiechapa (PAQuie) recently completed a 99 sq. km pedestrian survey of the Quiechapa region in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico. In this talk, I discuss major findings from the survey in the Quiechapa region within the context of broader...
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Obsidian blade production and husbandry in the Nejapa/Tavela region of Oaxaca, Mexico (2017)
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Studies of obsidian tool manufacture in Mesoamerica typically focus on workshops located at source areas or at the major sites controlling them. In this paper, we explore production at the periphery, from the Nejapa/Tavela region of Oaxaca located roughly midway between the sources in Central Mexico and those in the Highlands of Guatemala. Rather than the thousands of artifacts representing the byproducts and errors of a single workshop, we are forced to rely upon the handful that found their...
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Remote Sensing of Anthropogenic Vegetation in Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico (2017)
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Geospatial technologies, such as remote sensing and LIDAR, have enabled archaeologists to capture high-resolution information about landscapes and settlement patterns thus contextualizing sites through a wider landscape perspective. These tools have also facilitated the detection of otherwise "invisible" archaeological sites through image or spectral analyses and other visualization techniques. This paper examines the performance of vegetation indices for the detection of anthropogenic...
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Sacred Worlds and Pragmatic Science in the Aftermath of Conquest: The Hidden Caves of Cerro del Convento (2017)
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In the 16th century, Dominican priests attempted to eradicate various non-Catholic ritual practices in Nejapa. Native peoples apparently regularly visited Cerro del Convento, a Sierra Sur landmark, to perform rituals and leave offerings. In the late 1500s, priests from the Dominican doctrina in Nexapa visited Cerro del Convento to destroy and burn all evidence of "idolatry". Between 2009 and 2013, members of the Proyecto Arqueológico Nejapa Tavela surveyed and excavated at Cerro del Convento to...
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Settlement Survey of the Rural Mountainous Region of Quiechapa in Southern Mexico (2017)
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While extensive research has been conducted in and around well-known sociopolitical centers located in valley and coastal regions of southern Mexico, relatively little work has been done in the rural regions outside these core areas. Specifically, one of the understudied regions of southern Mexico is the mountainous region between the highlands and Pacific coastal lowlands. Recently, El Proyecto Arqueológico de Quiechapa (PAQuie) conducted a Full-coverage pedestrian survey of a 99 sq. km area in...
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The Sierra Sur in 3D: Benefits of Photogrammetry and 3D Printing for Archaeological Research in Remote Regions (2017)
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Researchers working in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca, Mexico are often documenting sites that have not yet been studied by western scholars. 3D modeling (via photogrammetry) and 3D printing is a quick and low cost way we can begin sharing this new information with other scholars and the public, while simultaneously enhancing the documentation of archaeological landscapes and artifacts. In the 2016 field season of Proyecto Arqueológico de Quiechapa (PAQuie), we pilot tested the use of low cost...
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Two Figurines and a Conquest: Toltec and Aztec Warriors in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca? (2017)
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In this talk I will present a contextual and iconographic analysis of two unusual, yet almost identical, figurines of lavishly dressed warriors, reported from different sites in the Chontal Highlands of Oaxaca. While variations on mold-made solid figurines of armed individuals were common in Late Classic Oaxaca, the particular attributes of these figurines are more analogous to militaristic iconography emerging from Postclassic Central Mexico. Taking the figurines’ iconography and regional...
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Un complejo arqueológico en las márgenes del río Tehuantepec en la Sierra Sur de Oaxaca: El caso de Ladchixila (2017)
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El presente estudio trata sobre trabajos realizados en la Sierra Sur de Oaxaca, localizado en los márgenes del río Tehuantepec, región en donde se establecieron grupos humanos dedicados a la caza, pesca, recolección de frutos y agricultura, con recursos naturales que fueron explotados, haciendo posible su establecimiento permanente, dejando plasmada su historia a través de elementos arquitectónicos, que para el año de 2015 fueron explorados arqueológicamente. El desarrollo de esta investigación...