Cerro Jazmín and its urbanism in context

Summary

In this presentation I provide context for the papers that follow in this session devoted to the Cerro Jazmín Archaeological Project (CJAP). In the last eight years CJAP members have investigated the urban societies that developed at this Formative and Postclassic hilltop city in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, México. Investigations have so far focused on the layout and regional function of the city, the timing of its abandonment and later reoccupation, the details of domestic life in the city, mortuary practices, monumental construction, terraces, and the immediate environmental impact of the city’s growth, abandonment, reoccupation, and ultimate demise. Emerging evidence suggests that the centuries that followed the first establishment of urban society were marked by the use of diverse sociopolitical strategies aimed at solidifying the status of the city and its rulership, while also building cohesion within its population. Our understanding of Cerro Jazmín is discussed in relation to its immediate regional peers and the possible interactions that took place with other polities beyond the Mixteca. Finally, recently obtained chronological data are presented to clarify the city’s complex history of occupation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• The Cerro Jazmín Archaeological Project 2008-2015: discussing early urbanism and city life in Late and Terminal Formative Mixteca Alta, Mexico

Keywords

Spatial Coverage