The Periphery Gold Production Areas of Oaxaca: Tradition and Distinctiveness

Author(s): Edith Ortiz-Diaz

Year: 2017

Summary

In no other part of Mexico have been found so many gold objects as in Oaxaca. The Mixtecs and Zapotecs from central Oaxaca created amazing pieces with such great mastery as well as in the aesthetic and technological aspects. The Oaxaca artisans worked principally with gold and silver. The mineral needed in order to make these objects was relatively abundant in Oaxaca. Nevertheless, outside the realm of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca and the Mixtec area, mineral resources existed in most of the state and many groups created metal objects. One of these areas is the northern sierra of Oaxaca. The goal of this paper is to discuss how the Zapotecs and Chinantecs of Northern Sierra adopted and developed a different metal tradition, specially focused on the creation of elite gold objects. Another aspect that will be considered is the different characteristics of the geology of the region.

Cite this Record

The Periphery Gold Production Areas of Oaxaca: Tradition and Distinctiveness. Edith Ortiz-Diaz. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 430113)

Keywords

Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica

Spatial Coverage

min long: -107.271; min lat: 12.383 ; max long: -86.353; max lat: 23.08 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14596