Motherhood at Majaltepec: A Hypothesis Based on an Early Colonial Period Cemetery in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca

Summary

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 both sexes. By bringing together ethnohistorical and archaeological information from Oaxaca on marriage and child-rearing, we argue that the Majaltepec funerary rituals represent cultural hybridization of indigenous and Spanish practices connected with the social and cultural construction of motherhood and mothering. In particular, we argue that the close bond between young mothers and children attested in ethnohistorical accounts from the 1800s and 1900s extended from life into death, impacting funerary rituals during the Early Colonial period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Mountain Towns and Crossroads: Archaeology of the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15338