Linguistic Archeology of the Sierra Sur, Oaxaca

Summary

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 theories on the migrations of people, goods, and values. As a test case, research was conducted using the traditional comparative linguistic method and phylogenetic relations mapping software to trace phonetic changes in the Southern Zapotec spoken across five towns in the Sierra Sur. By comparing words for the trade items cited in previous archeological studies of the region to Swadesh words (words which are considered to be borrowed less frequently), the towns could be tied to trade routes outside the Sierra Sur, connecting the Valley of Oaxaca to the Southern Coast. This paper will discuss how these findings relate to and pave the way for archeological studies on the trade and migration of this understudied region.

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): 14622