Death and Identity at Monte Albán

Summary

Archaeologists have long striven to interpret mortuary rituals as qualitative signs of a living people--indices of sex, gender, age, status, wealth, and craft. Though the doctrine "as in life, so in death" can have some merit for archaeological inquiry, viewing mortuary ritual in this manner ignores the social act itself, which is one of the most intimate, personal, and weighted actions humans produce, serving, among other roles, to return the society to homeostasis in the wake of the loss of a member. In interpreting mortuary ritual as a means to resolve a social death within a group, close ties emerge with ethnic and group identity. Rather than a passive reflection of a culture in life, mortuary ritual is an act constitutive of ethnicity.

This paper examines inhumation practices at Monte Albán in the Oaxaca Valley from ca. 500 BCE until Spanish conquest, traditionally periodized as Monte Albán I-V. Drawing on primary data from past excavations, including those of Alfonso Caso in the early 20th century, it is an attempt to synthesize an identity-driven interpretation of mortuary ritual in Monte Albán, an urban center whose ethnic history is a source of ambiguity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21893