Alligators, Serpents, Pirates, and a Wedding: Ritualized Political Landscapes of the Oaxacan Pacific Coast, Mexico

Summary

Straddling maritime, lowlands, and highland environments, the neighboring Chontal and Huave ethnic groups occupy one of the most diverse landscapes in southern Mexico. For over five centuries this resource-rich territory served as a junction for Indigenous and European colonial encounters, where interethnic and intercontinental political alliances and conflicts came forcefully into play. In addition to leaving material remains scattered throughout the landscape, this political history was encoded in ritualized performances still practiced today in these coastal communities, as well as in their oral traditions and territorial-narratives. Our interdisciplinary research project in the region demonstrates that mountains, caves, lagoons, and the ocean itself served as portals for both animal and human agents, moving and operating in between the physical and spiritual realms. In turn, these animated palimpsests serve as mnemonic devices to recount and reshape social relations and ancestral memory.

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): 20757