Full-Coverage Survey in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico: Broad-Scale Insights on Human-Environment Relations

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Regional and Intensive Site Survey: Case Studies from Mesoamerica" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Regional survey in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico has been ongoing since 1994. Our full-coverage approach resulted in extensive spatial coverage (224 km2) spanning the valley’s major physiographic zones (e.g., floodplain, piedmont, etc.). The coarse-grained data produced via this methodology is ideal for broad-scale research questions. We focus on the recursive relationship of settlement choice with: 1) political shifts, and 2) the development of highly productive resource areas (c.a. 1800-150 BCE). To be fully understood, these settlement shifts must be placed in a macroregional context. Land use choices are made in relation to a network of agents operating at both local and broader spatial scales. Interdisciplinary evidence indicates that urban settlement in the Mixtec highlands had far-reaching effects, including the transport of eroded settlements from the highlands to the lower Verde coast. Ultimately, this led to the expansion of the floodplain and the enclosure of estuaries. After discussing the history of survey on the lower Verde coast, this paper details the results of a geospatial study on long-term human-environment relations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Regional and Intensive Site Survey: Case Studies from Mesoamerica   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24916