Making the Landscape Divine at Dainzú, Oaxaca, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Throughout its prehispanic occupation, Dainzú played a significant ceremonial role in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico. In the Formative period (200 BCE–CE 200), prominent terrain features were intentionally incorporated into the settlement’s design with the intent of making a shared place through ritual practice. For example, a ball court and temple complex built at the base of Cerro Dainzú were linked to a shrine on its summit, requiring people to navigate the difficult and unpredictable topography between them as part of a ritual procession. By walking this challenging landscape together, they were not only creating a sacred place but also building community in the process. In later centuries, settlement growth led to expansion into new territory, and leaders found novel ways to construct communities tied to the landscape. In this paper, I will examine diachronic patterns in place-making practices at Dainzú and discuss their social and political implications.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32392