Lidar Mapping of a Zapotec City: Cultural Hybridity and Ethnogenesis in Postclassic Guiengola, Oaxaca

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Checking the Pulse: Current Research in Oaxaca Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In this paper, I will discuss how Zapotecs both continued and innovated the construction traditions from the central valleys of Oaxaca in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by showing the results of the analysis of the lidar scan made during the 2022–2023 field season of the Guiengola Archaeological Project. The archaeological site of Guiengola was one of the sites inhabited by Zapotecs during the late Postclassic period and is depicted in Novohispanic documents as the garrison where Zapotecs defended against the Mexica armies of Ahuizotl. This archaeological site presents a remarkable degree of preservation, so it was possible to create a map of the settlement. Furthermore, by creating a lidar image of this settlement, it was possible to discern the city’s urban layout and distinguish aspects of the political and administrative organization of the site. Through this paper, I will discuss how this layout resembles other Zapotec settlements and how people adapted their life to the Isthmus coastal landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Checking the Pulse: Current Research in Oaxaca Part I   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35622.0