Life after Urbanism: Investigating Classic Period Cities and Settlements in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Checking the Pulse II, Current Research in Oaxaca Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Those of us working in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca have heard the saying that the “Classic period” in the region took place earlier, in the Late Preclassic. While the Classic period (AD 300-800) was a time of urban florescence in the Valley of Oaxaca, Basin of Mexico, Puebla, and the Mixteca Baja regions, investigations into finding large Classic period urban settlements in the Mixteca Alta region, have so far proven to be elusive. There have been mapping and a few excavation projects into what are thought to be Classic period sites at Yucuñudahui, Cerro Jazmín, Cerro de la Virgen, Cerro Encantado, Topiltepec, and Cuquila, but only two sites, Yucuñudahui and Cerro Jazmín have been excavated and dated using radiocarbon methods. And so far, only Yucuñudahui has yielded radiocarbon dates placing its occupation in the Classic period. This paper discusses new radiocarbon dates and occupation history data from Cerro Jazmín and compares it to the chronological information available for other Classic and Postclassic period sites throughout the region. The objective is to offer a broader regional perspective on how Mixtec communities and urban settlements fared after the initial period of urban florescence in the Late Formative period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Checking the Pulse II, Current Research in Oaxaca Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39170.0