Archaeology of the Formative Period in Oaxaca

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With National Science Foundation support Drs. Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond will conduct three seasons of archaeological survey and excavation at a site near the present day town of San Martin Tilcajete (SMT), located in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico. A final season with be spent analyzing the materials collected. Preliminary work indicates that the site consists of 17 mounds organized into two mound groups and that it was occupied from ca. 700-200 BC. Drs. Spencer and Redmond will make a detailed map of the site and note all mounds, stone foundations and other cultural features. Surface artifacts will be sampled with controlled intensive surface collection. In the second season, test excavations will be placed in both mound and non-mound locations with specific placements guided by an assessment of the surface collections. In season three horizontal excavation will occur on a sample of public buildings as well as in domestic contexts. On this basis it will be possible to trace changes in the site over approximately half a millennium. Variation in population size and degree of political centralization will be monitored. Through analysis of material remains it will also be possible to determine the relationships between this site and others in the Oaxaca Valley. State level organizations have independently arisen only a few times in human history and archaeologists wish to understand the mechanisms by which this process occurs. The Zaoptec state which was centered at the site of Monte Alban in Oaxaca and appeared during the first millennium BC provides one example. While the latter stage of this process is well known through extensive excavations at Monte Alban, relatively little is known about the early part of the process since the relevant layers remain buried under buildings which have been reconstructed by the Mexican government. At the SMT site, such data are readily available. SMT appears to be a regional subcenter and for this reason will provide unique insight from what is a provincial perspective. This research is important for several reasons. Many archaeologists have worked in the Oaxaca Valley and the data Drs. Spencer and Redmond collect will fill a major gap. It will also increase our understanding of the forces which led to the development of state level societies.