Craft Manufacture and Exchange in Oaxaca: The Residential Context

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Gary Feinman will continue his archaeological research at the site of Ejutla which is located in Oaxaca Mexico. During his 1992 field season Dr. Feinman discovered the corner of what he believes to be a 4-6 room structure. He will now excavate the entire compound, collect the cultural materials it contains and produce a detailed map. His goal is to reconstruct the range of activities which took place in this family context and especially focus on the craft or manufacturing activities represented. Prior work has indicated that a wide range of materials including onyx and at least 80 taxa of Pacific shell were worked at the site. Dr. Feinman believes that specialists produced materials for trade and that the great majority of the elaborate shell and stone ornaments made were not consumed locally. Most of the shell recovered in prior excavations consisted of by- products and defective pieces. In the early first millennium much of central Mexico was incorporated into an empire which, archaeologists believe, had its center at Monte Alban. The site with its large impressive ruins has been extensively excavated and its importance in a broader regional context is clear. However what is less well understood is how this empire functioned and how outlying areas such as Ejutla were controlled and tied to the core. Dr. Feinman believes that the development of structured trade networks and the interdependencies which thus developed may have played a central role. In this context Ejutla is extremely interesting because it appears to be involved in specialized manufacturing which focussed on shell carving. What makes this unusual is that the site is located far from the ocean. The proposed excavation will provide additional insight into how Ejutla functioned and the immediate social context in which this work took place. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will also increase our understanding of the processes which underlie the development of state level societies.