Haley Baer Holt
Stone Center Tinker Grant
Terminal Report
Investigating Zapotec Presence outside the Valley of Oaxaca
The following is a terminal report for a project aided by funding from Tulane
University’s Stone Center for Latin American carried out in the summer of 2009. The
proposed project was intended to gain a base knowledge of the ceramic sequence in the
Valley of Oaxaca as a comparison for future research and excavation in other localities of
the so-called Zapotec Diaspora (Spence 2005) as well as create a network with other
researchers in highland Mexico that would be useful for my future dissertation research.
This was carried out through a combination of laboratory work and site visitations. While
excavation was planned, logistics and time constraints did not allow for it.
During the time I was in Mexico, from 12 June until 1 August, 2009, I was able to
meet and obtain advice from prominent researchers in the field, including Marcus Winter
and Robert Cobean, archaeologists in the Valley of Oaxaca and Tula, Hidalgo, respectively. I
worked with Marcus Winter in the lab facilities in Cuilapan, Oaxaca studying pottery from
tombs and excavated areas at the Zapotec capital of Monte Alban in order to gain a full
understanding of the composition, structure, and style of purely Zapotec ceramic
complexes (see Caso, Bernal, Acosta 1967 and Martinez Lopez, et al. 2001). Not only was
this useful to feel and see sherds rather than study from text, but I was able to consult Cira
Martinez Lopez, an expert on Zapotec pottery (Martinez Lopez, et al. 2001), who was
available at Cuilapan while I was working there. The sherds and vessels from the Xoo
Phase/Monte Alban IIIB/IV were especially intriguing in their type distribution: exhibiting
both Zapotec-style and both locally-produced and imported Teotihuacan-style pottery,
namely Thin Orange. This is similar to the mixture found at El Tesoro in the Tepeji del Río
region of Hidalgo, where a possible node in the Zapotec Diaspora is located. Further
research will be aimed at understanding the differences and similarities between the
assemblages at El Tesoro, and other similar sites in this region, and those from both Monte
Alban and Teotihuacan.
I visited the Tepeji del Río and Tula regions of Hidalgo to both briefly walk the sites
of Acaculco, El Tesoro and the related Presa Escondida and to examine the ceramics from
the salvage excavations of two tombs at Presa Escondida (Gamboa 2009). I met with Luis
Gamboa and Robert Cobean, both INAH archaeologists at Tula, who encouraged my
research interests at the site of El Tesoro and allowed me access to the material collected
earlier this year. I photographed and studied the grave offerings which were a mixture of
local-, Zapotec-, and Teotihuacan-style ceramics, and other small offerings, i.e. an earspool,
figurine, and lithic material (Gamboa 2009). I was invited to aid in the excavation, set to
take place in the coming summer, of another tomb in the same area as the two excavated
this year.
My work this summer has given me a clearer focus for future research and
possibilities for my dissertation. While still in progress, my knowledge and understanding
of the ceramics sequences in these two areas of highland Mexico has greatly expanded and
I have formulated many questions and thoughts for further study.
By meeting with
prominent researchers in both the Valley of Oaxaca and Tula, I have created a network of
people with similar research interests who will be valuable resources as I continue work in
Mexico.
Continuing goals that have sprung for this project will attempt to address the
issue of migration, colonization, and stylistic emulation that could account for the presence
of synchronic pottery styles in the Tepeji del Río region of Hidalgo as well as the connection
to the broader network of Zapotec peoples living in highland Mexico during the Classic
period.
References
Caso, Alfonso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta
1967 La Cerámica de Monte Albán. INAH, México.
Spence, Michael
2005 A Zapotec Diaspora Network in Classic-Period Central Mexico. In The Archaeology of
Colonial Encounters. Gil Stein, ed. 173-206.
Gamboa Cabezas, Luis Manuel
2009 Informe del Programa de Trabajo rescate Arqueologico en el sitio Loma del Tesoro,
Tepeji del Río de Ocampo: “Fraccionamiento Presa Escondida: Manzana VII, Lote 16 y
13 A” Estudio de los Entierros Prehispanicos y de los Objetoc Asociados. Centro INAH
Hidalgo, Zona Arqueologica de Tula.
Martínez Lopez, Cira, Robert Markens, Marcus Winter, and Michael D. Lind
2000 Cerámica de la fase Xoo (Epoca Monte Albán IIIB/IV) del Valle de Oaxaca. Centro
INAH Oaxaca, Oaxaca.