Elites at Cerro Tilcajete: A secondary center in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Abstract

The Zapotec state of the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico is one of the few known cases of primary state formation. Over a century of research in Oaxaca has yielded a wealth of archaeological and ethnohistoric data on Zapotec culture and society. Between 500--100 B.C. the rulers of Monte Alban subjugated the Oaxaca Valley, conquering the independent polity of El Palenque circa 100 B.C. and establishing the site of Cerro Tilcajete as the secondary center of the Ocotlan/Valle Grande subregion. This study focuses on the relationship between elites at the secondary center of Cerro Tilcajete and elites at the capital Monte Alban during the Early State Period (100 B.C.--A.D. 200). Archaeological research at Cerro Tilcajete has produced a detailed map of the site and uncovered the plans of buildings, their associated artifacts, activities and exchange networks. This research has provided the kinds of data necessary to evaluate the role of elites as state administrators. Data from Cerro Tilcajete are compared with data from Monte Alban and contemporaneous secondary centers in Etla (San Jose Mogote) and Tlacolula (Dainzu). Cerro Tilcajete is the smallest of the valley's secondary centers. The number of administrative buildings at the site is limited. Excavated buildings conform to canons of state architecture, but are smaller than similar buildings excavated at the earlier site of El Palenque or at the contemporaneous site of San Jose Mogote. Cerro Tilcajete's elites used fancy <italic>crema</italic> ceramics and obsidian blades; access to these items required their participation in state-controlled socio-economic networks. Site-specific data and regional data show that Monte Alban's rulers did not effect a uniform plan of subregional administration during the Early State Period: the policies implemented in each subregion depended on the prior relationship elites in a subregion had with elites at Monte Alban. In addition, regional and site-specific data from the Ocotlan/Valley Grande subregion shows how policies created during the Early State Period influenced the long-term trajectory of the state and contributed to the emergence of small independent polities in Ocotlan after A.D. 750.