Oaxaca - Rosario

  General Description   During the Rosario phase (700-500 BCE), the settlement of San José Mogote continued to be the largest settlement in the Valley of Oaxaca. However, other settlements rose to challenge its primacy: Huitzo (at the extreme northern end of the Etla arm), Tilcajete (in the Valle Grande), and Yegüih (in the Tlacolula arm), each the centre of a cluster of smaller settlements. ^[1] There is evidence for increased inter-settlement conflict and social differentiation within communities. ^[1] Burnt remains of buildings have been found at Rosario phase sites, which, along with evidence for fortifications and the extensive unoccupied ’buffer zone’ of 80 square kilometres between the polities, suggest inter-settlement raids and hostility at this time. ^[2]
Population and political organization
While there is evidence of an emerging elite during this period, the nature of leadership and political organization remains unclear. ^[3] Labour was organized for the construction of large public structures and elaborate tombs. However, the types of buildings constructed led archaeologists Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus to suggest that elites could not yet draw on labour and resources solely for their own personal gain. ^{[4] [5]} The first evidence of monumental art, calendars, writing and human sacrifice in the Valley of Oaxaca dates to this period. ^[6] Population estimates for the three polities in the valley at this time range from 1000 to 2000 people; the largest population was concentrated in the northern arm, with San José Mogote as the primary centre. ^{[7] [8]}

[1]: (Blanton et al. 1999, 42) Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski and Linda M. Nicholas. 1999. Ancient Oaxaca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2]: (Spencer and Redmond 2003, 32) Charles S. Spencer and Elsa M. Redmond. 2003. ’Militarism, Resistance, and Early State Development in Oaxaca, Mexico’. Social Evolution & History 2 (1): 25-70.

[3]: (Blanton et al. 1999, 46) Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski and Linda M. Nicholas. 1999. Ancient Oaxaca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[4]: (Kowalewski, Fisch and Flannery 1983, 50-53) Stephen Kowalewski, Eva Fisch and Kent V. Flannery. 1983. ’San José and Guadalupe Settlement Patterns in the Valley of Oaxaca’, in The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Kent V. Flannery and Joyce Marcus, 50-53. New York: Academic Press.

[5]: (Flannery and Marcus 1983, 53-55) Kent V. Flannery and Joyce Marcus. 1983. ’The Growth of Site Hierarchies in the Valley of Oaxaca: Part I’, in The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Kent V. Flannery and Joyce Marcus, 53-64. New York: Academic Press.

[6]: (Joyce 2009, 123) Arthur A. Joyce. 2009. Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.

[7]: (Spencer and Redmond 2003, 32-33) Charles S. Spencer and Elsa M. Redmond. 2003. ’Militarism, Resistance, and Early State Development in Oaxaca, Mexico’. Social Evolution & History 2 (1): 25-70.

[8]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 125-26) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.