Monte Alban Late I

  General Description   The Monte Albán Late I period ran from 300 to 100 BCE. Archaeologists Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond argue that the Zapotecs had formed a state by the beginning of this period (around 300 BCE). ^[1] The Zapotec polity based at Monte Albán started to expand to areas outside the valley at the beginning of this period, but could not yet control all areas within the Valley of Oaxaca. ^[2] It is thought that the unification of the whole valley by the Zapotec state did not occur until the following period (Monte Albán II). ^[1]
Population and political organization
There is evidence of an elite during this period. However, the nature of government is still unclear, as is the relationship between elites and non-elites. ^[3] Richard Blanton et al. summarize the situation: ’Obviously, powerful authorities at Monte Albán could collect taxes, wage wars, engage in diplomacy, erect carved stone monuments, construct public buildings, manage urban problems, appropriate surpluses from producer households, and adjudicate disputes. But who were these authorities and how did they come to positions of power? Were there rulers or a governing council?’ ^[3]
Violent conflicts were rife, and one third of the population of the valley eventually moved to fortified or defensible settlements by the end of Monte Albán I (including Monte Albán itself, which had a three-kilometre defensive wall and was built on a defensible hill top). ^[4] The danzantes, or carved images of captives, date to the first Monte Albán phases (MA Early-Late I) and may be linked with the expansionist policies and propaganda of Zapotec leaders. It is also worth noting that the richest burials date to this period and, like the danzantes, may be linked with an expression and justification of power by Zapotec elites. ^[5]
The population of the Zapotec polity grew during this period, particularly at Monte Albán, which housed around 17,000 people, and many new settlements were established within a roughly 30-kilometre radius of Monte Albán. ^[6] This was part of a general trend of population nucleation during this period, particularly to sites with civic-ceremonial functions. ^[7] The entire population of the Valley of Oaxaca during the Monte Albán IC phase has been estimated at around 50,000, ^[8] although it is not clear whether the entire valley was under Zapotec control at this time. ^[9]

[1]: (Spencer and Redmond 2004, 176) Charles S. Spencer and Elsa M. Redmond. 2004. ’Primary State Formation in Mesoamerica’. Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 173-99.

[2]: (Redmond and Spencer 2013, E1707-15) Elsa M. Redmond and Charles S. Spencer. 2013. ’Early (300-100 BC) Temple Precinct in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 (19): E1707-15.

[3]: (Blanton et al. 1999, 127-28) Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski and Linda M. Nicholas. 1999. Ancient Oaxaca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[4]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 150) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.

[5]: (Flannery and Marcus 1983, 90) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1983. ’The Earliest Public Buildings, Tombs, and Monuments at Monte Albán, with Notes on the Internal Chronology of Period I’, in The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery, 87-91. New York: Academic Press.

[6]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 139, 145) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.

[7]: (Feinman et al. 1985, 349) Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski, Laura Finsten, Richard E. Blanton and Linda Nicholas. 1985. ’Long-Term Demographic Change: A Perspective from the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico’. Journal of Field Archaeology 12 (3): 333-62.

[8]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 144-45) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.

[9]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 162) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.