Monte Alban II

  General Description   The Monte Albán II period runs from 100 to 200 CE. The Zapotec state, which had formed in the previous (Late I) phase, ^{[1] [2]} was now fully established with the capital at Monte Albán. The Zapotecs extended their territory further during this period, to include the rest of the Valley of Oaxaca as well as territories much further afield (including Miahuatlán, Cuicatlán, Tututepec, Ocelotepec, Chiltepec and the Sola Valley). ^{[3] [4]} The place names recorded in the ’conquest slabs’ at Monte Albán can still be identified in some cases (as they are still called by those names) and may indicate that the territorial limits of the Zapotec state during this period were around 85-150 kilometres from Monte Albán. ^[5]
Population and political organization
The first evidence for ’rulers’, identified in hieroglyphic inscriptions, comes from this period, and the earliest ruler’s portrait dates to around 100 CE. Nobles were also ritual specialists and officiated human sacrifices. ^[6]
Evidence for conquests includes the burning of conquered settlements, the presence of Zapotec material culture and propaganda (including a skull rack displaying the heads of conquered people) and references to defeated areas carved on the ’conquest slabs’ displayed in Building J on the Main Plaza of Monte Albán. ^[7] Monumental construction flourished during this period, with standardized temples, palaces and ball courts built around the paved Main Plaza at Monte Albán. Secondary sites, such as San José Mogote, imitated the constructions at Monte Albán with similar (although smaller) temples and central plazas. ^[8]
The Valley of Oaxaca Settlement Pattern Project estimates a decline in population by up to 32% (from roughly 50,000) during this period, based on the abandonment or shrinkage of some settlements (even though this was in part due to the nucleation of the population at larger centres such as Monte Albán). ^[9] Archaeologists Joyce Marcus and Kent Flannery, however, suggest that this perceived decrease in population is partly due to the very high estimates given by the Settlement Pattern Project for the previous phase. ^[10]

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

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

[3]: (Balkansky 1998, 462) A. K. Balkansky. 1998. ’Origin and Collapse of Complex Societies in Oaxaca, Mexico: Evaluating the Era from 1965 to the Present’. Journal of World Prehistory 12 (4): 451-93.

[4]: (Balkansky 2002, 50) A. K. Balkansky. 2002. The Sola Valley and the Monte Albán State: A Study of Zapotec Imperial Expansion. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, Volume 12. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.

[5]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 197) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.

[6]: (Joyce 2009, 144-45) Arthur A. Joyce. 2009. Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.

[7]: (Spencer and Redmond 2003, 28) 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]: (Balkansky 1998, 462-63) A. K. Balkansky. 1998. ’Origin and Collapse of Complex Societies in Oaxaca, Mexico: Evaluating the Era from 1965 to the Present’. Journal of World Prehistory 12 (4): 451-93.

[9]: (Blanton et al. 1979, 379) Richard E. Blanton, Jill Appel, Laura Finsten, Steve Kowalewski, Gary Feinman and Eva Fisch. 1979. ’Regional Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico’. Journal of Field Archaeology 6 (4): 369-90.

[10]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 172-73) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.