Monte Alban III

  General Description   The Monte Albán IIIA phase (200-500 CE) is generally regarded as the ’golden age’ or Classic period of the Zapotec state, ^[1] due to the widespread uniformity of ceramics and monumental construction as well as increased economic and political integration, centred at Monte Albán. ^{[2] [3]} The population of the capital, Monte Albán, continued to grow and the construction of monumental buildings at the site reached its peak. These buildings dominate what can be seen at the ruins of Monte Albán today. ^{[4] [2]} Additional settlements were established in the piedmont area (including Jalieza with 13,000 inhabitants in the southern sub-valley and Dainzú-Macuilxochitl-Tlacochahuaya-Guadalupe [DMTG] with 12,000 inhabitants in the eastern sub-valley). ^{[4] [5]} The movement of people into the piedmont areas may imply an increase in demand for agricultural labour during this period. ^[6] The territorial extent of the Zapotec state, on the other hand, decreased during this period in the face of increasingly powerful competitors on the borders of the state. Previously subordinate areas, such as the Sola Valley, became independent of the Zapotec state. ^{[7] [8] [9]}
Population and political organization
Five named rulers are known for this 400-year period, identified in public monuments in the vicinity of the Main Plaza of Monte Albán. ^[10] Status appears to have been inherited and related to one’s proximity to apical ancestors. ^[11] Burial remains and the differences in construction of residential buildings suggest two class-endogamous strata during this period, with the majority of the population (an estimated 96-98 percent) belonging to the commoner class. ^[12] The Zapotecs focused on internal consolidation: an increasing proportion of settlements were in defensible locations or had fortifications, and there was agricultural intensification in the piedmont and high alluvium zones. ^[13] There was also a pattern of settlement clustering around the main centres, similar to the pattern shown in the Monte Albán Late I phase (300-100 BCE), except the clustering occurred around secondary centres as well as around the primary centre, Monte Albán. ^[14]
Archaeologists Joyce Marcus and Kent Flannery estimate the population of the valley to have been around 115,000 people during this period. ^[15] A population range of 15,000-30,000 for Monte Albán is based on the estimated number of people living in each of the households at the site. Larger households may have included 10-20 people, while 5-10 may have lived in the smaller households, although this may be an underestimate. ^[16]

[1]: (Balkansky 1998, 472) 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.

[2]: (Flannery and Marcus 1983, 127-28) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1983. ’The Early Urban Period: Editors’ Introduction’, in The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery, 127-28. New York: Academic Press.

[3]: (Blanton et al. 1982, 85, 88-9) Richard E. Blanton, R. E., et al. 1982. Monte Albán’s Hinterland, Part 1: The Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Central and Southern Parts of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, Vol. 7. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.

[4]: (Balkansky 1998, 473) 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.

[5]: (Feinman et al. 1985, 351) 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.

[6]: (Blanton et al. 1982, 91) Richard E. Blanton, R. E., et al. 1982. Monte Albán’s Hinterland, Part 1: The Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Central and Southern Parts of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, Vol. 7. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.

[7]: (Balkansky 1998, 474) 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.

[8]: (Spencer 1982, 254) Charles S. Spencer. 1982. The Cuicatlán Cañada and Monte Albán: A Study of Primary State Formation. New York: Academic Press.

[9]: (Balkansky 2002, 51) 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, Vol. 12. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.

[10]: (Blanton et al. 1999, 128) Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski and Linda M. Nicholas. 1999. Ancient Oaxaca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[11]: (Joyce 2009, 215-17) Arthur A. Joyce. 2009. Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.

[12]: (Flannery 1983, 136) Kent V. Flannery. 1983. ’The Legacy of the Early Urban Period: An Ethnohistoric Approach to Monte Albán’s Temples, Residences, and Royal Tombs’, in The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery, 132-36. New York: Academic Press.

[13]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 228-29) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.

[14]: (Blanton et al. 1979, 382) 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.

[15]: (Marcus and Flannery 1996, 224) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson.

[16]: (Flannery and Marcus 1983, 128) Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery. 1983. ’The Early Urban Period: Editors’ Introduction’, in The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations, edited by Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery, 127-28. New York: Academic Press.