the the of Lambityeco Lords Lords P o l i t i c a l E v o l u t i o n i n t h E v a l l E y o f o a x a c a d u r i n g t h E x o o P h a s E M i c h a e l l i n d a n d J a v i e r U r c i d The Lords of LambiTyeco MesoaMerican Worlds: FroM the olMecs to the danzantes General editors: davíd carrasco and eduardo Matos Moctezuma editorial Board: alfredo lópez austin, anthony aveni, elizabeth Boone, and charles h. long After Monte Albán, J effrey P. B lomster , editor The Apotheosis of Janaab’ Pakal, G erardo a ldana Carrying the Word: The Concheros Dance in Mexico City, s usanna r ostas Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica, n ancy G onlin and J on c. l ohse , editors Conquered Conquistadors, f lorine a sselBerGs Empires of Time, a nthony a veni Encounter with the Plumed Serpent, m aarten J ansen and G aBina a urora P érez J iménez In the Realm of Nachan Kan, m arilyn a. m asson Invasion and Transformation, r eBecca P. B rienen and m arGaret a. J ackson , editors The Kowoj, P rudence m. r ice and d on s. r ice , editors Life and Death in the Templo Mayor, e duardo m atos m octezuma The Lords of Lambityeco, m ichael l ind and J avier u rcid Maya Daykeeping, J ohn m. W eeks , f rauke s achse , and c hristian m. P raGer The Madrid Codex, G aBrielle v ail and a nthony a veni , editors Maya Worldviews at Conquest, l eslie G. c ecil and t imothy W. P uGh , editors Mesoamerican Ritual Economy, e. c hristian W ells and k arla l. d avis -s alazar , editors Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage, d avíd c arrasco , l indsay J ones , and s cott s essions , editors Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God, G uilhem o livier , translated By m ichel B esson Rabinal Achi, a lain B reton , editor ; translated By t eresa l avender f aGan and r oBert s chneider Representing Aztec Ritual, e loise Q uiñones k eBer , editor Ruins of the Past, t ravis W. s tanton and a line m aGnoni , editors Skywatching in the Ancient World, c live r uGGles and G ary u rton , editors Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution in a Maya Community, d ean e. a rnold The Social Experience of Childhood in Mesoamerica, t raci a rdren and s cott r. h utson , editors Stone Houses and Earth Lords, k eith m. P rufer and J ames e. B rady , editors The Sun God and the Savior, G uy s tresser -P éan Sweeping the Way, c atherine r. d i c esare Tamoanchan, Tlalocan: Places of Mist, a lfredo l óPez a ustin Thunder Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a nath a riel de v idas ; translated By t eresa l avender f aGan Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, h. B. n icholson The World Below, J acQues G alinier P o l i t i c a l E v o l u t i o n i n t h E va l l E y o f o a x a c a d u r i n g t h E x o o P h a s E The Lords of LambiTyeco Illustrations by Elbis Domínguez Covarrubias With an Appendix on Calibrated Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Classic and Postclassic Periods in the Valley of Oaxaca by Robert Markens, Marcus Winter, and Cira Martínez u n i v E r s i t y P r E s s o f c o l o r a d o m ichael l ind and J avier u rcid © 2010 by the University Press of Colorado Published by the University Press of Colorado 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C Boulder, Colorado 80303 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of the Association of American University Presses. The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lind, Michael. The lords of Lambityeco : political evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Xoo phase / Michael Lind and Javier Urcid ; illustrations by Elbis Domínguez Covarrubias. p. cm. — (Mesoamerican worlds) “With an Appendix on Calibrated radiocarbon dates for the Late Classic and Postclassic periods in the Valley of Oaxaca by Robert Markens, Marcus Winter, and Cira Martínez.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87081-951-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Lambityeco Site (Mexico) 2. Excavations (Archaeology—Mexico—Lambityeco Site. 3. Zapotec Indians—Antiquities. 4. Zapotec Indians—Politics and government. 5. Social archaeology—Mexico—Oaxaca Valley. 6. Oaxaca Valley (Mexico)—Antiquities. I. Urcid, Javier. II. Title. F1219.1.O11L55 2009 972'.74—dc22 2009044650 Design by Daniel Pratt An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high-quality books open access for the public good. The open access ISBN for this book is 978 - 1 - 60732 - 715-8 . More information about the initiative and links to the open-access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org. To the memory of John Paddock, our teacher, mentor, and friend vii contents List of Figures / ix List of Tables / xv Foreword by Arthur A. Joyce / xvii Preface / xxiii 1. Introduction / 1 2. Lambityeco in the Valley of Oaxaca / 15 3. Lambityeco: The Economic Basis / 49 4. Site Structure and Community Organization / 83 5. Excavations in Mound 195 Sub: Structures 195-6, 195-5, and 195-4 / 109 6. Structure 195-3 / 141 7. Tomb 6 / 171 8. The Houses of Tomb 3 and Tomb 4 / 233 9. Mound 195: Structures 195-2 and 195-1 / 265 10. Political Evolution during the Xoo Phase and the Collapse of Monte Albán / 317 viii — c o n t E n t s appendix 1. Calibrated Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Classic and Postclassic Periods in the Valley of Oaxaca by Robert Markens, Marcus Winter, and Cira Martínez / 345 appendix 2. The Lambityeco Mounds / 365 appendix 3. Moundless Xoo Phase Structures at Lambityeco / 379 References / 381 Index / 401 ix 2.1 The Valley of Oaxaca / 16 2.2 Xoo phase settlements in the Valley of Oaxaca / 22 2.3 Xoo phase settlements in the Tlacolula arm of the valley / 27 2.4 Xoo phase monumental architectural complexes at Monte Albán and Lambityeco / 33 2.5 Products sold in the Tlacolula market / 42 2.6 Additional products sold in the Tlacolula market / 43 3.1 Ancient and modern salt production at Lambityeco / 50 3.2 Xoo phase salt production at Lambityeco / 53 3.3 Plan and profile of Tomb 9 in Mound 91 at Lambityeco / 56 3.4 Rim sherd construction at Lambityeco / 61 3.5 Evidence of ceramic production at Lambityeco / 63 3.6 Tools for textile production from Lambityeco / 69 3.7 Plan and profile of Lambityeco Tomb 10 / 76 4.1 The archaeological site of Lambityeco / 84 4.2 Cerro Yegüih / 85 4.3 Xoo phase Lambityeco / 87 4.4 Map of Mitla, ca. 1930 / 89 4.5 Model of a residential plot in Mitla / 95 4.6 Model of Xoo phase residence / 96 4.7 The center of Xoo phase Lambityeco / 100 figures x — f i g u r E s 4.8 Sunrise over Mound 195 during the winter solstice, December 22, 1987 / 106 5.1 Mound 195 at Lambityeco / 110 5.2 Mound 195 before excavations / 111 5.3 Cociyo urns from Tomb 2 and Cociyo busts from Mound 190 / 113 5.4 The sequence of elite structures in Mound 195 / 114 5.5 Plan and profiles of Structure 195-6 / 116 5.6 Plan and profile of Tomb 5 / 118 5.7 Tomb 5 beneath altar / 119 5.8 West talud of the Structure 195-5 platform / 120 5.9 Plan and profiles of Structure 195-5 / 121 5.10 Plan and profiles of Tomb 6 in Structure 195-5 / 122 5.11 Plan and profiles of Structure 195-4 / 125 5.12 West room of Structure 195-4SE / 126 5.13 Plan and profiles of Tomb 6 in Structure 195-4SE / 128 5.14 Vaulted roof of the main chamber of Tomb 6 / 129 5.15 Some features of Structure 195-4NE / 130 5.16 Entryways between Structures 195-4SE and 195-4NE / 132 5.17 Sweatbath north of Mound 195 with three phases of construction / 134 5.18 Plan and profiles of the innermost or original sweatbath / 135 5.19 Sweatbath in Mitla in 1980 / 136 5.20 Isometric reconstructions of Structures 195-6, 195-5, and 195-4 / 137 6.1 Plan and profiles of Structure 195-3 / 142 6.2 Structure 195-3NE / 143 6.3 Southwest corner of the platform of Structure 195-3SE / 146 6.4 South room of Structure 195-3SE / 149 6.5 Southeast corner room of Structure 195-3SE / 150 6.6 Earlier east room of Structure 195-3SE / 153 6.7 Plan and profiles of Tomb 6 in Structure 195-3SE / 154 6.8 Cut above the Tomb 6 façade / 155 6.9 Plaster portrait heads on the façade of Tomb 6 / 156 6.10 The altar complex in Structure 195-3SE / 158 6.11 The lower friezes of the altar complex / 159 6.12 In-situ and loose fragments of the stucco figures upon which the hypothetical reconstruction of the friezes is based / 161 6.13 Reconstruction of the altar complex / 163 6.14 Second phase of construction of the sweatbath / 164 6.15 Isometric reconstruction of Structure 195-3 / 164 f i g u r E s — xi 6.16 View of the altar complex from the end of the southwest entrance corridor / 165 6.17 View of the south room in Structure 195-3SE from the north vestibule / 167 6.18 Plan of the House of Tomb 103 at Monte Albán / 168 7.1 Profile of the hole dug through the altar, Tomb 5, and the roof of the main chamber of Tomb 6 / 172 7.2 Plan and profile of the Tomb 6 skeletal remains / 173 7.3 Burial 68-22, a female thirty-five to forty-five years old / 174 7.4 Graph of chi-square results from comparisons of bones in tombs at Lambityeco / 177 7.5 Plan and profile of the Tomb 6 offering / 186 7.6 The Tomb 6 lintel offering / 189 7.7 Ceramic effigies found in the Tomb 6 lintel offering / 191 7.8 Distribution of urn fragments in front of Tomb 6 / 195 7.9 Ceramic effigy fragments from the fill in front of Tomb 6 and their hypothetical reconstruction / 196 7.10 Distribution of fragments of a jaguar effigy vessel in front of Tomb 6 / 198 7.11 Fragments of carved stone tablet and its hypothetical reconstruction / 200 7.12 The Tomb 6 door offering / 201 7.13 Plan and profile of the distribution of G-35 and K-14 bowls in Tomb 6 / 202 7.14 Pattern-burnished designs on the bases of G-35 and K-14 bowls from Lambityeco / 204 7.15 G-35 bowls, ladle censers, and spiked braziers from Tomb 6 / 205 7.16 Distribution of brazier fragments in front of Tomb 6 / 208 7.17 Brazier fragments from the fill in front of Tomb 6 and their hypo- thetical reconstruction / 209 7.18 Flanged-neck tecomates from Lambityeco / 211 7.19 Shell, bone, stone, and bark ornaments from Tomb 6 / 212 7.20 Patojo, Fine Orange vessels, and bone implements from Tomb 6 / 218 7.21 G-35 bowls in the main chamber of Tomb 6 / 224 7.22 Miniature and hemispherical bowls from Tomb 6 / 226 8.1 Trenches across the north platform of System 195 / 234 8.2 Plan of the House of Tomb 3 / 235 8.3 Patio of the House of Tomb 3 / 236 8.4 Plan and profile of the human skeletal remains in Tomb 3 / 238 8.5 Burials 3–5 in Tomb 3 / 239 xii — f i g u r E s 8.6 Burials 1 and 2 in Tomb 3 / 240 8.7 Plan and profile of the Tomb 3 offerings / 242 8.8 Ceramic effigies from the lintel offering in Tomb 3 / 243 8.9 Bowls and ladle censers from Tomb 3 / 246 8.10 Ollas, tecomate, mano, and bone batten from Tomb 3 / 247 8.11 Fragment of a miniature stone replica of the Tomb 6 façade, its hypothetical reconstruction, and comparison with similar replicas / 248 8.12 Bipod effigy vases from Tombs 3 and 6 with the same moldmade Cociyo face / 250 8.13 Houses of Tombs 3 and 4 within the residential compound / 252 8.14 Plan of the House of Tomb 4 / 253 8.15 House of Tomb 4, stone foundations, and Tomb 4 / 254 8.16 Plan and profile of Tomb 4 / 256 8.17 The House of Tomb 4, adobe blocks atop the patio f loor, and G-35 bowls from Tomb 4 / 257 8.18 Burials 68-4 and 68-10 from the House of Tomb 4 / 259 8.19 Burial 68-16 from the House of Tomb 4 / 260 8.20 Burial 68-15 from the House of Tomb 4 / 261 9.1 The hole through the altar and later fill / 266 9.2 Plan and profiles of Structure 195-2 showing its relationship to Structure 195-3 / 268 9.3 The walkway along the west side of Structure 195-3NE / 271 9.4 Purposeful termination of the north wall of Mound 195 and fill of hemispherical adobes in Mounds 195 and 190 / 272 9.5 North, south, and west walls of Mound 195 / 274 9.6 Plaster basin in the work area and vessels from the “centerline offering” / 275 9.7 Ancient and modern vessels for umbilical cords / 277 9.8 The Structure 195-2 patio f loor / 279 9.9 Isometric reconstruction of Structure 195-2 / 280 9.10 Adobe retaining walls and the east wall of Mound 195 / 281 9.11 Plan of Structure 195-1 / 282 9.12 Profiles of Structure 195-1 / 283 9.13 The Structure 195-1 patio and “patio offering” / 284 9.14 The Structure 195-1 elite residence and Monte Albán elite houses / 286 9.15 Structure 195-1 rooms / 287 9.16 Structure 195-1 west room or hall with step frets / 290 9.17 Isometric view of the Structure 195-1 elite residence / 290 9.18 Tomb 1 / 291 f i g u r E s — xiii 9.19 Plan and profiles of Tomb 1 contents / 293 9.20 The Tomb 1 door offering and interior offering / 295 9.21 Third phase of construction of the sweatbath north of Mound 195 / 298 9.22 Niche in the main stairway of Mound 195 and hypothetical reconstruction / 299 9.23 System 195 before excavation and the plaza drain / 300 9.24 Plan, profile, and views of the altar in System 195 / 302 9.25 Burial 67-1 and accompanying offering / 303 9.26 The north and south platforms of System 195 / 305 9.27 The west platform of Lambityeco System 195 and of the Patio Hundido at Monte Albán / 307 9.28 Isometric view of the probable intended configuration of Structure 195-1 / 308 9.29 Hypothetical reconstruction of a quadripartite ancestor memorial with a carved monolith of unknown provenience / 309 9.30 Unfinished features at the southeast corner of Mound 195 / 312 10 1 Possible limits of the Monte Albán Xoo phase state and regions beyond the Valley of Oaxaca / 327 10 2 Hypothetical model of the political collapse of the Xoo phase Monte Albán state (ca. 850 CE) / 331 xv 2.1 The Valley of Oaxaca chronology / 18 2.2 Largest Xoo phase settlements in the Valley of Oaxaca: Ranked by estimated population / 23 2.3 Largest Xoo phase sites in the Valley of Oaxaca: Ranked by esti- mated mound volumes / 24 2.4 Xoo phase settlements in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca: Ranked by estimated population / 28 2.5 Xoo phase settlements in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca: Ranked by estimated mound volumes / 30 2.6 Xoo phase settlements in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca: Ranked by mound heights / 31 2.7 A comparison of Xoo phase districts in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca: Populations, areas, and population densities / 37 2.8 A comparison of Xoo phase districts in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca: Settlement populations and mound heights / 39 2.9 Comparison of district centers with largest nearest neighbor: Populations, mound volumes, and mound heights / 40 2.10 Monte Albán and Lambityeco: Size by phase / 46 4.1 A comparison of types of Xoo phase mounds by heights / 92 4.2 Number of houses per residential plot in Mitla / 94 tables xvi — t a b l E s 5.1 Absolute dates associated with the sequence of structures in Mound 195 / 114 5.2 Objects from Tomb 5 / 119 7.1 Skeletal inventory from the tombs at Lambityeco and chi-square analysis / 178 7.2 List of objects from the Tomb 6 offering illustrated in Figure 7.5 / 183 7.3 Distribution of objects in Tomb 6 / 188 7.4 G-35 bowls in the door offering / 203 7.5 Ladle censers in the door offering / 203 7.6 Bowls from the fill in front of Tomb 6 / 210 7.7 Bowls from the antechamber offering / 214 7.8 Ladle censers in the antechamber offering / 215 7.9 G-35 bowls in the main chamber / 225 7.10 Miniature vessels from Tomb 6 / 225 8.1 Objects in the Tomb 3 offering / 241 8.2 Bowls and ladle censers from Tomb 3 / 245 8.3 G-35 bowls in the Tomb 4 offering / 258 9.1 Objects from the “centerline offering” / 276 9.2 Objects from the Structure 195-1 “patio offering” / 285 9.3 Objects from the Tomb 1 offering / 294 a1.1 Chronological chart for the State of Oaxaca / 354 a1.2 Radiocarbon dates from the Valley of Oaxaca for the Late Classic and Postclassic periods / 356 a1.3 Uncalibrated radiocarbon dates from the Valley of Oaxaca / 360 a1.4 Calibrated radiocarbon dates from the Valley of Oaxaca / 362 xvii The site of Lambityeco in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca is well-known to archaeologists and tourists alike for its impressive high- status residences as well as its altar complex with plaster friezes depicting several generations of ruling couples whose remains were discovered in- terred in a family mausoleum below the altar. Lambityeco was the focus of archaeological excavations and surface survey directed by John Paddock of the Institute of Oaxaca Studies from 1961 to 1976, followed by years of laboratory analyses. This impressive volume by two of the lead researchers on the project, Michael Lind and Javier Urcid, synthesizes major excava- tions focused on the Mound 195 Complex at Lambityeco. The authors present the excavation results in great detail and clarity, which allows them to trace changes in the Mound 195 Complex through the Late Classic and into the Early Postclassic and consider the implications for the Prehispanic history of the Zapotec people of the Valley of Oaxaca. As an important demographic and political center during the Late Classic Xoo phase (ca. 650–850 CE), Lambityeco has figured prominently in debates about the Classic period collapse and the Early Postclassic Liobaa phase. Although Lambityeco was one of the largest sites in the Valley of Oaxaca and featured impressive monumental architecture, the community was dwarfed by the powerful mountaintop city and polity seat of Monte Albán, located twenty-five kilometers to the northwest. Lambityeco is foreword xviii — f o r E w o r d therefore crucial for understanding the political organization of the Xoo phase Monte Albán polity. Evidence for intensive salt-rendering activities as well as ceramic production and textile manufacture, among other eco- nomic activities, also makes Lambityeco an important site for developing models of economic relations in the Valley of Oaxaca. Even more fundamental to questions of sociopolitical change during the Classic period collapse has been debate over the ceramic chronology for the Late Classic and Early Postclassic in the Valley of Oaxaca, and Lambityeco has been a focus of some of the most heated disagreements. For many years Lambityeco was considered the key site for understanding what happened in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Early Postclassic period immediately following the collapse of Monte Albán. Beginning in the late 1980s, however, researchers, including Marcus Winter and Michael Lind, began to raise questions concerning the ceramic markers that were viewed as differentiating the Late Classic and Early Postclassic. Since ar- guments concerning the Early Postclassic ceramic phase relied heavily on results from Lambityeco, the site figured prominently in the debate. Winter raised the most serious concerns in a 1989 article that pointed out that few radiocarbon samples from the Valley of Oaxaca dated to the Early Postclassic. At Lambityeco, six of the seven radiocarbon dates from the site fell within the Late Classic period, and the only Early Postclassic date was clearly anomalous. Recent systematic research by Robert Markens has begun to differentiate the Late Classic Xoo phase from an Early Postclassic Liobaa phase. Needless to say, the evidence from Lambityeco figures into many of the key research problems and debates in Oaxacan archaeology, and this is one reason why The Lords of Lambityeco: Political Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Xoo Phase is such a welcome volume. The authors rely on the revised ceramic sequence to set the basic chronological framework for their study, which shows that most of the major occupations at the site, including the Mound 195 Complex, date to the Late Classic period rather than the Early Postclassic, as previously thought. The authors address Zapotec cultural evolution from a perspective that draws on World Systems theory along with recent considerations of agency and history, while chal- lenging several long-held theoretical assumptions in Oaxacan archaeology. They insightfully question traditional approaches to cultural evolution that view change as episodic with long periods of relative stability punctuated by dramatic evolutionary transformations. Lind and Urcid point out that the episodic approach is in part a function of the reliance by archaeologists on ceramic phases that in Mesoamerica typically divide time into periods of several centuries’ duration. Chronological frameworks built largely on f o r E w o r d — xix the basis of ceramic phases may predispose archaeologists to see change in an episodic fashion; yet as Lind and Urcid demonstrate, archaeologists can build more nuanced chronologies through careful attention to stratigraphy. By skillfully examining stratigraphic relationships at Lambityeco—what Lind and Urcid term the sequential integration approach—they are able to trace the history of the construction, use, alteration, and reuse of the buildings and tombs of the Mound 195 Complex during the course of a single ceramic phase. Their approach joins a growing literature on the bi- ography of objects and places that examines the ways in which the history of places are implicated in broader changes in political relations, identity, and practice. Another aspect of the authors’ critical stance toward cultural evolution is to question the utility of archaeological indicators of a state form of po- litical organization. For example, Lind and Urcid question traditional in- dicators of the state, such as four-tiered settlement hierarchies and palaces, which continue to be important in archaeological discourse in Oaxaca. The authors also join a growing number of researchers who recognize a diversity of forms of political organization within states. Instead of seeing the Late Classic period as a “golden age” when the Monte Albán polity reached its apogee as the political capital of a unified and tightly integrated state that dominated the central valleys of Oaxaca and beyond, the authors take the organization of the Monte Albán polity as an empirical question to be investigated. They consider a variety of general categories of state organization, including territorial states and city-states, using ethnohistoric and ethnographic analogies to specify how these kinds of polities may have been realized by ancient Zapotecs. What makes this volume so effective is the authors’ attention to detail in their discussion of the stratigraphic relations within the Mound 195 excavations and how the evidence relates to the broader findings from Lambityeco. This approach allows Lind and Urcid to trace the history of political and economic relations between Lambityeco and Monte Albán during the Xoo phase. The combination of archaeological, osteological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence from Mound 195 provides an un- precedented picture of the community’s ruling family. The authors trace the continuous elaboration of the ruler’s residence as the wealth and inf lu- ence of Lambityeco’s royal family increased through the eighth century. Incredibly, friezes preserved on an altar complex and tomb depict four suc- cessive generations of royal couples who ruled the community from ca. 700 to 800 CE along with an important apical or founding ancestor. The friezes represent the genealogy of the fifth couple who ruled from ca. 775 to 800 CE, Lord 1 Lachi and Lady 10 Naa, whose portrait heads decorate the