Archaeological Survey in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

We summarize the 3,000-year period of Prehispanic settlement in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, based on our regional surveys. We focus on episodic transitions to compare regional trajectories in the Mixteca Alta and elsewhere in Oaxaca. The regularities in settlement pattern changes over so large an area suggest a common causal chain. The project was a full-coverage survey that recorded over 1000 sites in a 10-valley macroregion. The project boundaries adjoined prior surveys, thereby offering the widest available scale of analysis. Mixteca Alta and Valley of Oaxaca survey blocks were conjoined into a single universe of sites. Significant results included the high regional population densities for the earliest settled villages; the eventual consolidation of some extended communities into urban and state societies; the timing and spread of urbanism into adjacent valleys; and the variation and interconnections among late Prehispanic settlements. We conclude that changing community patterns in the Mixteca Alta arose from the interplay of societies on both regional and macroregional scales. Our results underscore the need for still larger spatial perspectives on early civilizations.