This thesis provides evidence for patterned and pervasive ritual symbolism through use of animals and animal imagery in early Mesoamerican villages. I look at the faunal remains excavated from Early and Middle Formative (1350-850 B.C) domestic and ceremonial contexts at the Mixteca Alta site of Tayata, Oaxaca. I focus on the presence of exotic and locally available fauna including: domesticated dog, fish, turtle, small bird and nine-banded armadillo. By investigating the variable use of these animals in purposeful domestication, seasonal celebrations, autosacrifice, as musical instruments and in conjunction with building dedications, I highlight their importance to understanding broader patterns in the site as a whole. Specifically, I compare the presence of these animals at Tayata to other contemporary artifact assemblages, regional iconography, linguistic data, ethnographic descriptions and ethnohistoric accounts of Oaxaca and Mesoamerica. This investigation of ritual deposits within village-level societies provides a means to understand larger socio-political dynamics in this region. Based on the evidence provided, the use of animals in ritual activity at Tayata fits into larger spatial and temporal patterns of local and exotic faunal assemblages seen throughout Formative Mesoamerica. The importance of ritual activity is seen in the association of these animals within residential, ceremonial and elite deposits across multiple sites, indicating an increase in socio-political complexity as well as the presence of a Pan-Mesoamerican belief system during the Early and Middle Formative Periods. This study integrates faunal data within larger patterns of cultural activity including architectural style and zoomorphic figurines. Finally, this approach provides a more thorough understanding of the importance of looking at the context of all artifact types, even those which exist in small quantities, to form a broader perspective on a site or region.

Presented in the session “Childbirth Rites in Mesoamerica."

This study examines the origins of complex societies in Mesoamerican archaeology, and the “mother culture” versus “sister cultures” debate and whether or not the sharing of ideas and materials, from one or multiple sources, catalyzed internal changes toward greater complexity for some early centers during Formative times, prior to the emergence of cities and states. The examination includes pottery analyses and other contextual observations from the Tayata site, in the Mixteca Alta region, as a marker for larger regional and macroregional developments, and as a means of evaluating the Olmec-centric (mother culture) versus pan-Mesoamerican (sister cultures) viewpoints. Tayata is an ideal case study to examine the emergence of complex societies and interregional interaction for early Mesoamerica because of its initial dates of occupation, its location in one of the “nuclear areas” in the emergence of Mesoamerican civilization, and because of its relationships with other regions and contemporaneous sites. The central research question guiding this study concerns the origin of early decorated, well-finished pottery in the Mixteca Alta, and whether they were imported products from other regions, or local copies, or if it was a simultaneous and mutually influential tradition present not only in the Mixteca Alta and greater Oaxaca area but also in different Mesoamerican regions. The focus of this study is Area A of Tayata, where excavations in 2004 revealed one of the largest pre-urban Formative centers in the Mixteca Alta. Tayata’s growth in social complexity is evident by 900/850 BC, when the site expanded significantly and initiated the construction of non-residential buildings and public spaces far in excess of prior phases of occupation. This data set includes architectural features and other deposits, which permit an analysis that compares the presence, and characteristics of pottery in different contexts. Data generated from this study come from 166 sherds selected for macroscopic fabric analysis, then 141 used for portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF), and then 60 for applying instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), show relevant and potential conclusions to understand the local, regional and macroregional exchange and production of pottery. The sample includes utilitarian vessels, such as tecomates, jars, and braziers, and non-utilitarian vessels, such as well-finished vessels of gray and white wares, and focus on pan-Mesoamerican pottery styles identified across Early and Middle Formative times. Samples were from diverse contexts excavated at two different compounds, where Compound 1 shows the earliest material (ca. 1400 BC) and presents clear evidence of multi-craft production; and Compound 2 has later occupation, from Middle Formative to the beginning of Late/Terminal Formative, and its contexts correspond to an elite residence, an adjacent temple, and cremated human and animal burials. Multiple lines of evidence, including pottery production, multicrafting, goods and routes of exchange, architecture, and funerary practices, support the idea that Tayata in the Mixteca Alta, was immersed in social transformations observed across different regions during the Early/Middle Formative (ca. 1400 – 350 BC). Tayata’s interactions with multiple areas related to its local development, showing particularly similarities with the Central Valley of Oaxaca in public constructions, such as the one-room temple, and rituals, such as feasting and funerary practices. Results of macroscopic, contextual, and compositional analyses from Tayata’s pottery, show that pottery production at this site followed both regional and macroregional traditions. Tayata’s imported pottery was primarily associated with a Pacific-coast exchange route that crossed the lowland coastal Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the mountainous Nejapa/Yautepec region, and the highland Central Valleys of Oaxaca, and from there reaching the north of the Mixteca Alta, being a corridor of influence in both goods and ideas to the Formative centers in the region.

No description available.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa é analisar e compreender quais os papéis dos agentes não humanos em narrativas genealógicas, históricas e cosmológicas mixtecas produzidas no final do período pré-hispânico e colonial inicial, sobretudo daquelas figuras consideradas como deidades pelos estudiosos desses manuscritos. Para alcançar esse objetivo foram analisadas, as supostas deidades e suas ações em quatro códices mixtecos: Bodley, Selden, Vindobonense e Zouche Nuttall, manuscritos pictoglíficos produzidos a mando de elites indígenas mixtecas. Os agentes envolvidos nessas histórias podem ser base para a compreensão do que seriam as concepções de história e poder político para essas elites mixtecas, pois a produção das narrativas contidas nos códices mesoamericanos estava intimamente ligada à influência e à justificativa de domínio político das elites indígenas. / This research aims to analyze and to comprehend the role of no human agents in the mixtec genealogical, historical, and cosmological narratives produced in the late pre-hispanic and early colonial period, more precisely those characters considered as deities by the specialists in the study of these manuscripts. To achieve this objective, the supposed deities and their actions will be analyzed in four mixtec codices: Bodley, Selden, Vindobonense and Zouche Nuttall, pictoglyphic manuscripts produced at behest of mixtec indigenous elites. The agents involved in these histories could be the basis to comprehend what would be the conceptions of history and political power to these elites, since the production of the narratives encloused in the mesoamerican codices were closely linked to the influence and justification of political domain of the indigenous elites.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa é analisar e compreender quais os papéis dos agentes não humanos em narrativas genealógicas, históricas e cosmológicas mixtecas produzidas no final do período pré-hispânico e colonial inicial, sobretudo daquelas figuras consideradas como deidades pelos estudiosos desses manuscritos. Para alcançar esse objetivo foram analisadas, as supostas deidades e suas ações em quatro códices mixtecos: Bodley, Selden, Vindobonense e Zouche Nuttall, manuscritos pictoglíficos produzidos a mando de elites indígenas mixtecas. Os agentes envolvidos nessas histórias podem ser base para a compreensão do que seriam as concepções de história e poder político para essas elites mixtecas, pois a produção das narrativas contidas nos códices mesoamericanos estava intimamente ligada à influência e à justificativa de domínio político das elites indígenas. / This research aims to analyze and to comprehend the role of no human agents in the mixtec genealogical, historical, and cosmological narratives produced in the late pre-hispanic and early colonial period, more precisely those characters considered as deities by the specialists in the study of these manuscripts. To achieve this objective, the supposed deities and their actions will be analyzed in four mixtec codices: Bodley, Selden, Vindobonense and Zouche Nuttall, pictoglyphic manuscripts produced at behest of mixtec indigenous elites. The agents involved in these histories could be the basis to comprehend what would be the conceptions of history and political power to these elites, since the production of the narratives encloused in the mesoamerican codices were closely linked to the influence and justification of political domain of the indigenous elites.

This dissertation is a concise examination of the complete obverse manuscript (document 1) of the pre-Hispanic pictogram screen-fold painted by the Mixtec Indians of Oaxaca. The study begins with the historiography of Native American Mexican screen-fold books as related by the first historian of the New World, Peter Martyr d’Anghera, in his De orbe novo and proceeds through major authors from the early twentieth century to present day. The nature of “native” history is explored as is the nature of pictogram narrative history. The superficial narrative structure of Codex Zouche-Nuttall, document 1 is then defined and interpretative reading techniques employed in this dissertation are applied to it. The codex document 1 contents (pages 1-41) are then listed in detail by section, structure, personnel, events, and native dates corresponded with the European calendar, this latter in so far as is possible. This definition explicates each of three bifurcated sections of the document, each section consisting of a story plus genealogy or genealogies. Additionally, essays on codex contents are provided to further elaborate these divisions of study within Codex Zouche-Nuttall document 1. These essays explore certain mysterious parts of the stories, as in the case of the Ladies Three Flint and the Four Lords from Apoala. Inferences are made from codex text regarding Postclassic Period Mixtec social organization via both political structure and religion. The end result is a concise elaboration and explanation of the entire document. / text

Thesis (doctoral)--Leiden University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-361) and index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Leiden University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-361) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1996. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 283-302). Also available via the Internet.