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POLITICAL STRATEGIES AND THE URBAN SPACES THAT REFLECT THEM IN FORMATIVE-PERIOD CERRO JAZMÍN, OAXACA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2019

Verónica Pérez Rodríguez  and
Antonio Martínez Tuñón
Verónica Pérez Rodríguez*
Affiliation:
University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, AS 113, Albany, New York12222
Antonio Martínez Tuñón
Affiliation:
University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, AS 113, Albany, New York12222
*
E-mail correspondence to: vperezrodriguez@albany.edu
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Abstract

Based on stratigraphic excavation data and associated radiocarbon dates we argue that the pre-Hispanic city of Cerro Jazmín, in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, underwent a period of political change between the Late Formative (300 b.c.–a.d. 50) and the Terminal Formative periods (a.d. 50–300). This shift is reflected in the city's layout and in the timing of construction and use of two different monumental sectors. During the city's Late Formative occupation, we found evidence of more exclusionary feasting activity taking place in a secluded monumental sector called the Sunken Courtyards near the hilltop. In the Terminal Formative, however, monumental construction expanded in the more accessible Tres Cerritos sector where larger and accessible public areas were the focus of activity. We argue that changes in the city's layout, along with the differing patterns of feasting, suggest that the city's leaders went from a more exclusionary form of government to a more collective political strategy during the Terminal Formative period. Despite of these efforts monumental construction largely stopped and the city's population declined by the start of the Classic period (a.d. 300).

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , Fall 2020 , pp. 386 - 397
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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