By Monte Albán V, it appears that a full three level hierarchy was in place throughout the Valley, but no town can plausibly be identified as a regional capital
Ethnohistoric documents characterize Zapotec society at the time of European contact as essentially a two-class, endogamous structure of social stratification with some distinctions within the classes.
The elite occupied positions of political, military and ritual leadership. Typically, each head town was governed by one elite individual, an hereditary “king” (usually male, but not always ) (cacique (Spanish) or coquitao (Zapotec)) assisted by other members of the elite in bureaucratic positions -- not necessarily hereditary. The lower stratum consisted of free pesants, servants and slaves.
