LISS.398A TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT and HUMAN ADAPTATION:
PART II PRE-EUROPEAN MESOAMERICA

VALLEY OF OAXACA: MONTE ALBAN III; SOCIAL INTEGRATION

Monte Albán with an estimated population of about 4000 is now one among several population centers including:

Jalieza

Located in a high easily defended site near the hills on the east central part of the Zimatlán-Ocotlán Valley. with an estimated population of about 16,000 making it the largest concentration of population during Monte Alba´n IV

Lambityeco

Located in the alluvium of Tlacolula Valley about 25 km from Monte Albán

Yagul

Located in the on an ignimbrite mesa with extensive defensive walls above the alluvium in the Tlacolula Valley about 35 km from Monte Albán

Mitla

Located the alluvium close to a mesa with defensive walls at the easternmost end of the Tlacolula Valley about 55 km from Monte Albán

Evidence of economic specialization among the sites in the Tlacolula Valley suggest that , though politically independent, they may have been strongly integrated economically. Similar evidence is lacking for settlements in the Zimatlán-Ocotlán Valley. Indeed, Jalieza, appears to be lacking any evidence of internal integration such as monumental architecture.

All this suggests that, with the disappearance of the regional capital at Monte Albán, the Valley is organized into possibly a dozen small, politically independent city states with varying degrees of internal coherence and economic interdependence frequently engaged in warfare with each other.

This pattern of political decentralization continued during Monte Albán V , though the scale of the system expands dramatically reoccupying the areas abandoned during IV. The number of independent city states increases (according to ehtnohistoric sources) to about 20.

The most significant concentration of monumental architecture dating to this phase appears at Mitla. Ehtnohistoric sources suggest that Mitla may have been a center for ritual activity serving the entire Valley. It has been suggested (on similar evidence) that Zaachila in the Zimatlán-Ocotlán Valley may have played an analogous role politically in that its ruler was, at least nominally, superior to the rulers of the other city states. This suggestion of a unique political role for Zaachila during MonteAlbán V does not find convincing support in the archaeological record.

During MonteAlbán V, the Valley of Oaxaca becomes increasingly integrated into a wider Mesoamerican system as evidenced by:

• immigration of Mixtec people from the Nochitlán Valley to the northwest (the Mixteca Alta);
• intermarriage among Mixtec and Zapotec elite;
• jiont Mixtec-Zapotec military conquests in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the south;
• the presence of Aztec traders and colonists the Valley.