Papers by Teresa Palomares
Arqueologia Iberoamericana, 2009
© ARQUEOLOGIA IBEROAMERICANA 2 (2009), 25-33. ISSN 1989-4104. RESUMEN. La cultura de la Mixteca A... more © ARQUEOLOGIA IBEROAMERICANA 2 (2009), 25-33. ISSN 1989-4104. RESUMEN. La cultura de la Mixteca Alta, en el actual estado de Oaxaca, México, es conocida por su desarro-llo durante la época del Posclásico; no obstante estu-dios recientes han abordado sus orígenes en sitios del Formativo Temprano, Medio y Tardío, aportando una gran gama de datos sobre los inicios de una de las civilizacio-nes más importantes de Mesoamérica. Los primeros mix-tecos ya presentaban características culturales singula-res y de identidad, sin embargo también contaban con rasgos similares a sitios tempranos de otras regiones, lo cual los ubica como parte de una dinámica cultural regional e interregional. El estudio sobre los cambios cul-turales de una organización aldeana a un centro urbano o ciudad, es analizado a través de dos sitios de la Mixte-ca Alta: Huamelulpan y Tayata. La evidencia de cambios estructurales importantes en el sitio Tayata, durante el Formativo Medio, la hemos relacionado con el desarro-llo de nuevos centros políticos en la Mixteca Alta, asimi-lables a un estado urbano, como lo fue Huamelulpan. Estos acontecimientos se produjeron paralelamente a la aparición de sociedades complejas en el Valle de Oaxa-ca, como la relación San José Mogote-Monte Albán. A través del estudio de estos procesos culturales, se po-drán producir nuevos datos para conocer y entender de una mejor manera los orígenes y desarrollo de la civili-zación mixteca, así como la relación con el resto de Oaxa-ca y Mesoamérica desde tiempos tempranos. ABSTRACT. The Prehispanic culture of the Mixteca Alta, in the current state of Oaxaca, Mexico, is known for its development during the Postclassic, but recent archaeological research is providing new insights into the origins of the Mixtec civilization thousands of years prior to Spanish contact. The first Mixtecos had unique cultural characteristics, but also had features similar to other early Mesoamerican societies, linking them to a wider set of contacts and cultural dynamics. The transition from village-based societies to urban states in the Mixteca Alta is apparent from a comparison of Tayata to its successor site of Huamelulpan. These events occurred in parallel with the emergence of complex societies in the Valley of Oaxaca. These parallels suggest that in addition to understanding the early history of the Mixtec, our studies are revealing general processes of social evolution. L OS CONQUISTADORES ESPAÑOLES DEL AÑO 1519 DESCRI-bieron su primer encuentro en Mesoamérica como una «visión encantadora» y «de ensueño». Des-pués, al llegar a la ciudad de Tenochtitlán no podían creer lo que veían, una ciudad, entre las más grandes del mun-do, que aparentemente flotaba sobre el agua, con un cen-tro urbanizado masivamente y distritos comerciales de escala y variedad desconocida en Europa. ¿Cómo llegó a desarrollarse la civilización mesoamericana a este nivel?, los arqueólogos aún se plantean ésta y otras interrogan-tes, tratando de construir conocimientos sobre tiempos anteriores a la época de la conquista. Hoy sabemos que el hombre recorrió México por lo menos desde hace 15.000 años atrás, con una secuencia continua de trans-formaciones culturales dirigidas a la organización urba-na y estatal. Esta continuidad hizo de Mesoamérica una de las áreas más importantes del mundo para compren-der el origen de la civilización y las causas del cambio cultural.
This research examines the mortuary customs of the Oaxaca Barrio, one of the foreign settlements ... more This research examines the mortuary customs of the Oaxaca Barrio, one of the foreign settlements in the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The Oaxaca Barrio is associated with the Zapotec homeland in the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico (roughly 290 miles); but many questions remain unanswered about its origins and development. The mortuary customs of the Oaxaca Barrio show how Zapotec migrants adapted to living in Teotihuacan over a considerable period of time, maintaining aspects of their homeland identity, but also generating a new cultural repertoire by which members of the enclave redefined themselves. The presence of Zapotec people in Teotihuacan has at least three distinct moments or contexts: its origins in a time of Zapotec expansion (200 B.C), the formal settlement of the Oaxaca Barrio (A.D 100), and much later in time, when the barrio shows a hybridization process with singular characteristics (A.D 300). I address in this research two important questions: Why did Zapotec migrants keep their mortuary traditions? How did migrant identity change over time? To answer these questions I present in five chapters general characteristics of the Oaxaca Barrio, theoretical concepts, and archaeological evidence that support the analysis and discussion developed about this foreign group, and finally its mortuary customs and the relationship with its ethnicity. ii The Zapotec migration to Teotihuacan is important because social, political, economic and ideological aspects are involved, and this topic is not only useful to archaeological studies (in one of the most important cities in Mesoamerica), also it is helpful to anthropological research about modern migrations, and studies of identity and ethnicity in the contemporary world. In Chapter I, I present a general view of the Oaxaca Barrio in Teotihuacan, the chronology and a brief review of the situation in the Zapotec area and Teotihuacan at the moment of the Oaxaca Barrio's foundation, and a general idea of the mortuary customs in each place; also in this chapter I mention the objectives of this investigation and its limits. Chapter II mentions the main theoretical concepts related with this investigation: ethnicity and hybridization, I also approach the main ideas and hypotheses about the political and social structure in the Oaxaca Barrio. Later in Chapter III, I describe the most important archaeological evidence found in each compound excavated until now in the Oaxaca Barrio, and Chapter IV shows the archaeological record of mortuary customs identified in this foreign settlement; in this section I describe four important and basic elements in the mortuary system: type of burial, offerings and practice of funerary rites, and urns. And finally in Chapter V, I present the discussion of each element, making a comparison with funerary practices and characteristics in the Zapotec area, mainly Monte Alban, and Teotihuacan culture;
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Papers by Teresa Palomares