Origins of the Ñuu: Archaeology in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico

2. The Western Nochixtl

29 Today and in the past the well-watered hills and small valleys on the western side of the Nochixtlán Valley have been favored places for human settlement. The soils are quite fertile but they are easily eroded. Today and in the past farmers have terraced the slopes and drainages to capture and hold the soil and water. Subsequent abandonment of the terraces inevitably leads to further, accelerated erosion, so paradoxically a place that now looks utterly wasted was likely to have been very productive sometime in the past. The western Nochixtlán Valley readily breaks into five physiographic and cultural subregions, each the valley of a tributary stream separated from its neighbor by volcanic hills and each home to separate sets of communities. From north to south these subregions are Jazmín, Nejapilla, Yodocono, Tidaá, and Tilantongo. Jazmín and Tilantongo, at the opposite ends of the mountain chain, were the dominant places; the three smaller valleys were sometimes independent and sometimes subordinate to one or another of their bigger neighbors. The Western Nochixtlán Valley Chapter two 30 w The Western Nochixtlán Valley The area has a long history of occupation beginning in Archaic (Preceramic) times. The two larger valleys, Jazmín and Tilantongo, had major clusters of settlement in the Formative period. The three smaller valleys also had a few Formative villages that were probably parts of neighboring communities. This pattern lasted for nearly a thousand years but it was thoroughly disrupted around 300 BC at the beginning of the Ramos period. The typical Ramos site was a defendable, often fortified hilltop. The most famous of these is Monte Negro in Tilantongo but Monte Negro actually had quite a few peers or rivals. The roots of urbanism in the Mixteca Alta are embedded in these and other Late Formative hilltowns. The ñuu—the potentially autonomous polity and building block of the state— emerged here in the Classic and Postclassic. Already by the Early Classic the settlement pattern and civic-ceremonial hierarchy was quite like the cacicazgo of the sixteenth century. Each subregion might be considered a ñuu with Jazmín (Yanhuitlán) and Tilantongo being the major players. Yodocono in the Classic might have been an independent statelet. Nejapilla and Tidaá seem to have been subordinate to Jazmín and Tilantongo, respectively. Jazmín This is the western side of the Yanhuitlán Valley from its head at La Cieneguilla south 13 km to Santiago Tillo (Figure 2.1). Also included are the modern towns of San Pedro Añañe, Xacañi, and Santa María Tiltepec. Above about 2,300 to 2,400 m the bedrock is volcanic, a gray andesite. Below that are the heavily eroded hillsides composed of alternating beds of pink shale and sandstone of the Yanhuitlán Formation. West and south of Cerro Jazmín—the largest archaeological site—the Yanhuitlán beds are dominated by conglomerates. The whole Yanhuitlán Valley has some 80 km2 of fertile soils derived from these sedimentary beds, one of the largest patches in the Central Mixteca Alta. Early/Middle Cruz The area was settled by Middle Cruz times (Figure 2.2, Table 2.1); we found no Archaic evidence. Sites are relatively low in elevation (2,150 to 2,375 m) compared to those of later times. We found no Early/Middle Cruz occupation on Cerro Jazmín itself. Instead Middle Cruz people chose the permanent water and fertile soils of the piedmont. Today these sites are all heavily eroded. One site, TIP 9, is situated at a higher elevation (2,400 m) on an important trail. It is a single-component isolated residence. The Jazmín subregion had a relatively high population in Cruz times. The total settled area of about 90 ha implies a population of 1,000 to 2,000 people. Most lived on the piedmont ridges northwest of Cerro Jazmín; all the other settlements were small hamlets. We found no Cruz period public architecture. Artifact densities varied from heavy to light depending on local erosion. In some places there were mod- The Western Nochixtlán Valley w 31 2.1 The eroding slopes above San Pedro Añañe, seen from the north on the highway between Yanhuitlán and Teposcolula. erate or heavier concentrations, perhaps indicating individual households. There was considerable continuity of occupation into Late Cruz. Late Cruz In the preference for lower...