Polity and Ecology in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca

9. From Flesh to Clay: Formative Period Iconography from Oaxaca’s Lower Río Verde Valley

265 This chapter presents our analysis of 256 Formative period (1600 BC– AD 250) ceramic figurines, musical instruments, and iconographic vessel appliqués from the lower Río Verde Valley of coastal Oaxaca, Mexico (Barber 2005; Barber and Hepp 2012; Fernández Pardo 1993; Hepp 2007, 2009; Hepp and Hepp n.d.; Joyce 1991, 2005). The collection includes anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and transformational figures that combine human and nonhuman traits. The purpose of our analysis is twofold. First, the study allows us to describe physical attributes of the collection, including dimensions and patterns of diagnostic accoutrements such as clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, and anatomical features. We consider these characteristics representative of Formative period figurines from the lower Río Verde Valley, as the sample spans two millennia and comes from eight sites in the region. Second, contextual, temporal, and iconographic patterns in the collection inform our arguments about the social significance of the artifacts. Specifically, we interpret ceramic iconographic artifacts as focal points for public and domestic ritual behavior. We argue that figurine use operated in both private and public contexts and that public activities were carried out in domestic spaces as well as in nondomestic, communal settings (e.g., ceremonial spaces). We N i N e From Flesh to Clay Formative Period Iconography from Oaxaca’s Lower Río Verde Valley Guy DaviD Hepp anD artHur a. Joyce DOI: 10.5876/9781607322023.c09 266 Guy DaviD Hepp anD artHur a. Joyce define “domestic” as those contexts associated with both physical houses and the house as a unit of social interaction (Gillespie 2000, 23, 51; Lévi-Strauss 1963; Monaghan 1995, 15, 244–246). We propose a set of overlapping figurine-related practices including ancestor remembrance, performative ritual, mimetic cooption of symbolic power, religious symbolism, life history commemoration, and perhaps children’s games. Figurines were likely also material symbols forming a commentary on social constructions of gender, age, and kinship (Blomster 2009; Cyphers Guillén 1993, 129; Joyce 2000, 2002, 2003; Nelson 1997, 126; Taussig 1993; Tedlock 2005, 32; Tilley 1999; Winter 1992, 26; 2005). The lower Río Verde Valley figurines were excavated from early Formative through Terminal Formative period contexts at the sites of Barra Quebrada, Cerro de la Cruz, Cerro de la Virgen, Corozo, La Consentida, Loma Reyes, Río Viejo, and Yugüe (Figure 1.2; Barber 2005, Chapter 6; Hepp 2011a, 2011b; Joyce 1991, 2010; Joyce and Levine 2009; Joyce and Winter 1989). A few figurines were excavated from Terminal Formative/Classic period transitional deposits. The largest single category of artifact element was heads, though torsos and limbs were also common. Table 9.1 summarizes the figurine elements comprised by the collection. We evaluate the iconography of each item according to varying levels of analytical confidence and differentiate figurines that can definitely be assigned to a particular category from those whose identity is less certain. in the latter instance, we assign figurines to “possible” categories. in some cases a figurine might be assigned to more than one category if its imagery is ambiguous due to breakage, erosion, or artistic style (Table 9.2).1 Like other Formative period collections, these figurines include more identifiable females than males among anthropomorphs, and more anthropomorphs than zoomorphs, although sex and gender are not clearly portrayed in the majority of figurines. We consider some figurines with apparently fantastical forms to represent transformational entities. Those combining human and animal elements, for example, may relate to nagualistic and tonalistic beliefs or depict characters Table 9.1. Frequency of figurine elements Figurine Element Count Percentage of Collection Head 72 28.1 Head and Torso 9 3.5 Head, Torso, and Limb(s) 19 7.4 Torso and Limb(s) 51 19.9 Torso 9 3.5 Limb 70 27.3 Unknown 26 10.2 Total 256 100 267 From FlesH to clay from a divine or ancestral pantheon. We examine ceramic whistles, ocarinas (whistle-like instruments with finger stops for playing multiple notes), flutes, and vessel appliqués in order to describe artifacts overlooked by previous studies and to demonstrate similarities they share with figurines as small-scale representations of people and beings of interest to ancient coastal Oaxacans. We frequently refer to these artifacts simply as figurines. The figurines in the collection are mostly hand-formed, with a few potentially mold-made facial elements. Firing techniques changed through time, beginning with oxidized medium and coarse brownwares in the early Formative. By...