Ancient Oaxaca, and: The Shadow of Monte Alban: Politics and Historiography in Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico (review)

Ancient Oaxaca. By Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski, and Linda M. Nicholas. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ix + 153 pp., preface, introduction, maps, figures, bibliography, bibliographic essay, index. $49.95 cloth, $17.95 paper.)

The Shadow of Monte Alban: Politics and Historiography in Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico. Edited by Maarten Jansen, Peter Kröfges, Michel R. Oudijk. (Leiden, The Netherlands: Research School CNWS, CNWS Publications, volume #64, School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies, 1998. 144 pp., introduction, maps, figures, bibliography.)

The books reviewed here cover Oaxacan history from approximately 1,000 B.C. and the rise of one of the America’s earliest states (Ancient Oaxaca) through the late Postclassic and Conquest (The Shadow of Monte Alban). Given such breadth, these texts should combine to offer the reader a broad sense of Oaxaca history and the state of contemporary archaeological theory. And while Ancient Oaxaca is an outstanding text worthy of an important place in any collection, The Shadow of Monte Alban is a disappointment.

Ancient Oaxaca brings together four of the most respected and active archaeologists working in Oaxaca today. Building upon the pioneering work of John Paddock, the authors develop a clearly articulated and quite useful “world system” approach to the rise of the early phase of state building centered around Monte Alban. Central to their argument is a multiscalar, multidisciplinary approach to Oaxacan history. The approach examines the rise of the state through household, community, regional, and macroregional lenses and relies upon data from archaeological, epigraphical, geographical and skeletal resources (31). In the process the authors move away from evolutionary typologies of state formation which “make it too easy to think in terms of one repetitive [global] sequence of prototypical forms” (131) and toward a model that embraces variability and social dynamism.

The strengths of the text are many. First, the authors summarize a large body of data on Oaxacan prehistory (from the early work of Alfonso Caso, Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus, and John Paddock as well as more contemporary surveys of the state conducted by the authors, INAH, and others) to explore the development of San Jose Mogote and Monte Alban. Second, they use this information to develop a model of the Oaxacan state that is based upon the idea of a transcendent culture that links disparate local populations, the exchange of goods across cultural boundaries, and the migration of populations (6). Third, the authors also emphasize the development of social hierarchies in the region, the importance of craft specialization and trade, and how a regional political system developed from independent agrarian settlements. Fourth, in the final section of the book they return to the general question of state formation and argue that it may be time to rethink the evolutionary models that emphasize set stages and typologies while ignoring local variability. Finally, the entire argument is presented in a clear and concise manner that will be of great value to the reader whether an expert or novice.

The strengths of Ancient Oaxaca unfortunately are not shared by The Shadow of Monte Alban. In this collection also the editors’ goals are to look beyond the ethnic divisions that typically capture much of the energies of historians and epigraphers working in Oaxaca toward understanding the competitive and conflictive nature of interethnic relations during the Postclassic period (900–1500 A.D.). And while the text introduces interesting and new interpretations of epigraphic and glyphic materials, too much space and energy is devoted to personal disputes over details in the record and potential mistranslations.

The strengths of the book lie in its interpretations of genealogical materials, which indicate the intense nature of the political and economic ties and conflicts that existed among various ethnic groups living in the central valley of Oaxaca during the Postclassic and late Postclassic periods. The chapters by Jansen, Oudijk, and Kr�fges reveal the importance of kin...