Polity and Ecology in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca

8. Examining Ceramic Evidence for the Zapotec Imperialism Hypothesis in the Lower Río Verde Region of Oaxaca, Mexico

227 Monte Albán emerged as one of Mesoamerica’s first urban societies andaregionalcenterinOaxacaduringtheLate/TerminalFormative periods (Blanton 1978; Blanton et al. 1999; Flannery and Marcus 1983; Joyce 2000; Joyce and Winter 1996; Marcus and Flannery 1996; Winter 1989). Scholars have proposed that at this time, during the Pe (300–100 BC) and Nisa (100 BC–AD 200) phases, the Zapotecs undertook an imperial program of expansion to bring hinterland communities under their power (Marcus and Flannery 1996). Whether by colonization, negotiated takeover, or outright conquest, the goal was the same: to increase the frequency and variety of tribute goods flowing to Monte Albán. This argument, referred to as the Zapotec Imperialism Hypothesis (ZIH), has broad ramifications for the interpretation of the early development of Monte Albán and, by extension, Formative period contexts throughout Oaxaca (Zeitlin and Joyce 1999). Among the regions claimed to have been conquered by the Zapotecs, the lower Río Verde region of coastal Oaxaca is of primary interest here (Figure 1.1). Proponents of the ZIH draw heavily on ceramic evidence to make their case. Marcus and Flannery (1996, 199) write that “the spread of Monte Albán II pottery . . . is one of our best lines of E I g H T examInIng CeramIC evIdenCe For the ZapoteC ImperIalIsm hypothesIs In the lower río verde regIon oF oaxaCa, mexICo Marc N. LeviNe DOI: 10.5876/9781607322023.c08 228 Marc N. LeviNe circumstantial evidence for the expansion of the Zapotec . . . what we are talking about are those regions whose previously autonomous ceramics are literally swamped or replaced by Monte Albán gray wares.” The lower Río Verde region is listed as one of these areas where changes in local pottery indicate conquest by Monte Albán. To evaluate this claim, I carried out a detailed analysis of stylistic change and continuity in lower Río Verde ceramics dating to the periods just before and following the hypothesized Zapotec conquest. I present the results of the ceramic analysis below and argue that lower Río Verde graywares cannot be directly linked to Monte Albán, but instead represent a regionally distinct variety of a grayware style found throughout Oaxaca. In addition to a critical analysis of lower Río Verde graywares, I consider other characteristics of the ceramic assemblage, such as patterns of exchange, which might bear on the question of a possible Zapotec takeover. This chapter seeks to address only the ceramic evidence offered in support of the ZIH, whereas critical discussions of other archaeological evidence from the lower Río Verde region appear elsewhere (e.g., Joyce 1991a, 1991b, 1993a, 2003; Workinger 2002, Chapter 7; Workinger and Joyce 2009; Zeitlin and Joyce 1999). Having found little ceramic evidence in support of the ZIH, I provide an alternative explanation for the adoption of grayware pottery in the lower Verde region. In contrast to the more passive view of graywares representing mere signifiers of conquest, I consider these vessels in a more active sense, as having important roles within larger practices affirming conceptions of local identity and broader social affiliations. Most researchers agree that multiple lines of archaeological evidence, rather than ceramic data alone, are necessary to build strong cases for conquest in the ancient world (Schreiber 1987; Smith and Montiel 2001; Stark 1990). Nonetheless, ceramics remain an important data set that provide clues regarding the nature of interpolity relationships, including evidence for conquest and colonization (e.g., Ball 1983; Foias and Bishop 1997; Hegmon 1994; Smyth 2009; Stark 1990). This chapter demonstrates, however, that casual appraisals of ceramic data will not do; only detailed studies of ceramics provide the analytical rigor and resolution needed to adequately consider implications for conquest in the archaeological record. The ZapOTec ImperIalIsm hypOThesIs (ZIh) The most complete articulation of the ZIH appears in Marcus and Flannery’s (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley (also see earlier iterations and references to the ZIH in Blanton et al. [1982]; Flannery and Marcus [1983]; Marcus [1976, 1983, 1992]; Kowalewski et al. [1989]; Redmond and Spencer [1983]; Redmond [1983]; and Spencer [1982]). In Zapotec Civilization Marcus and Flannery argue that Monte Albán’s development as 229 exaMiNiNg ceraMic evideNce for the Zapotec iMperiaLisM hypothesis a regional power was intertwined with a strategy of territorial expansion. Iconographic support for the ZIH comes from the interpretation of more than forty carved stones or “conquest slabs...