Abstract

Christina M. Elson and R. Jason Sherman
-Crema Ware and Elite Power at Monte Albán: Ceramic Production and Iconography in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico
Journal of Field Archaeology 32 (2007) 265--282

During the Terminal Formative, or Monte Alb‡n II period (ca. 100 B.C.--A.D. 200), the Zapotec state was centered in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. Reassessment of ceramic data from excavations at the Zapotec capital of Monte Alb‡n, in conjunction with data acquired from recent investigations at a secondary center (Cerro Tilcajete) and a tertiary center (Yaasuchi) in the Oaxaca Valley, sheds light on the production and distribution of elaborately decorated crema- (cream-) paste ceramics. This analysis suggests that such ceramics were produced at Monte Alb‡n as prestige goods and distributed to local elites residing at administrative sites throughout the valley. The distribution of decorated crema vesselsÑand in particular, bowls bearing incised lightning motifs associated with the preeminent Zapotec deity, Cociyoñvia gift-giving networks represented an attempt by elites at the capital to control local elites and integrate them into the regional sociopolitical hierarchy. Data from Cerro Tilcajete and Yaasuchi indicate that local elites at these centers acquired and used some crema vessels. These vessels were fewer in number and less varied than the cremas enjoyed by elites at the capital. Elites at Cerro Tilcajete and Yaasuchi apparently sponsored the local production of ceramics intended to imitate crema vessels. By supplementing the flow of true crema ceramics from Monte Alb‡n, the production of local imitations would have subverted attempts by elites at the capital to control both the distribution of prestigious ceramics and the subordinate elites who desired them. This regional study of ceramics in the Oaxaca Valley illustrates the intersection of economy and ideology in state society, as well as the role that prestige goods can play in the creation and legitimization ofÑas well as resistance to institutionalized sociopolitical differences.

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