Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mexico
by
Jamie E. Forde
Master of Arts
Department of Anthropology
2006
i
UMI Number: 1439456
Catherine M. Cameron
Date_____________
The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signators and we find that both
the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in
the above mentioned discipline
ii
Forde, Jamie E. (M.A., Anthropology)
Ideology, Identity, and Icons: A Study of Mixtec Polychrome Pottery from Late
was the capital of an expansive Mixtec empire in the coastal region of Oaxaca during
this period. Mixtec polychrome ceramics were recovered in high numbers through
archaeological excavations of two residences within the urban core of the site,
shares much in common with that found in the few surviving Mixtec pictographic
codices were a medium restricted more closely to the elite in Mixtec society than
ruling dynasties. The codices and ethnohistoric data from the Early Colonial period
are used in this thesis as an interpretive base to help infer which themes of ideology
ceramics. Analysis of the ceramic imagery indicates that while commoner ideologies
shared many general themes in common with that of the ruling state, they were
conveyed in much more immediate and accessible ways, in contrast to more esoteric
iii
I conclude in arguing that the similarities and differences between commoner
and elite ideologies at Yucu Dzaa should not be seen as reflecting relationships of
power in the polarized terms of domination and resistance. Instead, the polychrome
ceramics suggest that members of diverse groups and social classes were able to
ideology and identity. As such, the formation and perpetuation of the Yucu Dzaa
empire is viewed as the composite outcome of these complex social dynamics, rather
iv
Acknowledgements
mentors, colleagues, friends, and family members who provided me with support
Traveling to Oaxaca and carrying out the ceramic analysis would not have
been possible without financial support provided by two research grants. These were
the Walker Van Riper Grant from the CU Museum of Natural History, and the
The members of my thesis committee, Art Joyce, Cathy Cameron, and Payson
Sheets offered invaluable constructive criticism, advice, and support during the
writing process. Linda Cordell also provided excellent critical feedback and
encouragement from a number of expert scholars in the field working outside of CU.
Mickey Lind was incredibly helpful in offering advice on the design of the initial
research strategy and feedback on the results. Gilda Hernandez Sanchez provided
analysis. I also received a number of suggestions and much support from John Pohl,
Byron Hamann, Geoffrey McCafferty, and Marcus Winter. Furthermore, the Mixtec
present the initial results of my work to interested scholars and to receive insightful
v
South of the border in Oaxaca, thanks must go to the residents of San Pedro
Tututepec, who made my stay in the town incredibly enjoyable while carrying out the
Marc Levine. It was Art who steered me into studying the Postclassic Mixteca to
begin with, and who first proposed this project to me. He has been a constant source
of guidance and encouragement, from the designing of the research project to its final
write-up, and throughout my graduate career on the whole. As an advisor, Art has
research project, and the materials analyzed for this thesis came from his excavations.
He provided indispensable advice, support, and camaraderie, both in the field during
analysis, and while back in the U.S. as the data were sorted through and the writing
Lastly, I would not be doing archaeology at all, much less pursuing a graduate
career in the field, without the constant support of my family. My parents, Jeff and
Valerie Forde, and my brother, Adam, have been there for me every step of the way,
and Im incredibly fortunate in knowing that this will always be the case down the
road.
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Table of Contents
1.3 Summary...13
2.3 Iconicity....26
2.6 Summary...37
3.4 Summary...55
vii
4.6 Summary...89
5.2 Other Codical Motifs from the Yucu Dzaa Sample and the Tututepec
Community Museum .125
5.4 Summary.140
6.2 The Medium and the Message: Meaning in Mixtec Polychromes and
Codices149
Works Cited..166
viii
List of Tables
4-1: Percentages of Colors Present on Yucu Dzaa Polychromes vs. Percentages from
Chachoapan and Yucuita.....61
4-5: Mean orifice diameter figures for Yucu Dzaa vessel forms.83
4-6: Comparison of vessel form frequencies between Yucu Dzaa and the Mixteca
Alta (Lind 1987: 15)84
4-7: Frequencies of vessel forms for Oaxaca and Cholula polychromes, based upon
museum collections (Lind 1994: 87)...85
5-1: Frequencies of most common design motifs in the Yucu Dzaa polychrome
sample..92
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List of Figures
1-1: Map of Oaxaca with location of Yucu Dzaa (from Levine 2004).4
1-2: The place glyph for Yucu Dzaa in the codex Nuttall.5
4-4: Vessel with serpent head supports from the codex Nuttall......67
4-10: Depiction of eagle with flint knives from the codex Nuttall......73
4-15: Frontal view of a reconstructed tripod olla recovered from Residence A..80
4-18: Profile drawing of a platter fragment from collections of the Museo Yucusaa
(Tututepec Community Museum)82
x
4-19: Depiction of sahumador use in the codex Nuttall..88
5-1: Narrow feathers, smoke volutes, orange bars, and orange hooks/volutes from the
Yucu Dzaa assemblage93
5-3: Narrow feathers seen on place glyphs and a rubber ball in the codex
Vindobonensis..94
5-4: Multicolored circles with dots or precious stones from the Yucu Dzaa
assemblage...96
5-12: Red spot with concentric ring motifs in the Yucu Dzaa assemblage...108
5-14: Stellar eye with smoke volutes motifs in the Yucu Dzaa assemblage.111
5-15: Stellar eye with smoke volutes motif in a sky band from codex Nuttall..111
5-16: Flower motif with four petals from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage..112
5-17: Flower motif resembling hearts from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage...113
5-18: Example of abstract geometry motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage...113
5-21: Multicolored diagonal band motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage...116
xi
5-22: Human figure with ear spools from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage..118
5-23: Human figure with speech scrolls from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage...118
5-24: Human hand holding feather fan from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage.119
5-30: Skull and crossed bones motif from the Yucu Dzaa sample127
5-36: Person showed seated within conquered place glyph in the codex Nuttall..133
5-37: Cajete base with earth monster motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage..135
5-38: Olla with black-on-orange color scheme from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage.138
5-39: Olla with alternating color schemes from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage139
xii
Chapter 1
Colonial Oaxaca, drawing from personal observation and oral histories of indigenous
involving what was once an expansive empire on the Oaxaca Coast know as
paraphrasing, Burgoa (Smith 1973: 85) writes of a king of Tututepec who once
insisted that residents of the distant city-state of Achiutla, in highland Oaxaca, bring
the crafts of their town to another town located between the two polities, now known
as Putla, for the holding of a grand fair and market. Complying with the kings
request would have been a highly arduous task, as Putla was located over 150km
from Achiutla, across very daunting terrain. Given the circumstances, Achiutlas
people attempted to decline the kings invitation. Burgoa then describes the events
When the people of Achiutla did not arrive, the king of Tututepec first sent ambassadors to
threaten them. Then he sent valiant captains accompanied by a great number of people, which
made it necessary for the citizens of Achiutla to climb to the impregnable castle with
sufficient supplies, and enough easily rolled stones and rocks so that they could defend
themselves from assault by flinging the enemy off the mountain. The enemy arrived and
besieged the mountain, and looked for a route by which to scale it and come within fighting
distance; and the battle was so bloody that afterward they counted the dead of both sides, and
more than 22,000 bodies were found. (Smith 1973: 85)
However, the fact that such an event was imaginable suggests not only that Tututepec
was remembered for over a century after the Spanish conquest as an exceptionally
1
fierce polity, but attests to the plausibility that great numberspossibly thousands
of its ordinary citizens could be so moved as to travel great distances and potentially
risk their lives on the politys behalf. What could have compelled people to do so?
Given the great unlikelihood that a small handful of elites could have physically
coerced hundreds and/or thousands of persons into carrying out these acts, we must
possible, we therefore are required to turn our attention to the lives of ordinary
people, rather than the exploits of kings and queenspeople who have little or no
indigenous Mixtec name of Yucu Dzaain an effort to shed light on questions such
polychrome pottery from residential contexts at Yucu Dzaa in order to glean how
views of ideology and identity were expressed in the iconography of these materials.
These materials were used by commoners in ritual activities and other social
to gain insights as to how ordinary people related to the ideologies and actions of the
state, and thus how events such as that described by Burgoa could have been brought
about. More broadly, I aim to address the roles of non-elites in shaping ideologies
and identities, and how these practices affect power-relationships in general, allowing
As will be discussed in more depth below, I argue that the case of the Yucu Dzaa
2
empire is particularly well-suited for addressing these questions, and that polychrome
them.
Yucu Dzaa is located in the lower Ro Verde region of the Oaxaca Coast,
situated above the rivers floodplain in the piedmont of the Sierra Madre (Fig. 1-1).
Understandings of Yucu Dzaas history have until recently been based almost
exclusively on two lines of data: the Mixtec codices and Contact Era historical
records. The Mixtec codiceseight of which have survived into the modern day
the Late Postclassic period, though several documents of this style were produced
during the Early Colonial period as well. Painted over long strips of deer hide or fig-
bark paper, which were then folded over in accordion or screen-fold fashion,
these manuscripts primarily document dynastic histories, but also depict, to a limited
extent, other events such as wars and acts of creation. The use of indigenous
calendrical dates in the manuscripts indicates that the events they record extend well
back into prehispanic times, as early as the 10th century (Smith 1973).
3
Fig. 1-1: Map of Oaxaca with location of Yucu Dzaa (from Levine 2004)
The name Yucu Dzaa translates into English literally as Hill of the Bird, as
does that of Tututepec in Nahuatl. The site is represented in three different codices
the Nuttall, the Bodley, and the Colombino-Beckeras a hill made of stone, from the
base of which emanates the head of a bird (Fig. 1-2). Yucu Dzaa is shown in the
codices as having been founded in the year A.D. 1083 by a Mixtec noble named Lord
8 Deer Jaguar Claw, who is seen migrating to the coast from his home of
Tilantongo in the Mixteca Alta (labeled Highland Mixtec Area in Fig. 1-1) and
4
Fig. 1-2: The place glyph for Yucu Dzaa in the codex Nuttall
codices, suggesting that a migration of Mixtec speaking peoples from the highlands to
the coast occurred near the onset of the Late Postclassic period (Joyce et al. 2004).
According to linguistic research by Josserand and her colleagues (1984: 154), the
dialect of Mixtec spoken on the Oaxaca Coast today likely derived from an earlier
dialect from the Mixteca Alta, glottochronological estimates placing this divergence
at approximately A.D. 900-1000. Joyce and Winter (1989) have suggested that,
before this Mixtec intrusion, the Lower Verde region may have been inhabited
migration to the coast. A marked increase in similarities between the Oaxaca Coast
5
and the Mixteca Alta is seen during the Late Postclassic period, in categories of
material culture such as architecture, ceramics, and mortuary practices (Joyce et al.
2004: 280). Lastly, recent full-coverage archaeological survey and surface collection
carried out by Arthur Joyce and his colleagues (2004) lend support to the notion that
Yucu Dzaa was founded in the Late Postclassic as a new polity. While human
occupation at the site extends as far back as the Late Formative (400-150 B.C.), there
is a clear hiatus in settlement during the Early Postclassic (A.D. 800-1100), indicating
that the far more extensive settlement which dates to the Late Postclassic is
representative of the formation of a new political center, rather than the growth of an
existing polity (Joyce et al. 2004: 276). In sum, the codices, linguistic data, and
archaeological evidence, all suggest that Yucu Dzaa was founded as a new center by
Based on data from the codices and ethnohistorical records, scholars have
long understood Yucu Dzaa to have once been a tribute empire. In the codices
a host of other polities, a number of which have been identified by Smith (1973) as
having been located in the coastal region of Oaxaca. Yucu Dzaa is also mentioned in
the letters of the conquistador Hernn Corts (Cortes and Pagden 1971), who
described it as a powerful tribute empire, and upon hearing of this, sent his lieutenant
Pedro de Alvarado to conquer the city in AD 1522. Over the last several decades,
ethnohistoric data related to Yucu Dzaa has been studied in more depth by Smith
(1973) and Spores (1993). Though early colonial documentation from the town itself
is rather rare, documents from various other polities, such as the Relaciones
6
Geograficas (Geographic Relations) 1 , report these polities having paid tribute to
and/or engaged in warfare with Yucu Dzaa. As a result of this research, it has been
possible to estimate that the empire extended over 25,000 km (Spores 1993: 67) and
incorporated at least five different ethnolinguistic groups (Joyce et al. 2004: 274).
The empires boundaries likely extended from the modern day border between the
states of Oaxaca and Guerrero on the west to Huamelula on the east. Documentation
further suggests that, unlike a great many Oaxacan polities of the Late Postclassic,
Yucu Dzaa never came under the control of the Aztec empire (Spores 1993).
having been gleaned from the codices and ethnohistoric sources, the site has only
relatively recently become the subject of focused archaeological inquiry. In fact, for
decades the size of the center itself, and even its very location, have been subject to
debate (Joyce et al. 2004: 274). DeCicco and Brockington (1956), in their brief
the existence of a large political center, and argued that prehispanic Yucu Dzaa was
likely not located in the modern town known as Tututepec, but rather at site nearby
named Cerro de los Pajaros. Scott OMack (1990) later conducted a survey focused
on modern Tututepec and argued to the contrary, that it was indeed the location of
Late Postclassic Yucu Dzaa, and that DeCicco and Brockingtons identification was
incorrect. Due to logistical constraints, OMacks survey extended little beyond the
bounds of the modern town, and as such, he was unable to determine the extent of the
archaeological site, though he suggested it may have been much larger than was
1
These documents were compiled as the result of a census ordered by the king of Spain in the years
1579 and 1580, providing descriptions of Spanish colonies and their resources.
7
commonly thought. Without further data, however, the site continued to be
carried out by Joyce and his colleagues (2004). Their findings have confirmed those
of OMack concerning the location of the prehispanic site, and clarified issues of its
size as well. These scholars have shown that the Late Postclassic site of Yucu Dzaa
was indeed quite large, covering approximately 22km (Joyce et al. 2004: 273).
Settlement is relatively dispersed, considerably less dense than comparable sites such
as the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (ibid. 287). Reliable population estimates are
difficult to garner, though Joyce and his colleagues cautiously place it between
10,925 and 21,850 (ibid. 288). These data suggest that Yucu Dzaa was a substantially
large center, and distribution of mounded architecture may suggest that it was divided
into particular barrios, as were many Mixtec communities of the Early Colonial
Most recently, Marc Levine (2006) has carried out intensive excavations at
three groups of residential buildings at Yucu Dzaa. The materials analyzed for the
present study were recovered from these excavations, and the specific archaeological
on both the political and domestic economy of the site, as well as issues of social
In sum, it is now clear that the codices, ethnohistoric literature, and the
archaeological record all suggest that Yucu Dzaa was the center of a sizeable and
8
autonomous empire that developed during the Late Postclassic period in the wake of a
How did such an empire arise and how was it maintained amidst a diverse and
the region of Cholula in the southern portion of the Mexican state of Pueblawas
first coined by Vaillant (1938) and used to refer to a widely distributed culture group
thought to have occupied this region during the Late Postclassic. The term is
are also known to occur with frequency in other areas, such as the Basin of Mexico
and the state of Veracruz, and have been argued by some to be found as far south as
Costa Rica (see reviews in Sanchez 2005, Nicholson and Keber 1994); 2) a great
many different languages continue to the spoken in these areas today, thus the
throughout these regions, leading Nicholson (Nicholson and Keber 1994) to refine the
images were rendered, as well as a suite of specific images that were used. The
9
Mixteca-Puebla concept thus is predominantly used to categorize visual media,
particularly those of manuscripts, mural paintings, and polychrome pottery, but also
includes what are at times termed minor arts (Ramsey 1982), including bone, metal,
Michael Smith and Cynthia Heath-Smith (1982), who argue that the term conflates a
dubbed Postclassic religious style or the Postclassic symbol setwith the more
ceramics from the general Mixteca-Puebla region. Smith and Heath-Smith propose
that archaeologists would be better served to view these as distinct and separate
Mesoamerican Postclassic religious style were few, and their manifestations at times
predate the Postclassic period. Furthermore, the other phenomena Smith and Heath-
Smith argue to be conflated in the concept are quite difficult to uncouple. While the
codices and polychrome pottery are two very different forms of visual media, both
share a great deal in common in terms of specific iconography, and neither can be
confined solely to either the Mixtec or Puebla regions. Recent finds have indicated
that the codices often linked together as part of the Borgia group likely originated in
the region of Cholula rather than the Mixteca (Nicholson and Keber 1994: xii). Both
media exhibit regional variability (Lind 1994), thus while the iconography proper to
10
different media cannot be readily distinguished, differences may be identified as
This latter point relates to the second of the Smiths critiques: that the wide
style likely resulted from the considerable increase in interregional interaction and
information and influenced local production in a wide variety of loci. In this respect
the Smiths critique is important to bear in mind, and I argue that specific
and styles of rendering, were produced in diverse loci. Variability is thus liable to
reflect not only widely shared sensibilities, but also more localized concerns. More
recently, Michael Smith (Smith and Boone 2003) has refined his categories of
Symbol Set largely accords with what will continue to be referred to here, for the
codex style, due to the great similarity of their iconography to that found in the
prehispanic manuscripts (see review in Keber 1994). While the degree of accord
between these media is considerable, and the codices are used as an interpretive tool
11
in the iconographic analysis presented in this thesis, I eschew using the term in light
of Kebers (1994: 148) critique that doing so implicitly gives primacy to the
independently, nor whether one preceded the other. These ceramics are often roughly
assigned to the Late Postclassic period, however, the more elaborate polychromes
with codex-style imagery may not appear until at least A.D. 1300, as indicated
through studies by Lind (1994: 81), and radiocarbon dating of materials from the
midden deposits that contained the ceramics studied in this thesis. The ceramic
tradition continues, in modified form, into the Early Colonial period (Lind 1987),
though colonial polychromes were not evident at Yucu Dzaa in the excavation
The Mixtec and Borgia group codices have been studied extensively and have
provided a great deal of insight into Late Postclassic belief, cosmology, history, and
manuscripts, it is rather surprising that the ceramics have received relatively little
careful analysis over the years. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Eduard
Seler (1990) discussed several elaborate polychromes from the Mixteca and related
carried out until Michael Linds (1987) study of materials from the sites of
Chachoapan and Yucuita. Lind (1994) has also discerned regional differences in
12
provenience data. McCafferty (2001) has refined the chronology of polychrome
ceramics at the site of Cholula and has provided functional analysis. John Pohl
(2003) has examined museum pieces from a variety of regions and discussed
Sanchez (2005) has carried out an extensive and in-depth analysis of the iconography
and has focused on tracing out iconographic themes related to ritual uses of the
vessels.
substantial insights and have greatly informed the study presented here. A continued
difficulty, however, is that aside from Linds (1987) work at Chachoapan and
Yucuita, iconography of these materials has received little consideration with respect
represent high-status goods restricted to elites, yet current data are demonstrating that,
at least at Cholula (Sanchez 2005) and Yucu Dzaa, non-elites had considerable access
ideological content, and because the codices provide such a rich interpretive base
from which to interpret it, polychrome ceramics therefore stand to provide great
insight into production of popular ideologies and identities at the level of the
household.
1.3 Summary
Yucu Dzaa was a rather unique political entity, having been the only extensive
tribute empire to emerge within Oaxaca during the Late Postclassic period. In order
13
to shed light on how such a phenomenon came about, I argue that it is necessary to
popular notions of ideology and identity articulated with the political projects of the
state. Polychrome ceramics recovered from domestic contexts can potentially reveal
how these ideas were expressed and circulated visually, and thus how power
relationships and notions of polity were understood and negotiated at large. In the
following chapter, I elaborate the theoretical concerns which frame this line of
questioning, arguing that non-elites should be seen as playing active roles in the
to these ideologies. Attention to the interplay between such multiple ideologies and
commoners, then comparing and contrasting the iconography of this pottery to that of
Chapter 4, which shed light on issues of local production and use of polychrome
documentation to infer ideological meanings of the imagery. From this analysis, the
most predominant and salient ideological themes represented in the pottery are
inferred. These themes are then related to social practices and power relationships at
14
Yucu Dzaa in Chapter 6. It is discussed how commoner ritual practices, in shaping
terms of the binary poles of domination and resistance, I argue that understandings of
polity and identity were actively negotiatedin part through visual mediaand that
points of articulation between multiple ideologies at Yucu Dzaa may shed light on the
15
Chapter 2
notions of ideology and identity were manifested in, and produced through, material
culture at Late Postclassic Yucu Dzaa, and the potential implications such phenomena
had for broader socio-political relations and developments. In this chapter, the
theoretical concepts and assumptions underlying these questions are explicated, and
ideology and identity are theorized in this thesis, their relationship to one another, and
how they are considered to have relevance for socio-political processes. Drawing in
large part from theories of semiotics, I then discuss how we may infer meanings from
images found in visual media, which we may then link to popular expressions of
ideology and identity. Lastly, I outline how the above materials, meanings, and
concepts are implicated in social practices, and how these practices may have thence
Ideology has been an explicit topic and focus of archaeological inquiry at least
since theoretical approaches influenced by structural Marxism (e.g. Kohl 1981, Leone
1982, Gilman 1989) gained popularity, beginning in the 1970s. The topic came
further into the intellectual fore amidst the postprocessual critiques of the early
1980s (e.g. Miller and Tilley 1984, Hodder 1982, Shanks and Tilley 1988). In recent
16
working within more processualist frameworks as well (e.g. Demarest and Conrad
1992, Blanton et al. 1996, Hegmon 2003). For scholars working in Mesoamerica,
ideology has long been viewed as a factor that must be addressed to understand past
defined in the archaeological literature, and if so, often vaguely. Demarest and
with religion. This general view has appeared to have held sway, although in most
practices and structures of power (i.e. rulership, forms of governance, etc.) are known
employed as a means of explaining both phenomena; religion and cosmology are seen
largely viewed as produced by, and operating in service of, the ruling state apparatus.
Implicitly or explicitly, the latter views are closely bound up with Marxist
thought. As early as 1846, Marx and Engels (1976: 67) wrote in The German
Ideology that:
The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, consequently also
controls the means of mental production, so that the ideas of those who lack the means of
mental production are on the whole subject to it. [Marx and Engels 1976: 67]
In the 1970s, under the theoretical umbrella of structural Marxism largely shaped by
the state apparatus, but rather than predicated upon a false consciousness, acceptance
17
of a dominant ideology was seen largely as unconscious. For Althusser, ideology was
representations perhaps even before birth (2001: 119), and ideology thus operated in
large part on an unconscious level. In many respects Althussers line of thought was
highly productive and could be argued in some respects to have anticipated and
influenced the theory of practice and concept of habitus developed by Pierre Bordieu.
The structural Marxist view of ideology, however, implies that it is the sole creation
virtually inescapable, and hence taken for granted. Concomitantly, the degree to
Mesoamerican archaeology generally. While many have theorized how elites employ
ideology as a means of gaining power (e.g. Blanton et al. 1996, Clarke and Blake
1994), how or why other members of society come to accept this is not commonly
interrogated.
researchers in recent years have turned their attention to how evidence of resistance to
theories of power and agency such as those articulated by James C. Scott (1985) and
18
Anthony Giddens (1979), Mesoamerican archaeologists have investigated how
resistance may be exercised subtly, in the form of hidden transcripts (Scott 1985) in
daily practices of non-elites (e.g. Brumfiel 1996, Joyce et al. 2001, Hutson 2002).
While these studies have been invaluable in calling greater attention to how
largely constrained by, and shaped in accord with popular beliefs, and necessitated
engagement with commoners (Winter 2002, Joyce 2004, Barber 2005, Barber and
Joyce n.d.). In these cases, acceptance of a dominant ideology does not entail simply
considering the active role non-elites may have played in shaping ideology, a growing
number of researchers have come to see ideology as multiple: that is, different
depth later in this chapterPatricia McAnany (2002: 119) writes that, the so-called
with institutionalized religions that serve the interests of the state, resulting in
19
multiple ideologies. Ideology can thus be seen as a substantially more diffuse and
diverse phenomenon. Hodder and Hutson (2003: 88) define it as that component of
The view adopted in this thesis largely accords with that proposed by
McAnany, and that by and Hodder and Hutson, in that all members of society are
seen as potentially active in the construction of multiple ideologies. The question for
us becomes, how to untangle these different ideologies, how to locate the varying
points of interest that Hodder and Hutson allude to? I argue that virtually any inquiry
into ideology of this sort is intrinsically bound up with notions of identity. This point
is well articulated by Stuart Hall (1996: 5-6) who, defines identity as:
the meeting pointbetween on the one hand the discourses and practices which attempt to
interpellate, speak to us or hail us into place as the social subjects of particular discourses, and
on the other hand, the processes which produce subjectivities, which construct us as subjects that
can be spoken.
The point here is that while dominant discourses and ideologiesor ideological state
apparatuses, as Althusser would have itplay substantial roles in marking out the
potential subject positions or identities that persons may conceivably take up, persons
do not merely occupy these positions passively or blindly. In lived practice, there is
considerable performative space for these positions to be negotiated and resisted, and
these are the spaces in which identities are crafted. As such, attention to issues of
20
While we may speak of identity at a multitude of nested scales, from that of
particularly concerned here with corporate identities as well, but those localized to the
extent that they are liable to correspond to multiple points of interest within a single
polity. From this analytical starting point, the aim is to then examine how these
localized identities articulate with broader formations, such as the polity at large.
John Janusek (2004: 16) has recently given explicit archaeological consideration to
the role of identity at similar scales, arguing that identity is a potent medium through
which humans apprehend, navigate, and transform the social and cultural world. In
this thesis I follow at a base level Januseks (2004: 16) definition of collective social
with) others based on shared memory, place, ancestry, activities, gender, occupation,
1989, Joyce 1993), and those focused on house societies (Joyce and Gillespie 2000,
Gillespie 2000, Hutson et al. 2004). Issues of identity have been most recently
these approaches share in common is a concern with how points of division and unity
21
concepts of ideology and identity. Analyzing representational media, particularly
articulated with ideologies of social roles, etc. Drawing from Michael Herzfeld
archaeologists can come to identify what are termed points of disemia within societies
(Joyce 2000: 16). Herzfeld (1992: 79) describes this concept of disemia in writing
that:
At each level of social organization, the relations between insiders and outsiders are ordered
according to topically distinctive principles, but they always remain predicated on the
distinction between the inside and the outside of whatever social group is in question.
investigate how larger social formations are produced by way of examining the
articulations between the various sides of such divisions. The aim in this thesis is to
take a similar contrastive approach, examining how expressions of both elite and
popular ideologies were variously inclusive or exclusive, and how they articulated
with and/or diverged from one another. Focused on visual media, the task here is to
understand the extent to which the voices that attempted to hail subjects into position,
prevalent in the domestic sphere, in the visual medium of polychrome pottery found
were likely a medium restricted to a very exclusive few, and were further highly
exclusionary in their subject matter: in the codices, virtually all persons, save for
elites and nobles, may be considered outsiders. Were the notions of ideology and
identity salient in these manuscripts also prevalent in the much more widely
22
distributed medium of polychrome pottery? Where are the points of convergence,
and how do the contents of these media differ? I argue that such a line of questioning
stands to better inform our understandings of the relations between state ideologies
and popular notions of ideology and identity. By seeing these relations as a dynamic
socio-political developments.
ability to gain some sense of the meanings that images found on polychrome pottery
held for users of these objects. Semiotics 2 defined most simply as the study of
investigate the possible meanings of visual images and symbols with scrutiny and
rigor, as it takes these phenomena specifically as its analytical focus. The field of
semiotics is best known from the work of Ferdinand Saussure (1983) through his
and have been influential in archaeology since the 1960s (see review in Preucel and
Bauer 2001), in work by scholars such as Andre Leroi-Gourhan (1993), James Deetz
(1967), and Ian Hodder (1982). Focused on human language, Saussure developed a
two-part model of the sign, seeing words as linguistic signs that were dubbed
concepts, independent of or divorced from their signs, are termed signifieds. In large
part due to the fact that he was almost exclusively concerned with linguistic signs,
2
Also termed semiology in the work of Saussure (1983).
23
Saussure asserted that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was
arbitrary: for example there is no property inherent to the animal we call a cat that
dictates we assign this word to it, and in other languages radically different words can
be used to denote a concept of the cat that is relatively equivalent. The sign is
signified concept to which it is tied. Signs only come to have meaning due to their
conventions.
structuralist approaches there was little analytic focus paid to the contents of
individual signs. Instead, different types of signs, from linguistic ones found in myth
which were then seen as reflecting deeper structures, related to features of the
unconscious or core cultural concepts (e.g. Levi-Strauss 1963, Deetz 1967, Hodder
1982). While such analyses often drew intriguing connections between different
types of cultural and archaeological phenomena and provided for more detailed
examinations of signs than were hitherto common, the linguistic model was in many
cases not appropriate for many of the kinds of signs that archaeologists wished to
study.
pointed out that the forms taken by items of material culture are often affected and
constrained by the physical world, and that many of the visual images we come
24
across in material culture are not arbitrarily related to the meanings underlying them.
Though he was writing at virtually the same time as Saussure in the early
1900s, the semiotic theories of the American philosopher and logician Charles S.
Peirce have only received considerable attention from social scientists in recent
decades, and have been most closely engaged in archaeology by Preucel (Preucel and
Bauer 2001, Capone and Preucel 2002). In contrast to Saussure, Peirces model of
the sign is triadic rather than dyadic, consisting of a sign, interpretant, and object.
The sign in this case can be considered as effectively the same as Saussures
concept of signifier, while the interpretant largely resembles the idea of the signified.
The object, on the other hand, has no equivalent in Saussurian semiotics, and is used
to designate that actual entity, located outside the individual human mind, to which
the signifier refers. From here forward, this object will be referred to as the referent
It should be made clear that the inclusion of the referent in Saussures model
does not necessarily imply a nave realism. As Chandler (2002: 34-35) notes,
Saussure saw all human thought and experience as mediated by signs, and the
referents of these signs could include not only physical objects, but abstract concepts
and fictional entities as well. What the inclusion of the referent implies is that not all
signs can be considered arbitrary with respect to that which they signify. The
25
referent, in certain cases, can be seen as in part affecting the form taken by some
types of signs. Taking this into account, Peirce (1991: 30-31) thus conceived of three
conceived of by Saussure.
2) Icons 3 : signs whose relationships to there referents are not arbitrary, but
instead the sign and the referent bear some degree of sensory resemblance to
3) Indices: signs which are in some way directly connected to their referents,
depth by Preucel and Bauer (2001). Because signs are not all arbitrary, their signified
concepts and meaning are not merely locked within the minds of long-deceased
prehistoric persons, but were instead expressed outwardly in ways that archaeologists
may potentially interpret in the present. Meanings, rather than being solely the
social and material phenomena, allowing semiotic analyses to employ multiple lines
of evidence in their pursuits (Bauer and Preucel 2001: 94). I argue that this is
especially the case for signs defined above as icons, and that it is this iconic mode of
3
Also termed likenesses in Peirces earlier work.
26
signification that is most predominant in Mixteca-Puebla iconography, hence of
in more depth how icons produce meaning and how such meanings may be studied.
2.3 Iconicity
As a number of authors have noted (Pelc 1986, Wilden 1986, Chandler 2002),
icons do not consist exclusively of visual images, however, visual icons are perhaps
the most common and most frequently discussed in the literature, and they are of
greatest relevance for this study. An icon is effectively a visual representation of that
which it signifies. Such representations can range from those that are quite realistic
to those that are highly abstracted or stylized. It is thus possible for us to speak of
visual images in terms of varying degrees of iconicity (Pelc 1986), however, for our
purposes, the important point is simply that it is often feasible to locate the referent of
more depth shortly, meanings of icons often extend far beyond simply the things to
which they refer, yet our ability to locate these referents provides an initial starting
point from which we can pursue deeper analyses, incorporating multiple lines of
evidence.
I have thus far discussed the form of the iconthe signin relation to its
object or referent, however, uses of icons are also motivated by their signifieds; that
is, the cultural concepts which underlie them. A cogent argument on this point is
semiotic theory by Preucel and Bauer (2001: 89). In short, Hodder illustrates the non-
27
represent the ecology movement. It is clear that the tree in this context signifies far
more than simply its referent, evoking social ideals behind this movement. While the
signified in this case extends far beyond the referent, the relationship between them is
not arbitrary, for it is not the case that simply any sign or symbol established by
convention, could be substituted for the tree and convey the same meaning in the
same way. Because this association is not per se a naturally given property,
Herzfeld (1992: 68-69) contends that the icon only appears less arbitrary than the
symbol. I would argue, however, that while relations between icons and the concepts
they signify can be quite abstract, one visual symbol cannot in every case simply be
replaced with another, without regard for its content or referent, and be expected to
link in the same way with the signified, as is the case with a linguistic or otherwise
arbitrary symbol. For example, the image of an oil tanker could certainly not serve
the ecology movement as well as that of the tree. In language, on the other hand, the
words oil tanker could quite easily substitute for that of tree, provided this was
modes of signification are therefore not simply superficial. Though often relatively
degree by the referents to which they bear resemblance, and well as their histories of
use.
At the same time, Herzfelds broader argument remains relevant. Because for
arbitrary symbols there is no connection between the signifier and that which it
signifies, great amounts of social labor must often be expended in order affix meaning
28
As a result, the meanings of symbols can be relatively circumscribed.4 Icons, on the
other hand, because they impute a degree of naturalness to their associations, evoke
meanings that may be seen as obvious and taken for granted. As such, and in
mediation, and therefore more subject to multiple readings. Herzfeld (1992: 68)
writes of iconsa point also stressed by Joyce (2000: 16)that because they either
look natural or can be naturalized, [icons] are, ironically a good deal more labile,
and lend themselves with particular ease to totalizing cultural ideologies. For
exampleto return to the image of the tree once againwhat this icon is is rather
clear and obvious in an ontological sense, resembling an object all persons are quite
familiar with, and thus need not be explicitly defined or explained. Given this
appearance of naturalness, the relation of the tree to the ecology movement need not
be overtly asserted, however, we could at the same time imagine a tree image being
the signifying capacities of visual imagesan author whos work has been recently
38-39) emphasizes the polysemous nature of iconic images, noting that, they imply,
underlying their signifiers, a floating chain of signifieds, the reader able to choose
some and ignore others. Meanings of these images, however, can be restricted by
way of various mechanisms, two of which are defined by Barthes as anchorage and
4
Though these meanings are still by no means fixed, but rather still prone to a great deal of play and
slippage (Derrida 1978).
29
incorporated into images, seeing elements of anchorage guiding the reading of
images, as a means of control that direct the reader to a specific meaning or message.
Relay meanwhile, which is seen as less commonmore typical of cartoons, film, and
comic stripsentails the use of devices that guide the spatio-temporal ordering of
meanings from the subsequent wholes that result (Barthes 1977: 41).
Two other concepts from Barthes work are potentially of use for the present
study, though they are not as clearly distinguished in his work: those of denotative
provides a rather literal denoted message, imploring the reader to purchase the
particular brand. At the same time, through the use of imagery and the aesthetic it
creates, it connotes a notion of Italianicity, and perhaps others which may be seen
advertisement carries a very specific and closely circumscribed meaning, which may
require decipherment of a code in order to glean, while also connoting more broad
and general, or more obvious meanings rooted in socio-cultural norms and values.
In discussing Mixteca-Puebla iconography in this thesis, I will variously use the terms
denote and connote to indicate whether images are seen as eliciting rather
specific meanings or, perhaps on a more affective level, relating to more general
cultural sensibilities.
30
Many of the concepts just under discussion are applicable to the Mixtec
readings. However, methods of anchorage and relay were employed such that these
decorative elements that constituted personal names (Smith 1973) allowed for
incorporated into toponyms, which allowed them to be read as specific places, often
evoking their names in Mixtec language. Smith (1973) discusses the possible
existence of phonetic qualifiers and the use of tone puns in the codices, which
would have further served to relate pictorial elements to language and restrictor
rather, denotetheir meanings. Relay is also quite prevalent in the codices, with red
guide-lines used to direct the reading order, calendrical dates further ordering the
can often tie images to specific referents: i.e. this is a serpent, this is a feather, etc.
While these are obviously rather unspectacular insights, what they allow us to do is
take our analyses further in questioning what such images may have signified. Given
31
that the present study is focused on the Late Postclassic period, we have available an
Identifying the referents of these icons, we can then trace their occurrences and
associations through a suite of textual and other contexts. As many images found on
polychrome pottery are also found in the codices, we have the opportunity to see
well as in myth and cosmology. Accounts of indigenous beliefs and practices from
early Spanish chroniclers help serve to further supplement our insights. Being able
to locate icons in these various contexts outside that of polychrome pottery itself, we
find ourselves on fertile interpretive ground from which we can develop richer
Such an approach should not merely entail other lines of data being mapped
For example, how do pottery and the codices differ in terms of prevalent imagery?
How might salient themes signified in ceramic imagery differ from those found in
textual sources? Was polychrome imagery prone to the same sorts of anchorage and
relay found in the codices? Were these media similar or different in how they could
read; how did they connote and denote meaning? Taking the codices and Spanish
querying to what degree these different media were variously inclusive and exclusive.
32
In taking such an approach, we stand to reveal how notions of ideology and identity
in commoner domestic contexts both articulated with and deviated from those in
power.
In what ways might polychrome ceramics and the images painted on them
identities at Late Postclassic Yucu Dzaa? Elizabeth Brumfiel (2004) has recently
related the imagery of Aztec painted ceramics to the concept of figured worlds
developed by Dorothy Holland and colleagues (Holland et al. 1998). The latter
assigned to certain acts, and particular outcomes are valued over others (Holland et
al. 1998: 52). Figured worlds are essentially social collectivities, which may manifest
at a variety of scales, however, are generally much more localized relative to concepts
of culture, polity, society, etc. These groups coalesce around shared daily practices
and specific points of interest. Holland and her colleagues provide case studies
ideologies, more widely shared cultural norms, etc., within them are found relatively
unique sets of rules, roles, activities, and meanings. Seen in such a way, these
figured worlds thus often provide the loci in which people fashion senses of self
33
Holland and her colleagues further theorize that items of material culture,
which they term artifacts, may play integral roles in the interactions that take place
within the contexts of figured worlds. Certain artifacts may serve as cues, which
provoke specific types of activities and interactions, or evoke ideas and meanings
crucial to figured worlds. In the authors words, artifacts evoke the worlds to which
they were relevant, and position individuals with respect to those worlds (Holland et
Brumfiel (2004) has applied these ideas in arguing that contexts of commoner
feasting at the Late Postclassic site Xaltocan effectively constituted figured worlds,
and that images on painted ceramics evoked worldviews and ideas of cosmology
intimately related to these events. She further argues that because ethnohistoric data
indicate that polychrome vessels were sold in markets, and hence consumers had
considerable choice in the kinds of ceramics they purchased, imagery on these vessels
are apt to reflect those ideas most closely tied to commoners collective senses of
identity and understandings of their worlds. Teasing out the salient themes of this
imagery in her data set, Brumfiel then provides a diachronic analysis, comparing
ceramics from the period in which Xaltocan was an independent and powerful center
to ceramics from after the period it came under Aztec domination. She finds that
themes of warfare and sacrifice were quite prevalent in ceramic imagery at Xaltocan
while it was a regional capital. These themes became minimized, however, after the
beginning of Aztec rule, indicating that common peoples were distancing themselves
from the new foreign dominant ideology. While militaristic worldviews were popular
and identified with amongst commoners of Xaltocan when the polity was engaging in
34
warfare on its own behalf, these views became much less compelling once they were
popular views of identity may vary considerably with respect to how they articulate
with dominant ideologies. Shifts in the foci of figured worlds at polities such as
Xaltocan may play a part in explaining the rather tenuous grip the Aztec state often
had on its provinces. Aztec tributary polities often broke away from the empire and
study is limited in being synchronic and focused on a single site. It is likely that the
compare how figured worlds of commoners changed from the Late Postclassic to
Colonial periods, or alternatively, how figured worlds of those living in Yucu Dzaa
proper may have differed from those living in its hinterland or tributaries, who were
less likely to be ethnically Mixtec. These kinds of studies are potentially revealing of
societies and over the course of historical ruptures. In part, I hope that the present
study serves to lay some of the groundwork required for making such future analyses
possible.
At the same time, figured worlds are not seen here only as reflective of socio-
35
was previously discussed in the introduction, Yucu Dzaa was the most powerful
polity of Late Postclassic Oaxaca, and able to mobilize numbers of people for
warfare, markets, and other events. How were such mobilizations possible? A
considerable degree of skepticism has already been alluded to with respect to the
possibility that commoners were simply duped into participating in the imperial
projects carried out by Yucu Dzaa. Instead, in this study, I explore how commoners
may have engaged with dominant ideologies; how they may have identified with or
deviated from them. Which themes and worldviews may have resonated with them in
the figured worlds in which they carried out their daily lives, and how may these
figurings of identity have reciprocally played a role in the shaping of ideology within
the polity at large? In this thesis I argue that polychrome ceramics at Yucu Dzaa
were primarily used in similar fashion to those described by Brumfiel, in the figured
worlds constituted by events of domestic ritual and feasting. As such, they stand to
provide particular insights regarding relations between popular senses of identity and
dominant ideologies. To quote McAnany (2002: 119) once more, Quite often, ritual
is seated at the crux of power negotiations between the household and the state, thus
reach of the power of the state. In short, it is hoped that the analysis provided in this
thesis spurs us to consider in more depth how active negotiations of ideology and
identity may have in part helped to make the development of a rather unique Mixtec
36
2.6 Summary
of this thesis and the theoretical frameworks and concepts that guide them. Linking
concepts of ideology and identity, I argue that dominant ideologies, even when not
actively resisted, must be seen as contingent upon active social negotiation, and that
negotiation was carried out. Dealing here with visual representations painted on
polychrome pottery, I then argue that particular aspects of semiotic theory may be
especially useful in helping us to infer meanings these images carried, which can then
was further elaborated how these items of visual mediaor, in the terms of Holland
Dzaa. These contexts and practices, these figured worlds, are seen as having
of how not only elites, but many other members of society, may have been engaged
and active in the production and reproduction of a relatively unusual Mixtec polity in
After presenting the methods and results of the ceramic analysis in the
following three chapters, the data are related specifically to the questions presented in
this chapter. In chapter 6, it will be discussed how the use of polychrome ceramics
and the meanings evoked by their imagery helped produce notions of identity
37
expressed by commoners in domestic practice, and how these expressions related to
38
Chapter 3
Yucu Dzaa was carried out. These contexts will be described in depth shortly. While
ceramics were easily distinguished from other types of painted pottery, and were
separated out prior to analysis. These ceramics, designated Yucu Dzaa polychrome
by OMack (1990), are generally consistent with what have been labeled Mixteca
1987: 14, Caso, Bernal, and Acosta 1967). While the other painted wares are by no
means simply unimportant, their design motifs are relatively simple and abstract.
Design motifs on these wares are most likely symbols rather than icons, following the
presently be made. Given the iconographic focus of the present study, inclusion of
polychrome ceramics, analyses of vessel forms and other material attributes (e.g.
paint colors used) were also carried out, with three main goals in mind: 1) to better
comparison, and 3) to provide data for more detailed studies and comparisons in the
future. The utility of these analyses will elaborated upon both later in this chapter as
39
consisting of both a material/formal and iconographic component. This is reflected in
the structure of the thesis, as the results of the analyses are divided into two
subsequent chapters. In the remainder of the present chapter, I will describe the
archaeological contexts from which the ceramic sample was recovered and outline the
The three residences were located in close proximity of one another, approximately
Joyce and his colleagues (2004) indicated that polychrome pottery was widely
distributed at the site and likely to occur in high frequency in excavations. Levines
excavations indeed showed this to be the case. In total, 683 polychrome rim sherds
were recovered, accounting for 7.61% of the total number of rim sherds in the sites
excavated residences at Yucu Dzaa are quite high in comparison to those for other
Late Postclassic commoner residences investigated in Oaxaca (Perez 2003: Table 4.4,
Lind 1987: Tables 25 and 36). In fact, the frequencies from the Yucu Dzaa
residences are even higher than those from noble residences excavated at Chachoapan
and Yucuita (Lind 1987: Tables 25 and 36). 5 These frequencies are summarized in
40
Table 3-1: Frequencies of Mixteca-Puebla Polychrome Pottery from Excavated
Postclassic Residences in Oaxaca (from Levine 2006)
Percentage of
Assemblage
Comprised by
Total Mixteca- Mixteca-Puebla
Puebla Polychrome Total Polychrome
Commoner Residences Sherds Sherds Sherds
Yucu Dzaa-Residence A 527** 6297** 8.37 %**
Yucu Dzaa-Residence B 85** 1740** 4.88 %**
Yucu Dzaa-Residence C 71** 639** 11.11 %**
Nicayuhu House 1 26* 40,061* .065 %*
Nicayuhu House 2 18* 6,658* .27 %*
Yucuita Midden N217B 2* 2448* .082 %*
Noble Residences
Chachoapan Midden F2-A 127 4966 2.56 %
Yucuita Midden F-10A 10 739 1.35 %
** These totals include rim sherds only.
* These totals include all sherds (rims, bodies, etc.), for Nicayuhu see Prez Rodrguez
(2003: Table 4.4), for Yucuita N217B see Spores (1974b cited in Lind 1987: Table 29).
Chachoapan F-2A is associated with a noble house that dates to AD 1540 (Lind 1987:
Table 36).
Yucuita F-10A is associated with a noble house that dates to AD 1340 (Lind 1987: Table
36).
These totals include rim sherds only and were calculated from data in Lind (1987: Tables
25 and 36).
What may account for the rather high frequencies of polychrome ceramics at
Yucu Dzaa is not yet well understood, however, future considerations of political
economy by Levine (2006) may bring some of these reasons to light. What is clear is
that the excavations conducted by Levine yielded more polychrome pottery sherds
than any of the above-cited studies. As such, the sample-size from Yucu Dzaa was
judged to be large enough for a study focused on these sherds to be carried out, and
5
It should be noted, however, that Bernal (Caso, Bernal, and Acosta 1967) reported finding over
10,000 sherds of Mixteca polychrome in the midden of an elite palace at Chachoapan. These findings
were not documented systematically, however, and the proportion of polychromes relative to the total
ceramic assemblage from this context is unknown.
41
The ceramic analysis was limited to materials from the most dense midden
portions of a midden located down slope from the residential terrace, spanning
approximately ten meters, and no architecture was exposed. Analysis was focused on
status of its occupants are less clear. Given that the theoretical concerns of this study
were notably low in frequency and poorly preserved, 2) midden deposits presented
the greatest likelihood of containing more complete vessels or fragments that could be
refit into more complete pieces, 3) midden deposits yielded the best carbon samples
from excavations, allowing the sample to be more directly tied to chronological data.
Restricting the analysis to materials from midden deposits biases the sample in that it
excludes de facto refuse and materials that were cached or otherwise discarded. At
the same time, doing so controls for post-depositional processes and focuses the
analysis specifically on large assemblages of domestic refuse that were liable to have
Extensive attempts at refitting sherds were made prior to analysis. Those that
could not be refit, yet based on their surface decoration could be inferred to have
come from the same vessel, were grouped together as such. Each of these refitted
pieces and groups of sherds assigned to the same vessel were then counted as a single
42
sherd. Statistical analyses were for the most part limited to rim sherds for the sake
of comparability with other data sets. Decorated body sherds were incorporated into
considerations of iconography and vessel supports, but were otherwise not included in
statistical analysis. The total sample comprised 1780 sherds, accounting for 67.5% of
could not be made due to the following: 1) the highly fragmentary nature of the
thickness and orifice diameter amongst rim sherds, and 3) because painted decoration
is at times so varied on a single vessel, two sherds radically different in decor cannot
have eschewed comparing the Yucu Dzaa data to those based on minimum numbers
of vessels or whole vessels from other studies, and detail the specific problems of
` The vast majority of the sample came from midden deposits of Residence A
(Fig. 3-1). The residence itself was composed of seven structures, five of these
flanking a central patio, and an additional two located east of the patio group. The
midden deposits were located southeast of the patio, just outside Terrace A3. The
midden itself covered approximately 60m, and exceeded one meter in depth, dense
with ceramic materials and other artifacts, such as obsidian, figurines, spindle whorls
(Heijting 2006), and animal bone. The midden also included a secondary burial
(Levine 2006).
43
Figure 3-1: Overview Map of Residence A (from Levine
2006)
Residence A was unlikely to have been occupied for more than a few
(Levine 2006). Levine further bases this inference on the volume of the midden
deposits. Two radiocarbon samples were dated from this midden, giving calibrated
period. Levine (2006) infers that this was a commoner residence; though, given the
6
Uncalibrated ages in radiocarbon years are 615 +/- 38 and 579 +/ - 38. Materials were dated at the
University of Arizona AMS Laboratory. University of Arizona sample numbers are AA69824 and
AA69823 respectively.
44
degree of architectural investment and quantity of luxury goods present at Residence
A, its occupants were likely somewhat more affluent than their Residence B
counterparts.
Far fewer polychromes came from Residence B. Only 199 of the total 1780
sherds analyzed in the sample came from this residence (Table 3-2).
Residence A, the most dense midden deposits were located on a slope southeast of the
substantially less dense and extensive, in large part accounting for the lower number
of polychromes.
One calibrated radiocarbon date was obtained from this midden, providing an
age of AD 1419-1447 (Levine n.d.) 7 . Radiocarbon dates from the two residences
7
Uncalibrated age in radiocarbon years is 471 +/- 38. Materials were dated at the University of
Arizona AMS Laboratory. University of Arizona sample number is AA69825.
45
substantially shallower and less concentrated, it is possible that occupation here was
labor than at Residence A, and frequencies of goods such as copper items, animal
bone, and polychrome pottery are lower at the former. Thus Levine (2006) has
economic status. While some of the disparities in amounts of socially valued goods,
length of occupation must be taken into account. To control for length of occupation,
46
the relative proportions of polychrome pottery to all pottery types present were
calculated (Table 3-1). These data indicate more subtle socio-economic differences
damage extant on each piece was coded according to a four-point ordinal scale
(minimal, fair, substantial, and severe). At Residence A, 38% of the sherds from the
sample fell into the categories of minimal or fair, while this was the case for only
8% of the sherds at Residence B. This may be accounted for in part by the fact that
midden deposits at Residence A were located just outside the A3 terrace wall, perhaps
better shielded from the elements than the midden deposits at Residence B.
should be made of the use of materials housed in the Museo Yucusaa (Tututepec
complete vessels are curated at the museum, coming almost exclusively from
donations by local residents who often find these materials on their properties. A
cursory examination of these collections was made concurrently with the field
analysis of the excavation materials. While these materials are almost assuredly from
the site of Yucu Dzaa proper, the museum pieces carry no further provenience
information, and were thus not subjected to systematic analysis nor incorporated into
the excavation sample. Given that these materials were likely collected selectively
simply on the bases of aesthetic or other qualities, their incorporation into the
excavation sample would greatly skew our view of the typical domestic assemblage.
47
The collections were therefore examined instead to glean a better sense of the general
ranges of variability in vessel form and design at the site. This exercise proved
informative in indicating that while some vessel forms and types of imagery were not
present in the excavated sample, they may have occurred in other contexts at Yucu
Dzaa as they were represented in the museum collections. The museum materials
colors present on each piece, and 3) for rim sherds, systematic documentation and
Because macroscopic analysis found that the polychrome ceramic pastes were
extremely homogeneous, they could not be differentiated into distinct types, and
only a limited sample was inspected with concern for this attribute. Paste colors were
described using a Munsell Color chart (1992) and inclusions were examined with a
hand lens. Levine (2006, personal communication) has recently received results from
Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) conducted on a sample of the pottery from the
provide more detailed characterization of clays and their potential sources. Results of
48
this analysis will be discussed briefly as they corroborate findings of the present study
Colors of paint present on each sherd were documented for the entire sample
and frequencies were subsequently tallied. General color categories were discerned
based on visual inspection, including the most common colors: orange, red, black,
white, blue, and pink. The rarer colors present in the assemblage were purple, brown,
and yellow. Tabulation of paint color frequencies was carried out in part simply to
body of comparable data is provided by Lind (1987: 15) on materials from the
Mixteca Alta.
The analysis of vessel form was carried out with the following goals in mind:
found at the site, 2) to facilitate interregional comparisons with similar data sets from
other parts of Oaxaca and beyond, and 3) to provide insights regarding the functions
The formal analysis was based exclusively on rim sherds. As Lind (1987: 11)
points out, analyses based on body sherds will tend to overestimate frequencies of
vessel forms such as ollas (jars with globular bodies and restricted orifices), which
have larger bodies and thus break into greater numbers of sherds. This artificially
inflates the estimated number of ollas in comparison to other forms such as bowls.
polychromes (Lind 1987, McCafferty 2001), I have limited the formal analysis to rim
8
Additionally, Lane Fargher is currently conducting petrographic analysis of this same sample, which
stand to further issues of temper sources and pottery production.
49
sherds only. I would add one caveat, however: because open vessels have more
extensive rims (greater orifice diameters), a focus solely on rim sherds may also bias
orifices. McCafferty (2001: 20) avoids this problem by comparing sherd counts to
degree-of-arc values for rim sherds of the various vessel types of his ceramic sample
however, may also be garnered by comparing rim sherd counts if these values are
amongst the various vessel types. Such data are presented briefly in the next chapter,
Forms were recorded for rim sherds in terms of general vessel types. More
specific quantitative and qualitative attributes related to vessel form were also
documented in attempts to capture some of the variability within these forms. The
following list of the attributes and methods of evaluation were employed carrying out
Vessel form
The majority of rim sherds could be assigned to one of four general categories of
vessel form, termed ollas, cajetes, tecomates, and plates. Each of these categories
Wall form: This attribute refers to the shape of the entire vessel body (as viewed
in cross-section), from the rim to the base of the vessel. There is variation in wall
50
form within the general vessel form categories. The specificity of wall form
descriptions were most often limited by the size of the sample sherd, the small
Lip form: Refers to a formal termination of the vessel rim at its orifice.
very little variability, the overwhelming majority of pieces falling into the
this study.
Wall thickness: Thickness of each sherd in profile was measured to the nearest
millimeter using digital calipers. Measurements were taken at the thickest point
of a given sherd.
fair number of rim sherds were too small for such a measurement to be possible.
chart.
data sets from other regions, especially Linds (1987) study of polychromes from
Chachoapan and Yucuita. Such comparisons are potentially useful in revealing past
forms stands to shed light on how the ceramics were used. Lind (1994) has
demonstrated that depictions of distinct vessel forms are found in the Mixtec and
51
Borgia group codices that are suggestive of how particular vessels were used ritually.
As mentioned in Chapter 1, nearly all studies (but see Lind 1987) of the
(Seler 1990, Lind 1994, Pohl 2003, Sanchez 2005), often from museum and other
collections where specific archaeological contexts for the materials are lacking.
Reasons for a reliance on whole vessels are obvious: whole vessels allow not only for
specific images to be seen in their entirety, but also for these images to be seen with
all others they are associated with on a given ceramic vessel. As such, Sanchez
(2005), in her study of a wide array of polychrome vessels from Oaxaca, Puebla, and
Veracruz, has been able to define what she terms complexes of motifs. These
complexes are groups of icons that repeatedly occur together, potentially revealing of
more complex themes than singular images. The broader cosmological and
social meanings.
complete polychrome vessels are very few. Though such vessels are at times found
52
intact as offerings within elite tombs in parts of Oaxaca, polychrome ceramics were
often disposed of in middens from domestic contexts. If we wish to study the roles
these objects played in daily life and amongst non-elites, analyses of fragmentary
imagery presented in this thesis, and it is hoped that this study will help to better
category of motif was found on one sherd, it was recorded as a single instance, even if
it occurred multiple times on the same piece. As Lind points out, given that certain
motifs may occur dozens of times on a single piece, recording each singular instance
on each piece would potentially make data collection nearly impossible. In total, over
found in the codices, including zoomorphic motifs and depictions of ritual objects.
Ambiguous images that were found to repeat were also recorded such that they could
potentially be identified after data collection was completed. Lastly the portion of the
vessel on which the motif occurred (i.e. the exterior, interior, or base) was recorded as
well.
53
Any attempt to quantify design motifs from sherds presents certain problems.
Because certain motifs tend to repeat on a given vessel while others do not, counts are
inevitably biased toward the repeated motifs. Counting repeated instances on a given
piece as a singular occurrence alleviates this bias to some degree. Furthermore, the
polychromes are those by Lind (1987, 1994), based upon minimum numbers of
vessels. Thus the data presented in this thesis are not immediately comparable to
other data sets. Instead, I use information regarding the frequencies of motifs in the
level. I argue that those which are most common should be expected to express the
images found in the prehispanic codices and the work of other scholars such as Seler
(1990), Lind (1987, 1994), Pohl (2003), and Sanchez (2005), all of whom have also
used the codices as a primary source for their interpretations. The codices allow us to
view these images in more detailed and extensive narrative contexts, particularly in
particularly imperative in the study of icons that we trace their associations if we are
ground for precisely such an exercise. Furthermore, similar to the work of the
scholars cited above, ethnohistoric information (e.g. Sahagun 1970) is used when
54
Over the course of the analysis, certain iconographic patterns in the
assemblage and associations of motifs were noted as well. Due to the fragmentary
nature of the sample material, these patterns cannot be treated in the depth and
breadth seen in the analysis by Sanchez (2005) of whole vessels. Attempts are made
3.4 Summary
study, the rationale behind their use, and the advantages and limitations therein. In
the following two chapters the results of the analysis are presented. Chapter 4 details
the material and formal aspects of the analysis, and is concerned predominantly with
found on the Yucu Dzaa polychromes is explored in depth and initial interpretations
are provided. The results are then synthesized in Chapter 6, in a discussion of their
55
Chapter 4
This chapter presents the results of the analysis of the material and formal
aspects of the Yucu Dzaa ceramic assemblage. Wherever possible, these results are
Oaxaca and the state of Puebla in efforts to situate the sample within a broader
interregional context. The chapter begins with a section discussing surface treatment
and general observations regarding ceramic pastes. Initial results of INAA are also
revealing of the sources of clays used in ceramic manufacture and, concomitantly, the
extent to which local production may have taken place at Yucu Dzaa. The following
section focuses on paint colors found on the Yucu Dzaa polychromes and the
polychromes from the Oaxaca coast might be visually distinguishable from their
In the following section, each vessel form type found in the polychrome assemblage
is described and frequencies of types are reported. Frequencies of vessel forms are
also compared to those from Highland Oaxaca and Puebla to further trace
interregional similarities and differences. Lastly, the data on vessel forms is related
to depictions of polychrome ceramics found in the Mixtec and Borgia group codices,
56
for as Lind (1994) has demonstrated, such depictions may be suggestive of how they
All sherds analyzed from Yucu Dzaa exhibited the presence of a white slip or
base-coat. McCafferty (2001) reports that certain of the polychrome types he has
defined at Cholula were subsequently slipped orange after the application of this
base-coat, however, this practice is not an apparent trend in the Yucu Dzaa
bases of Yucu Dzaa bowls are typically painted orange and lack design motifs, an
underlying orange color normally does not extend over the entirety of the vessel as a
slip. The vessels often exhibit a solid background colorpredominantly red, black,
white or orangethat was applied over the initial white base-coat. In addition to
variation amongst individual vessels, for those with unrestricted orifices these colors
ceramics from various regions have been studied by Castillo (1968). The Yucu Dzaa
materials appear to generally accord well with her description, though have not yet
were formed and their surfaces finely burnished or polished, then subjected to a first
firing. After a white base-coat was then applied over virtually the entire vessel body
(aside from the bottom-most portion of the base, which is generally unslipped for
9
Also defined by Noguera (1954) as Policroma Laca and by Lind (1994) as Catalina Polychrome.
57
both tripod bowls and jars), the vessel was then painted in polychrome motifs, fired a
It is quite clear that all paints were fired on. Washing of sherds did not cause
removal of paint. Sherds found on the surfaceprone to rain and other elemental
damage potentially for centuriesstill often exhibit relatively intact painted motifs.
This was evidenced in both field observations and illustrations of pieces collected
Ceramic pastes are quite homogenous in appearance, fine in grain size, and
Less frequently, pastes will exhibit a more orange-brown appearance, but this appears
will often also exhibit a gray (7.5 YR 5/1) firing core in the center of the cross-
was added but often include fine to very-fine quartz sands. Also found in the
ceramic pastes are small voids, which may indicate that limited organic content was
once present within the clay. On the whole, these findings accord well with general
polychromes within the core of Yucu Dzaa, Brockington (1982) reports greater
diversity in Late Postclassic polychromes from the surrounding region of the Oaxaca
coast. Brockington divides polychromes into two groups, dubbed Professional and
58
Amateur. While his descriptions are brief, the polychromes Brockington places
within his Professional category appear to greatly resemble those considered in the
present study. They are characterized by precise and elaborate painted decoration,
including codex-style motifs, and are highly homogeneous in paste type (Brockington
1982: 11). Brockington (1982: 12) further asserts that Professional polychromes had
Amateur polychromes, on the other hand, bear designs of a lesser quality, consisting
mostly of abstract geometrical motifs. They are found over a wide region and exhibit
much more diversity in ceramic pastes. No polychromes that fit within Brockingtons
Amateur category were recovered in the excavations at Yucu Dzaa. This absence is
polychromes around Yucu Dzaa could be accounted for by the sites preeminence in
regional politics and economics. Meanwhile, the more diverse polychromes labeled
Amateur may result from local production outside the core of the empires capital.
Should this be the case, we would find that while access to Yucu Dzaa or
Professional polychromes may have been restricted geographically, they were not
necessarily restricted due to economic status, for all polychromes recovered from
commoner residences at Yucu Dzaa resemble the description of this type. While
commoners living in the core had access to these goods, those living outside it, in the
As was noted in Chapter 3, a sample of the ceramics from the Yucu Dzaa
59
the MURR. With the possible exception of two sherds, there is no indication that
polychromes were imported from abroad. This has been inferred by comparing the
Yucu Dzaa materials with extant reference data from the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley, the
Tehuacan Valley, the Chinantla, the Mixteca Alta, and the Valley of Oaxaca. The
polychromes themselves primarily fall into four compositional groups, though 58%
fall within a single group. The groups overlap to some extent with a compositional
group defined as likely based in the Lower Rio Verde region (see also Joyce et al.
n.d.), in a study of earlier ceramics from the region. Statistical associations, however,
are not significant. The data currently available suggest that polychrome ceramics at
Yucu Dzaa were likely produced locally, though production was not necessarily
restricted to a singular locus or clay source. This picture would appear to accord well
the findings of Neff and his colleagues (1994), who in carrying out INAA of
Paint colors were recorded for each sherd in the Yucu Dzaa polychrome
sample. However, as noted in the previous chapter, statistical analysis was restricted
to rim sherds in order to be consistent with previous studies and to allow for statistical
comparison.
Most common colors found on the Yucu Dzaa polychromes were black,
white, orange, and red, each found on over 90% of the rim sherds in the sample Table
4-1). Colors present in smaller, but still substantial amounts were blue and pink.
Purple, brown, and yellow were all found in frequencies of 1% or less in the sample.
60
While all these colors can vary in shade, they are easily discernable from one another.
The specific materials used to produce the various paints and pigments are currently
not well understood. In Table 4-1, frequencies of colors are summarized and
compared to similar figures provided by Lind (1987: 15) for Late Postclassic
polychromes excavated from the sites of Chachoapan and Yucuita in the Mixteca
Alta.
Differences seen in the two samples may be accounted for by the fact that the
Yucu Dzaa figures are based on sherd counts while the Mixteca Alta figures are based
on counts of minimum numbers of vessels. For example, while certain colors such as
red were likely present on nearly all Mixteca-Puebla polychromes, they may not be
seen on small sherds, explaining the lower frequency of red in the Yucu Dzaa sample.
This discrepancy, however, should not bias the ratios of colors to one another within
each of the samples. Colors of paint should obviously have virtually no bearing on
the mechanical properties of a vesseli.e. ceramics with blue paint would not be
61
prone to break into more sherds than those without, etc. Therefore, while the figures
for the Yucu Dzaa sample are generated from sherds rather than whole vessels, we
Blue paint, while found on nearly 50% of the Yucu Dzaa sherds, is found on
less than 2% of the Chachoapan and Yucuita polychromes. This is easily the greatest
discrepancy between the two samples. Pink is also somewhat more frequent at Yucu
Dzaa, but is found on nearly 12% of the Mixteca Alta polychromes, and its
occurrence is noted for other regions as well (Sanchez 2005: 46). Blue paint, is not
reported by Sanchez (2005: 46) in her study of 467 vessels from Oaxaca, Puebla, and
Cholula. That blue occurs on nearly 50% of the sherds from Yucu Dzaa is thus quite
The presence of this blue paint has been noted in previous cursory
OMack (1990: 31), and Winter (1989: 82), all of whom characterize it as based on
graphite; presumably due to the reflective sheen that it exhibits. However, at this
point there does not appear to exist any characterization data to support this claim.
While much scholarly attention has been devoted to the composition of Maya blue
used in the Maya lowlands (see for example Arnold 2005), the paint under discussion
here does not appear to bear great resemblance to Maya blue and its exact
composition is not currently known. Given that the geographic distribution of this
quite limited, characterization studies may prove a fruitful avenue for future research.
62
The possibility exists that this paint was derived from a material (or materials)
uniquely available on the coast. Alternatively, it may have been an exotic good that
Yucu Dzaa had unique access to, as one of the most powerful tribute polities of the
Late Postclassic and well-positioned with respect to Pacific coastal trade routes.
What is clear is that the atypically high frequency of blue paint on the Yucu
Blue is most commonly found on motifs such as headdress feathers, volutes of smoke
(Fig. 4-1), and the markings on the feathers of eagle heads (Fig. 4-2), all of these
considering paint colors with respect to imagery, it is interesting to note that the only
color found in the Chachoapan and Yucuita materials not found at Yucu Dzaa is the
color gray. Of the common motifs just noted, gray is used in depictions of volutes of
smoke in polychromes of other regions (Sanchez 2005: 64), and gray and black are
also used elsewhere in depictions of eagle heads (Sanchez 2005: 48). Gray or black
markings are typical of the description of the eagle in central Mexican myth (Seler
1990 v. 5: 237); owing to the eagle having once been burned by the sun. It is
therefore perhaps the case that blue paint served at times as a substitute for gray on
imagery.
63
Fig. 4-1: Blue paint on headdress feathers and smoke volutes
instructive to discuss the supports upon which these vessels stood. It is presumed that
virtually all of the vessels recovered from the Yucu Dzaa excavations had hollow
tripod supports, due primarily to the high quantity of fragments of supports in the
sample. Support fragments constitute 14.88% of the total sample of all types of
sherds in terms of number, and 20.45% of the sample in terms of weight. For vessel
64
portions complete enough for presence or absence of supports to be determined, there
was no instance of a vessel lacking supports. All supports are hollow, modeled or
molded, and complete pieces often have a small ceramic ball within them, the
function of which are unknown, but would have produced a rattling sound. Of the
The most common supports in the sample take the form of a serpent: the foot
of the support is depicted as the head while the body extends up the length of the
support. The exterior face of the support is painted orange with concentric circular or
diamond-shaped black spots (Fig. 4-3), while the opposite side is painted to represent
65
Fig. 4-3: Serpent head support from Residence A
the Mixtec codices, the supports take the form of serpents and the vessel is shown
containing pulque (an intoxicating beverage made from the fermented juice of the
maguey plant), represented by white foam at the top (Fig. 4-4). This may reflect an
important association, for ethnographer John Monaghan (1995: 105-106) writes that
amongst modern day Mixtec peoples, there is belief in beings known as koo savi, or
rain serpents. These are considered to be manifestations of rain that fly through the
air in the form of violent tempests. Pulque, meanwhile, is often described as white
blood, and equated with male semen (Monaghan 1995: 116-117). In contemporary
ritual, pulque is often poured on the ground as a means of sacrifice that will bring
about rain. Symbolic reasons for this are apparent, as rain and semen are also
66
serpents may therefore be seen as evoking, in complimentary fashion, ideals related to
the necessity of sacrifice in bringing about rain, agricultural fertility, and subsistence.
Fig. 4-4: Vessel with serpent head supports from the codex Nuttall
alluded to by Seler (1990 v.5: 293). He notes that in Zapotec language there was a
then links this term to receptacles for sacrificial blood. It is not apparent whether an
equivalent term existed in the Mixtec language, however, we have already seen an
association of serpents with rain. Furthermore, the Spanish term god, may have
been equated in Mixtec with dzahui, the name of the rain deity, whom was held in
highest prominence. Dzahui is the lone translation for the Spanish term idol in
vessels: these icons would have reinforced relations between rain, sacrifice, and
subsistence, while the vessels contents may have been a medium through which
67
Conical supports
The second most common form of support is much simpler and conical in
shape. It is virtually always painted primarily orange, colored red toward the tip, and
normally exhibits a thin red band just above this red tip (Fig. 4-5). Lind (1994: 92)
terms these bullet supports, and they are quite common in the Mixteca Alta. No
Slightly less frequent than conical supports are those labeled deer hoofs,
painted orange with black spots, with an apparent hoof depicted at the foot of the
support (Fig. 4-6). As Lind (1994: 92) observes, depictions of deer may possibly be
linked with the Creator Couple 1 Deer, prominent in Mixtec creation myths found in
the Codex Vindobonensis and the writings of the early colonial Spanish friar Gregorio
Garcia (Furst 1978: 56, Anders et al. 1992). It thus perhaps evokes general notions of
creation. The deer also represented the seventh of twenty day signs in the ritual
68
According to Seler (1990 v.5: 218), It represents the host of stars that, chased by the
morning star, are driven from east to west. As the Mixtec and Nahuatl of central
Mexico shared the same calendar, deer imagery in Mixtec ceramics may have carried
similar connotations. Had this been the case, it may have been quite apropos that it
was the legs and hoofs of the deer depicted in the supports, evoking the
Opossum supports
Other support forms are far less frequent. Of these the most common is that
Lind (1994: 92)as an opossum, due to its long snout and characteristic dark
markings around the eyes, forming a point toward the front of the face (Fig. 4-7).
Seler, drawing from Sahagun, links the opossum to ideals of, and rituals related to,
child birth. Though the opossum does at times appear in the Mixtec codices, it is not
clear from these depictions whether the animal connoted similar ideas to those cited
by Seler.
69
Fig. 4-7: Opossum support from Residence A
they exhibit a series of multicolored bands along the back of the neckclearly not a
natural trait of the animal. Seler (1990 v.5: 194) notes the existence in Aztec myth of
an animal known as the cuetlachtli, which possesses small narrow ears and a thick
snout, and is said to have a poisonous breath, which changes into rainbow hues, and
said to be a beast of prey that waylays other animals. According to Seler, it was
considered one of the strongest and bravest of animals, along with the eagle and the
jaguar, and was linked to warriors and the festival devoted to the god Xipe Totec, in
which war captives were sacrificed. Linking this animal to the opossum supports
linkage may explain the curious multicolored stripes found upon in it, the depiction in
70
Unidentified mammal support
One relatively complete piece of a support was found that bore great
resemblance in form to the opossum supports (Fig. 4-8). This piece, however, lacks
the eye markings characteristic of the opossum, instead exhibiting small black
markings on each side of the eye. Most curiously, color of the support was divided
bi-laterally, one half red in color, the other orange. What specific animal this support
Supports representing eagles in the assemblage are known from only two
small fragments (Fig. 4-9), but numerous complete examples are found in the
eagle head forms the foot of the support, while the leg is decorated with white
Significances of the eagle will be discussed in more depth in the next chapter, but for
71
many Mesoamerican peoples it, along with the jaguar, was considered the bravest of
animals, a patron of warriors, associated with warfare and the sun (Seler 1990 v.5:
241, Libura 2004: 14). Given that the eagle is normally typified by white plumage
with black markings, the use of red in some of the supports is curious. The resultant
red and white design seen in these supports may evoke the manner predominant in
Mixteca-Puebla art of depicting flint knives, which are not uncommonly seen
connected to the feathers of eagles found in the Mixtec and Borgia group codices
(Fig. 4-10). By conceptually linking eagles and sacrificial knives, this design may
have thus served as a means of further evoking themes of warfare and sacrifice.
72
Fig. 4-10: Depiction of eagle with flint knives from the codex Nuttall
Mushroom/phallic supports
Lastly, mushroom or phallus shaped supports are known from one piece
recovered from Residence B (Fig. 4-11). Lind (1994: 92) argues that an
(see also Anders et al. 1992: 146-148, Furst 1978: 203-206). However, the
mushrooms in this scene differ from the vessel supports in their shape (Figure 4-12).
Lind also notes that there are representations of two ollas exhibiting
mushroom/phallic supports in the very same codex, yet these are found on page 18a
in a different ritual scene, and they appear to contain pulque and chocolate (Anders et
al. 1992: 159, Furst 1978: 242). The supports shown in the codex more closely
resemble the ceramic supports from Yucu Dzaa, also differing in shape from the
mushrooms shown in the ritual scene on page 24. It is therefore not entirely clear that
the ceramic supports represent mushrooms, and given that the vessels may have held
pulque, which was equated with blood and semen, interpreting the support forms as
73
Fig. 4-11: Mushroom/phallic support from Residence B
Fig. 4-12: Depiction of ritual use of mushrooms from the codex Vindobonensis
Representations found in the vessel supports do not appear to bear any clear
or apparently necessary relation to the imagery painted on the vessel bodies. Given
the great variation and diversity of the latter imagery, the uniformity exhibited by the
74
supports is quite striking: not only do representations take relatively few forms, but
there is little variation within these forms, apart from size. Depictions of serpents,
deer hoofs, opossums, etc., are highly uniform; almost formulaic in appearance.
they might have been produced independent of the vessels themselves. However,
there is currently no rigorous method available for evaluating this hypothesis. The
themes evoked by the supports appear to relate to very general and widespread
aspects of Mixtec belief, related to rain, sacred covenants and sacrifice, agricultural
and human fertility, warfare, and possibly creation. These were all related
imagery found on the bodies of the vessels. As will be been in Chapter 5, many of
these same themes are also connoted by images painted on the vessels bodies.
comparison of polychromes from Highland Oaxaca and Cholula, Lind (1994: 92)
finds considerable variation in the frequencies of support forms between the two
regions, summarized in the table below in combination with the Yucu Dzaa data.
75
Table 4-3: Regional Comparison of Support Forms
Support Form Cholula Highland Oaxaca Yucu Dzaa
(percent) (percent) (percent)*
Bullet/Conical 0.00 35.29 30.72
Mushroom 0.00 17.65 0.60
Deer Hoof/Phallus 0.00 15.29 28.32
Serpent Head 0.00 11.76 33.74
Slab 16.67 9.41 0.00
Eagle Head 0.00 4.70 1.20
Deer Head 0.00 2.36 0.00
Duck Head 0.00 1.18 0.00
Eagle Claw 0.00 1.18 0.00
Jaguar Claw 0.00 1.18 0.00
Opossum Head 50.00 0.00 4.82
Jaguar Head 33.33 0.00 0.00
Unidentified mammal 0.00 0.00 0.60
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00
*Unidentified support fragments are not included in these figures
The Yucu Dzaa supports clearly bear greater resemblance to Linds Highland
Oaxaca sample than to that from Cholula: of the four most common forms in the
Oaxaca sample, three of these are the most common at Yucu Dzaa as well. At the
same time, it is interesting that mushroom supports are quite rare at Yucu Dzaa, and
slab supportscommon in both Cholula and the Mixteca Altaare entirely absent.
Perhaps most curiously, opossum head supports are the most common form found at
Cholula, and while they are entirely absent in Linds Highland Oaxaca sample, are
present in limited quantities at Yucu Dzaa. Seler (1990 v.5: 200) reports that ceramic
including Michoacan. Thus while the Yucu Dzaa supports most closely resemble
materials from the Mixteca Alta and Valley of Oaxaca, it is possible that they suggest
connections with more distant regions such as Puebla, and even perhaps West
Mexico, as well.
76
4.4 Vessel Forms
Of the 431 rim sherds in the Yucu Dzaa polychrome sample, 391 of these
frequencies for which are presented in Table 4-4. In constructing the various
In the remainder of this section the various vessel forms will be defined and
described, followed by a comparison of the data to materials from the Mixteca Alta
and Cholula. For certain rim sherds, it could be determined that the sherd came from
however, these sherds were too fragmentary for a more specific distinction to be
made. They have thus been labeled undetermined restricted orifice in the table
above, and will be excluded from further discussion and analysis, because they cannot
Cajetes
Cajetes, following Linds (1987: 13) terminology, are open bowls. Cajetes
are the most frequent vessel form found in the Yucu Dzaa sample, constituting
77
61.12% of all identifiable rim sherds (see Table 4-5). They are painted on their
interior walls and bases, and most commonly on their exterior walls as well, though
this is not always the case. Bases are typically painted a plain orange on their
interiors, but occasionally exhibit complex designs as well (Fig. 4-13). Subtle
hemispherical bowls), as well as outleaning and outcurving walls (conical bowls) (see
Figures 4-14a-c). Of these, semispherical bowls are the most common, constituting
approximately 67% of all cajete fragments from which wall form could be inferred.
All cajetes have direct rims and relatively flat bases. Mean orifice diameter for these
78
Fig. 4-14: Profile drawings of Yucu Dzaa cajetes with A) incurving-divergent, B)
outleaning, and C) outcurving walls.
Ollas
Again following Linds (1987: 16-17) terminology, Ollas are defined as
vessels exhibiting globular bodies and cylindrical necks with restricted orifices.
Unsurprisingly, ollas are only painted on their exterior surfaces (Figure 4-15), with
the exception of a red stripe inevitably painted on the interior rim. Sanchez (2005:
45) refers to these vessels as jarros, and many observers might be apt to term them
jars in English. However, as the formal data presented here will be compared most
closely to that presented by Lind, I employ his terminology. The break between the
body and neck of a given olla is most commonly quite subtle and the wall is
composite silhouette in form (Figs. 14-16a and 14-16b). Less frequently, ollas have a
more formalized neck that breaks sharply from the body (Figure 14-16c). Because
many rim sherds were quite small in size, the exact form of the overall body could not
be inferred. Mean orifice diameter for these vessels is 14.1 cm (see Table 4-5).
Because so few ollas were recovered that were near-complete, calculations of mean
79
volume and height could not be made. These vessels are the second most frequent
Fig. 4-15: Frontal view of a reconstructed tripod olla recovered from Residence
A.
80
Fig. 4-16: Profile drawing of ollas from Yucu Dzaa. 4-16a and 4-16b exhibit
relatively subtle angular breaks and outcurving necks, while 4-16c exhibits a
more sharply defined vertical neck.
also be considered neck-less jarsare known from only twelve (see Table 4-4)
relatively fragmentary pieces in the Tututepec sample. These vessels have globular
bodies and incurving-convergent walls, thus restricted orifices (Figure 4-17), and are
painted only on their exterior surfaces, aside from at times a small red band along
their interior rims. Mean orifice diameter for neck-less jars is 8 cm.
81
Plates/Platters
These vessels are extremely shallow bowls with relatively flat bases and
broad, thin rims everted approximately 90 outward from the vessel body (Figure 4-
18). Lind (1994) has dubbed them platters in certain publications, but plates in others
1987), the latter term appearing to be in greater accord with those of McCafferty
(2001) and Sanchez (2005). Plates are known from only one rim sherd at Yucu Dzaa,
though diagnostic body sherds indicate that they may be slightly more frequent at the
site. Museum pieces from the town of Tututepec and data published by Lind (1994)
indicate that plates most often had tripod supports and were elaborately painted over
their interior bodies and rims. Painting was typically more crude on the exterior
body, in the form of simple colored bands, and the exteriors may not exhibit a white
base-coat. Data for these vessels is insufficient to provide figures for mean rim and
orifice diameter.
Fig. 4-18: Profile drawing of a platter fragment from collections of the Museo
Yucusaa (Tututepec Community Museum)
82
Table 4-5: Mean orifice diameter figures for Yucu Dzaa vessel forms (Note:
orifice diameter measurements not available for all specimens)
Vessel Form Mean orifice diameter (in centimeters +/-
s.d.)
Cajete (n=117) 18.58 +/- 6.22
Olla (n=60) 14.1 +/- 3.40
Tecomate/Neck-less jar (n=7) 8 +/-1.16
Undetermined restricted orifice (n=18) 8.94 +/- 4.93
Platters (n=1) NA
sherds by taking into account discrepancies in mean orifice diameter may provide a
average 2.08 times larger than those of tecomates, we would multiply the frequency
for tecomates by this number to account for bias in basing frequencies solely on rim
sherds. Doing these calculations did not greatly alter the proportional representation
of the assemblage: the order of forms in terms of highest to lowest frequency remains
the same, and while the percentage of cajetes drops by approximately ten percent and
that for undetermined restricted orifice vessels rises by approximately the same
amount, proportions for other vessel forms change very little. These adjustments
therefore do not significantly change our understanding of which vessel forms are
A valuable body of data to which to compare vessel forms from Yucu Dzaa is
provided by Lind (1987: 15) in his study of Late Postclassic polychrome ceramics
from the sites of Yucuita and Chachoapan in the Mixteca Alta. Linds data on vessel
form frequencies, based on a sample of 149 rim sherds are presented in tabular form
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Table 4-6: Comparison of vessel form frequencies between Yucu Dzaa and the
Mixteca Alta (Lind 1987: 15)
Yucu Dzaa Chachoapan and Yucuita
Vessel Forms No. rim Percent No. rim Percent
sherds sherds
Cajete 239 67.9 99 66.44
Olla 100 28.41 45 30.20
Neck-less jar 12 3.41 0 0.00
Platter 1 0.28 0 0.00
Censer bowl 0 0.00 5 3.36
Totals: 352 100.00 149 100.00
orifice vessels are excluded from the Yucu Dzaa sample here, which likely has the
effect of slightly increasing the true frequency of cajetes, and reducing the
frequencies of ollas and tecomates. However, because cajetes are slightly more
frequent in the Tututepec sample than in that of Chachoapan and Yucuita, while ollas
are slightly less frequent, the exclusion of unidentified vessels with restricted orifices
should not jeopardize a claim of similarity between the frequencies between the two
samples. Secondly, three of the five vessel forms presented in the table do not occur
in one or the other of the samples. Censer bowls are not found at Tututepec, but
constitute 3.36% of Linds sample. Censer bowls are vessels with globular bodies
that exhibit short collared rims with ventilation holes at the base (Lind 1987: 17).
Tecomates and plates are not noted by Lind in his study, however, plates are known
to occur in other contexts in Highland Oaxaca (Lind 1994, see Table 4). Though
none of these three vessel forms occurs in high frequency at either of the sites, the
absence of them at one site or the other has the unfortunate effect of making it
impossible to use chi-squared statistical tests to determine whether the samples are
significantly different.
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The frequencies of cajetes and ollas for the two samples are so starkly close to
one another that, even without the aide of statistical tests, similarities between the two
samples should be quite clear, indicating interregional connections. At the same time,
tecomates may perhaps be restricted to the Tututepec region. Because tecomates also
1999), this may reflect the continuity of a more localized tradition. Alternatively, it
may indicate a secondary stylistic influence from Cholula, as the tecomates resemble
Table 4-7: Frequencies of vessel forms for Oaxaca and Cholula polychromes,
based upon museum collections (Lind 1994: 87)
Vessel Form Highland Oaxaca Cholula (percent)
(percent)
Tripod Ollas 37.78 0.00
Tripod Cajetes 33.33 13.64
Pitchers 11.11 0.00
Tripod Platters 3.70 0.00
Censer Bowls 3.70 7.27
Goblets 2.96 17.27
Effigies 2.96 3.64
Supportless Cajetes 2.23 6.36
Sahumadores 2.23 3.64
Hemispherical Bowls 0.00 30.00
Plates 0.00 9.09
Basins 0.00 6.36
Vases 0.00 2.73
Totals 100.00 100.00
different sites, and on pieces that did not necessarily have archaeological contextual
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data, the frequencies above should not be expected to parallel those seen in specific
domestic contexts, such as those reported in Table 4-6. Nonetheless, it can be seen
that regional differences are quite stark, as the most frequent vessel form in each
Ollas, cajetes, and tripod plattersthree of the four most common forms
seen in Linds sampleconstitute three of the four known vessel forms from
1994: 89) were not found in excavations, but are present in the collections of the
Tututepec community museum. Effigy vessels are also found at the museum, and
fragments of a small jaguar effigy vessel were recovered from Residence B, outside
the midden deposits upon which the present study was based. One miniature olla
with molded serpent appliqus was also found outside the area from which the sample
was drawn.
In sum, the vast majority of vessel forms in the Yucu Dzaa assemblage closely
resemble forms common to the Mixteca Alta and Valley of Oaxaca. Tecomates may
most common form in the Cholula sample, but otherwise no obvious connections
with Cholula are apparent. Thus the formal data in certain respects parallel that for
paint colors and vessel supports: the polychrome ceramics exhibit strong connections
with the Oaxaca highlands while particular aspects may be unique to the coast. The
use of blue paint and the tecomate form may be unique to coastal polychromes, while
other features may reflect influences from more distant regions, such as the opossum
supports. These data suggest that though the majority of polychrome pottery at Yucu
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Dzaa was likely produced locally, such production was closely linked to knowledge
and ideas that were shared widely throughout Mesoamerica during the Late
variability, and formal analysis alone provides few insights with respect to the
functions of these vessels. Lind (1994), however, has demonstrated that depictions of
polychromes in the Mixtec and Borgia group codices may provide considerable
insights as to how they were used. Lind cogently argues that the Mixtec group
codices are most relevant for examining the ceramics of Oaxaca, as these documents
are known to deal primarily with histories of Postclassic Mixtec city-states. At the
same time, the Borgia group codices are widely believed to have been produced in the
is now the modern day state of Puebla, and are thus more germane for examining the
Cholula ceramics.
Lind shows that in the Mixtec codices, cajetes and ollas are overwhelmingly
as vessels used for the drinking of chocolate and pulque (e.g. Fig. 4-4). In the Borgia
codices, hemispherical bowls and goblets are shown used for this same purpose.
Thus for both Oaxaca and Cholula, the most common vessel forms appear to have
been drinking vessels used primarily during feasting events. In the Borgia codices,
the vessels common to Cholula are shown serving other ritual functions, such as in
the making of offerings, etc. (Lind 1994: 87). This difference may to some extent
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reflect differences in the content of the respective groups of codices. The Mixtec
documents primarily chart dynastic histories, while the Borgia codices are typified by
Mixtec codices that depict the making of offerings at temples and ritual processions,
we see not cajetes and ollas, but sahumadores (ladle-shaped vessels with long
handles, used for the burning of incense) being used (Fig. 4-19). It therefore seems
likely that, particularly for the Mixtec regions of Oaxaca, we can be confident in
distinguishing vessels that were used for feasting occasions from those that were used
Taking the above insights from the codices into account, and noting that the
materials under consideration in the present study all came from midden deposits and
were associated with other forms of domestic refuse (Levine 2006), there is little
reason to doubt that the overwhelming majority of the Yucu Dzaa polychromes were
vessels clearly associated with other types of rituals, such as sahumadores and censer
bowls, were recovered from the residences excavated at Yucu Dzaa, and were
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feasting will be taken up again and explored in more depth in Chapter 6, after first
4.6 Summary
In this chapter I have provided a general description of the ceramics from the
Yucu Dzaa middens. Data from INAA were then discussed to suggest that the vast
majority of the polychrome ceramics recovered from excavations at Yucu Dzaa were
produced locally. Data from analyses of paint colors, vessel supports, and vessel
forms support the claim that the ceramics were produced locally, revealing regionally
unique aspects of the assemblage, while at the same time elucidating broad
that the Yucu Dzaa polychromes were primarily used in domestic feasting rituals.
In Chapter 5, in an effort to explore the ideas and meanings that would have
been communicated in such rituals, the painted images found on these ceramics and
their potential articulations with notions of cosmology, identity, and ideology are
explored. While the ceramics and their imagery share a great deal in common with
general Mixteca-Puebla art and iconography found over a wide area of Late
produced locally and used in more intimate domestic settings. Therefore they may
localized notions of ideology and identity, articulating with more site-specific socio-
political dynamics. These issues are taken up in the remainder of the thesis.
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Chapter 5
Iconographic Analysis
In this chapter the results of the iconographic portion of the ceramic analysis
are presented. As discussed in Chapter 3, over the course of analysis over fifty
different types of design motifs were defined and their frequencies documented for
the Yucu Dzaa polychromes. In the first section of this chapter, I present these
frequencies and then proceed to individually describe and, wherever possible, provide
interpretations of what the most common motifs may have represented and/or
connoted for users of Yucu Dzaa polychromes. As will become obvious in the pages
below, the latter venture is much more feasible for some motifs than for others: for
certain more abstract motifs, identification remains elusive and little can be said about
them. For the sake of brevity, these motifs will only be treated very briefly, and those
that occur extremely rarely in the sample will not be discussed unless special
circumstances warrant.
In the second section, rare but particularly interesting motifs will be discussed,
Community Museum. While these motifs are not characteristic of the imagery of the
ceramic sample on the whole, their explicit connections with images found in the
ideology may have been expressed in, and circulated via, the medium of polychrome
pottery.
In the third section of this chapter, we move away from individual motifs to a
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following Sanchezs (2005) approach, I attempt to discern recurring associations of
contents of the vessels. In sum, this chapter aims to trace out as far as possible the
most salient themes of ideology, cosmology, and identity found within the Yucu Dzaa
polychrome ceramics, which will then be situated within, and considered in terms of,
5.1 Catalog of Common Design Motifs in the Yucu Dzaa Ceramic Sample
Of the total ceramic sample of 1780 sherds, 464 exhibited one or more
identifiable design motifs. The other sherds in the sample were either too
motifs were defined, but many of these occurred very rarely. The discussion is
therefore limited only to motifs that occur at least five times within the sample, or on
over 1% of the total number of sherds with identifiable motifs. Frequencies for these
motifs are presented in the table below (Table 5-1), after which each is described in
turn.
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Table 5-1: Frequencies of most common design motifs in the Yucu Dzaa
polychrome sample.
Motif Number Percent (of 464 sherds
with identifiable motifs)
Narrow feathers 109 23.5
Circles with dots 96 20.7
Eagle heads 73 15.7
Smoke volutes 51 11.0
Orange bar 49 10.6
Reptile skin 43 9.3
Clouds 34 7.3
Orange hooks or volutes 33 7.1
Broad feathers 32 6.9
Xicalcoliuquis 30 6.5
Pink bar 22 4.7
Red spot with concentric ring 17 3.7
Feather/down balls 14 3.0
Stellar eyes with smoke volutes 11 2.4
Flowers 11 2.4
Abstract geometry 11 2.4
Orange fan 10 2.2
Chevrons 9 1.9
Multicolored diagonal bands/diamonds 9 1.9
Human/anthropomorphic figures 8 1.7
Triangles 6 1.3
Crocodiles/serpents 6 1.3
Other birds 5 1.1
Floral staff 5 1.1
Small connected rectangles 5 1.1
Narrow feathers
Narrow feathers (Fig. 5-1) are the most common motif in the ceramic
assemblage. These images bear some resemblance to motifs that Sanchez (2005: 57)
identifies as maguey spines, however, they differ in color, and often in form, and are
not found in association with images of bone awls, as is the case in Sanchezs sample.
In the Yucu Dzaa materials, these images are most frequently found in groups of
three, with their lower portions alternating between pink and blue colors. Adjacent to
them is commonly found a similar object that tapers proximally into a hook or volute
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shape (dubbed here orange hooks or volutes). This pattern most closely parallels
that seen in the obverse side of the codex Vindobonensis, and the codices Colombino-
Becker and Nuttall, in which very similar sets of objects are frequently seen forming
and Colombino-Becker, not only the forms, but also the color schemes are quite
similar, seen often in these codices as alternating between red and blue. Because such
headdresses are found on both men and women in the codices, the motif does not
Fig. 5-1: Narrow feathers, smoke volutes, orange bars, and orange hooks/volutes
from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
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Fig. 5-2: Narrow feathers seen on headdresses in the codex Vindobonensis
of persons, are also found in the codices on place glyphs, as well as other objects,
including a rubber ball (Fig. 5-3). Meanwhile, in the ceramics, these icons are
entirely displaced: we virtually never find them affixed to either persons or any other
Fig. 5-3: Narrow feathers seen on place glyphs and a rubber ball in the codex
Vindobonensis
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The brilliant colorspink and blueseen in the lower parts of the feathers
may indicate that they were precious items obtained from birds that were relatively
rare. The motifs, therefore, likely evoked notions of beauty and lavish adornment
interesting to note that while this is the most common motif in the Yucu Dzaa
Puebla polychrome pottery (Sanchez 2005, Lind 1987 and 1996). Because historical
documents indicate that Yucu Dzaa was a major producer and exporter of valued
feathers (Spores 1993), these motifs may have evoked especially community-specific
notions of identity and prestige, and representations of these valuable objects adorned
the drinking and serving vessels residents of Yucu Dzaa used during special events.
This set of motifs has the tendency to repeat several times on a given vessel,
In keeping with Linds (1987: 94) terminology, these motifs are simply
referred to circles with dots, and are for the most part as mundane as such a name
would imply, constituted by a circle with a very small concentric circle in its center.
Sanchez (2005: 115-116) has referred to certain of these motifs as precious stones,
brilliant colors. This pattern is also seen in several examples from the Yucu Dzaa
sample (Fig. 5-4), thus Sanchezs interpretation may very well hold for these cases, as
ethnohistoric data indicate that a variety of gem stones were prized at Yucu Dzaa,
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among other Mixtec polities, and at times constituted tribute items (Dahlgren 1966:
107-109).
Fig. 5-4: Multicolored circles with dots or precious stones from the Yucu Dzaa
assemblage
However, most commonly these motifs are a simple white in color and are
found intermittently amidst more complex and less routinized imagery (for example,
see Figs. 5-35, 5-36). I would assert, therefore, that while in certain instances these
motifs may represent gem stones, in the Yucu Dzaa ceramics they appear by and
various scenes painted on the polychrome vessels. Because these motifs tend to be
Eagle heads
Also very frequent in the Yucu Dzaa polychromes are images of eagle heads
(Fig. 5-5), found on nearly 16% of the sherds exhibiting identifiable motifs. As
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mentioned in the previous chapter in the section on color, eagles are distinguished by
white plumage with dark banding, with a crest of erect feathers at the top of the head
(Seler 1990 v. 5: 237). While this banding appears as black or gray in the Mixtec and
Borgia group codices, I have argued that the color blue served as a substitute for these
colors in the Yucu Dzaa polychromes; thus depictions of eagles seen in the ceramics
are virtually identical to the codical images apart from this difference in the color of
the banding. Some might argue that the use of blue may indicate a quetzal bird as
opposed to an eagle, however, in the codices quetzals are always depicted as solid in
color rather than having banded plumage, and further differ in general form (see for
sources, discusses how the eagle may be linked to mythology and notions of warfare
and sacrifice:
In the legends we read that in primeval time, when the gods Nanauatzin and Teccitzecatl
plunged into the fire in order to rise to the sky later as the sun and moon, the eagle and the
jaguar leaped after them. The eagle was scorched all over, hence its plumage is entirely black
(or striped with black) and burntLike the jaguar, the other member of the pair of brave
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animals that are the symbols and emblem of the warriors, the eagle is edged with stone knives
on the outline of its head or entire body.
Though they are not seen edged with flint knives in the ceramics, otherwise identical
images of eagles are found in the Mixtec codices, as discussed briefly in Chapter 4.
Thus the eagle may be linked not only to warfare, but to the sun, creation, and
sacrifice. Seler (1990 v. 5: 34) further notes, again citing Nahuatl myth, that
Tezcatlipoca created humans and war before the birth of the sun, so that people
existed whose hearts and blood were available, so the sun could eat. This idea finds
a parallel in a scene found on page 12 of the Mixtec codex Selden (Fig. 5-6), in which
a Lord 9 House is seen sacrificing a captured enemy named 13 Deer. An eagle and a
mythical yahui 10 figure are subsequently seen feeding extracted human hearts to a sun
deity.
10
Description and discussion of the yahui including its potential connections with the eagle can be
found in Pohl 1994: 43-51.
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Therefore, we find rather clear associations of the eagle, warfare, sacrifice,
and connections with the sun not only in Nahuatl creation myth, but in the Mixtec
pictorial documents as well. The eagle was a patron of warriors for many peoples of
Late Postclassic Mesoamerica, and its symbol may have served to evoke the necessity
of warfare as integral to sacrifice and to the maintenance of the sun and the cosmos.
One might be tempted to suspect that the eagle may have served as a symbol
of polity identity at Yucu Dzaa, given how commonly the image is found on the
ceramics and due to the fact that in the Mixtec codices Yucu Dzaas place glyph is
virtually always shown as a hill combined with an image of what appears to be the
head of an eagle. However, the Mixtec word dzaaor saa as it is spelled in the
modern dayonly refers to bird in the most general sense, yaa being the common
word to denote eagle. Smith (1973: 67-68) argues that while the bird in the toponym
is shown as an eagle, elements such as the human chin that often emerges from this
eagles mouth served as phonetic qualifiers that would have emphasized to the
reader that the place name should be read as dzaa rather than yaa. At this point,
there thus does not appear to be solid evidence to link images of eagles at Yucu Dzaa
to the name of the polity. These icons instead likely evoked notions of warfare and
sacrifice, and their relevance for life and cosmology. These motifs at times repeat
several times on an individual vessel, and may therefore be over represented relative
Smoke volutes
Smoke volutes are rather simple motifs, most often occurring in pairs,
extending upward relative to the vessel body, the tops of the volutes being colored
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white while their lower portions are colored in blue (Fig. 5-1). Similar motifs have
been identified as smoke by Lind (1994: 94) and Sanchez (2005: 64). While the blue
color in the Yucu Dzaa samples is somewhat curious, again, this may be a
substitution for gray or black; and the fact that the volutes seem to rise with respect
to the vessel body may further substantiate this identification. Volutes are seen very
offerings, emanating from objects such as sahumadores. They may also be employed
to represent speech or song in the codices; however, this is only the case when they
The burning of incense and other sacrificial offerings was widely common in
Mixtec ritual (Spores 1984: 88, Terraciano 2001: 271), and the creation of smoke
likely served as a means of contacting the supernatural. These motifs evoke similar
Orange bar
This ambiguous but frequent motif is made up of an orange rectangle within
which are found small red circles and sets of two parallel lines in the pattern seen in
the figure above (Fig. 5-1). What this motif might represent or what significance it
may have is not clear, though similar designs at times appear in the lower body
and smoke volutes, and may be seen several times on a whole vessel.
Reptile skin
This motif, characterized by connected rectangles with small points found in
their centers, has been identified as serpent skin by Sanchez (2005: 70-71). Support
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for this interpretation is found in codices such as the Borgia, in which many serpents
are found with this form of patterning over their bodies. However, because it also
occurs on the bodies of lizards, I would classify this motif more generally as reptile
one sherd from the Yucu Dzaa sample, an image of what appears to be a serpent head
is seen integrated with this motif (Fig. 5-7), however, the reptile skin motif is found
Monaghan (1995: 106) writes that in addition to the serpent, the lizard is also
seen as manifestation of rain amongst some Mixtec peoples; the rain lizard
appearing as fine mist or dew. Therefore, while we cannot attribute the reptile skin
motif exclusively to one animal, representations of both the lizard and the snake may
have evoked notions of rain and sacred covenants, as argued in Chapter 4 in the
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Clouds
This motif (Fig. 5-8) has been identified by Lind (1994) as a flower glyph, and
resemble in form certain depictions of flowers seen in the manuscripts (Caso 1977:
Lamina XIV).
analogous images seen in the codex Vaticanus B (See also Beyer 1965: 63).
Evidence for this interpretation is quite compelling: a band extends across the
various cloud symbols identical to those seen on the ceramics (Fig. 5-9). At several
points along this sequence of pages, water is seen descending from the band, and a
solar disk is incorporated into it as well. Below the band on each page is found a
different depiction of the rain god known as Tlaloc in Nahuatl, or Dzahui in Mixtec,
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Fig. 5-9: Cloud representations in the codex Vaticanus B (pg. 49)
While Sanchez (2005: 78) interprets the motifs as evoking mysterious forces
and perhaps ancestors, I would tie their significance more closely to the narrative
context in which they are found in the Vaticanus B, and suggest they relate more to
rain and notions of agricultural fertility. Such ideas were particularly apt to be salient
(Monaghan 1995). Thus I would suggest that the motifs here served to help
emphasize these ideas of indebtedness to the earth, the necessity of sacrifice, and
reciprocity. These motifs are often displayed prominently on the ceramic vessels,
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repeating around the exterior bodies of cajetes or around the rims and necks of ollas
with narrow feathers, both on the ceramics and in headdresses and other objects found
in the codices (Fig. 5-1). It is likely that these motifs represent feathers as well, and
Broad feathers
These motifs have been identified as feathers by both Lind (1987, 1994) and
Sanchez (2005). They are oblong in shape, with a depiction of the quill of the feather
running up the center (Fig. 5-10). These are normally of various solid colors,
however, the broad feather motif can also exhibit black banding, or even more rarely,
concentric rings of multiple colors. Those with black banding likely represent eagle
feathers (Sanchez 2005: 71) and thus likely have connotations associated with
warfare. Others likely relate more generally to lavish adornment, as Sahagun (1959
Bk. 11) details how feathers were the primary materials of a whole host of ritual
garments for peoples of central Mexico and may have related to basic pre-Columbian
notions of beauty and aesthetics. These motifs often occur side-by-side, repeatedly
104
Fig. 5-10: Broad feather motifs in the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
distribution in Mesoamerica, going back to the Formative period (Beyer 1965: 53).
Despite their widespread occurrence and the fact that they have been subject to
several in-depth analyses (Beyer 1965, Zahller 1977), meanings that these designs
may have carried remain elusive. Xicalcoliuquis have variously been interpreted as
representing forces of nature, deities, and notions of duality (see review in Zahller
1977), however, these interpretations have rested primarily on intuitive readings and
Oaxaca on stone friezes of palaces, such as those found at the site of Mitla, as well as
on ceramics (Fig. 5-11). They are depicted as such in the codices as wellin
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contained designs, hence not directly tied to any more clearly representational
voluta de jcara, or volute of the gourd-vessel, while Sanchez (2005: 85) notes
gourd vessel. We may thus be able to relate the motif to drinking vessels such as the
polychrome ceramics to some extent, but can read little into its meaning beyond this.
Because the motifs are frequently seen in the friezes of palaces both archaeologically
and in the codices, Sanchez (2005: 85) interprets them as representative of the
households. Given that most scholars of the Mixtec codices agree that palace friezes
depicted in the manuscripts served to indicate the Mixtec concept of uu, i.e. town
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or people, and that ethnohistoric data reveal that words for the noble house could
possible that the xicalcoliuqui connoted an idea of corporate identity. I would stress,
however, that understandings of the meanings of this motif remain rather vague.
Pink bar
This motif is made up of a pink rectangle that often exhibits several lines or
red and/or blue colors. It is in some ways similar to the orange bar motif and often
associated with similar imagery. A notion of what this motif may represent currently
remains elusive.
insights as to its significance appear to be quite rare. The only instance of it that I
have come across is found on page 46 of the Vaticanus B, seen on the waist
motif. Because Dzahui is depicted multiple times in this sequence, but only once
shown with adornment exhibiting the red spot motif, it is not clear if there is a
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Fig. 5-12: Red spot with concentric ring motifs in the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
A clue to the motifs significance may come from its associations seen in the
ceramics themselves: this red spot is often seen next to the motif termed here
stellar eye with smoke volutes that will be discussed in more depth shortly (Fig.
5-14). The latter is likely a celestial motif that connotes night and darkness.
These motifs will be found side by side, but divided into different boxes, the
latter motif seen over a dark background, as opposed to the white background of
the former. The two motifs may therefore indicate a paired opposition, and the
red spot would thus likely be representative of the sun. As discussed in depth
by Brumfiel (2004: 250-251), the opposition of solar and celestial motifs may
evoke the notion in central Mexican cosmology that a celestial war was constantly
being waged between the sun and the elements of the night sky. Sacrifice was
seen as necessary to ensure the suns victory and, concomitantly, its rise each
morning. The motifs seen here may similarly evoke this ideology.
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Feather/down balls
These motifs have been identified as balls of feathers or down by both Lind
(1994: 94) and Sanchez (2005: 71). Specifically, they are apt to represent eagle
feathers as the upper halves are typically painted a dark color: blue at Yucu Dzaa
(Fig. 5-13), black or gray in other regions. As discussed previously, eagle feathers
likely have strong connotations with warfare, and the motifs discussed here are often
seen in the Mixtec codices adorning shields and arrows. Though they are not
incorporated with other motifs in the Yucu Dzaa ceramics, Sanchez (2005: 75)
reports that the motifs are frequently found at the centers of crossed pairs of arrows in
other Mixteca-Puebla polychromes. At the same time, feather balls are also seen in
the codices incorporated into headdresses, and at times other ritual objects such as
sticks used to create fires (Caso 1977: Lmina XI), thus their connotations may not be
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Stellar eyes with smoke volutes
Motifs termed by the majority of codex scholars as stellar eyes or star-
eyes are formed by a bisected circle; the top half of a darker, usually red color, the
bottom half in which is found a smaller half-circle forming the pupil of an eye. The
double-meaning of these motifs are owed to the fact that they are often shown
forming the eyes of animals, persons, and deities, in codices such as the Borgia, while
also adorning sky bands and roofs of palaces in many of the manuscripts. Indeed, on
page five of the codex Colombino-Becker I, next to an image of the royal palace at
Yucu Dzaa is found a Colonial period gloss which reads huahi andehui, meaning
house of heaven.
sample are shown with what appear to be volutes of smoke rising from the tops of
them (Fig. 5-14). While similar depictions are rare in the codices, they do occur at
times on roofs of palaces or sky bands affixed to place glyphs, such as in the scene
from page 75 of the Nuttall in which these motifs alternate with symbols of Venus
(Fig. 5-15). The stellar eyes with smoke volutes are thus apt to evoke the night sky,
though the specific reason as to why they are shown with these volutes remains
unclear. Byron Hamann (2004) has studied depictions of persons in the Mixtec
codices in which volutes of smoke are seen emanating from the eyes, and has linked
these depictions to ideas of enhanced vision. It is possible that these stellar eyes on
the ceramics may connote similar notions of vision, perhaps linked to certain ritual
practices such as divination. As discussed above, these motifs are often found
adjacent to red spots with concentric rings, and their combination may thus evoke
opposition between day and night, celestial war, and the necessity of sacrifice for the
110
suns renewal. Similar ideas would have been connoted by eagle representations,
Fig. 5-14: Stellar eye with smoke volutes motifs in the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
Fig. 5-15: Stellar eye with smoke volutes motif in a sky band from codex Nuttall
Flowers
Flowers are seen in the Yucu Dzaa polychromes in several different forms.
They may be shown with four petals or more attached to a central axis (Fig. 5-16), or
less commonly in the form seen in Fig. 5-17, which serves as the calendrical day-sign
for flower, and is often found on trees in the codices and also frequently used to
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represent human hearts in the manuscripts as well (see Fig. 5-6). As suggested by
Sanchez (2005: 77), these motifs may relate to sacrifice, both due to the visual
equivalence of certain flowers and human hearts seen in the codices, and given that
flowers have been interpreted as representative of the sun by other scholars (Vega
Fig. 5-16: Flower motif with four petals from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
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Fig. 5-17: Flower motif resembling hearts from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
Abstract Geometry
Though relatively few in number, certain pieces exhibit more abstract
geometric motifs, such as spirals, concentric squares, etc (Fig. 5-18). In some cases
these will be the only motifs found on the piece, while in others they will be
meanings these motifs might have had are not currently known.
Fig. 5-18: Example of abstract geometry motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
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Orange fans
These motifs (Fig. 5-19) somewhat resemble those labeled orange bars, as
one portion is typically orange and marked with red lines. The motif also bears close
resemblance to an element incorporated into what Sanchez (2005: 69) identifies as the
polychromes she has analyzed and in images of this deity found in the Borgia group
codices. In the Yucu Dzaa polychromes, this element is found in isolation, and
because it not always seen in images of Quetzalcoatl in the codices, a specific link
between the motif and the deity is not apparent. It may represent an element of lavish
and/or ritual adornment, however, this motif is currently not well understood.
Fig. 5-19: Orange fan motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
Chevrons
Chevrons (Fig. 5-20) have long been understood by codex scholars (see Caso
and lienzos these occur most commonly in the form of war path bands seen
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between two place glyphs when war or conquest is depicted as having occurred
amongst Mixtec city-states. This motif is also incorporated into the elements of dress
of certain personages found in the codices, perhaps most notably that of Lady 6-
Monkey War Band Quechquemitl, who is shown on page eight of the codex Selden
receiving a garment adorned with chevrons after success in warfare. In the Yucu
codices, and likely served as a general icon for prominence or prowess in warfare.
motifs are constituted simply of diagonal bands, or possibly form diamond shapes at
times (Fig. 5-21, 5-25). The bands are of alternating brilliant colors, including blue,
red, pink, and orange. As will be further discussed in a later section of this chapter,
these designs appear to occur in distinct panels around exterior walls of cajetes, and
these panels are found adjacent to more representational imagery. The bands perhaps
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call to mind the aforementioned chevrons, but also possibly motifs found within
certain place glyphs of the Mixtec codices, argued by Byland and Pohl (1994), among
Fig. 5-21: Multicolored diagonal band motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
The multicolored bands of these motifs more closely parallel the depictions of
stone in the codices, as opposed to chevrons. Whether the ceramic imagery really
does in fact represent stone, however, and if so, what this might imply remains
unclear.
Human/anthropomorphic figures
Depictions of humans or other anthropomorphic figures are known from eight
sherds in the ceramic sample. Most of these pieces are rather fragmentary. All
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appear to be depicted in profile, as is customary in the codices. Of the four
representations for which gender can confidently be inferred, all appear male based
on dress and adornment, though the sample is obviously too small to determine
For those depictions bearing great resemblance to typical persons seen in the
codices, all wear large circular ear-spools (Fig. 5-22). Pieces in the sample, as well as
others from the Tututepec Community Museum, suggest they are also frequently seen
wearing the type of red shirt known in Nahuatl as a xicolli. Nancy Troike (1980), in
suggested that these elements may serve as indicators of Mixtec ethnic identity.
Persons in the ceramics are also typically shown with elaborate headdresses and red
facial markings. The fragmentary nature of the pieces often makes it difficult to
discern whether these persons are shown engaged in activities, and if so, what kinds.
In one case, however, we see speech scrolls emanating from a persons mouth (Fig. 5-
23), while in another, we see only a hand, which appears to be holding a fan
composed of narrow feathers (Fig. 5-24). The latter piece may resemble imagery
found on a vessel from the Museum of Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, analyzed by
Sanchez (2005: 184). In the piece, persons are shown holding almost identical
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Fig. 5-22: Human figure with ear spools from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
Fig. 5-23: Human figure with speech scrolls from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
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Fig. 5-24: Human hand holding feather fan from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
which it is apparent that they are accompanied by calendrical names, and in fact, I
have yet to see a clear example of this on any Mixteca-Puebla polychrome pottery.
While there are rare pieces such as the Nochixtlan vase, first studied by Seler (1990
white design pattern with a highly elaborate headdress (Fig. 5-25). The top-half of
the face is seemingly cut-off, and in its place is found an ambiguous object; what
might perhaps be a flint-knife. Should the latter be the case, we might associate this
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deitys strong associations with flint: in fact, the codex Vindobonensis depicts 9 Wind
Another curious figure is seen below in Fig. 5-26. The portion of the piece
that would have contained the face of the person is missing, but we can discern from
the body that it is rather unusual. The body exhibits a tail, perhaps like that of a
monkey, and the clothing is quite curious. The clothing is adorned with red and white
stripes, similar to the body adornment of the red and white striped men: the
mythical beings that descend from the sky in depictions of the War from Heaven
seen in the codex Nuttall (Byland and Pohl 1994). However, the latter persons are
never seen in the codices depicted with tails, and thus it is unclear whether the image
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Fig. 5-26: Anthropomorphic figure from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
A last image (Fig. 5-27) is more ambiguous still, the face again not being
visible, but exhibits unusually long narrow legs that appear to be dangling, as well as
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In sum, the human and anthropomorphic figures seen in the Yucu Dzaa
as well as supernatural beings who may be tied to religious beliefs, creation stories,
etc. At this point, there is no clear evidence that any of these depictions can be
related or linked to specific personages found in the dynastic histories of the codices.
It is more likely that these figures related to more broadly shared notions of Mixtec
personhood and ritual practice, as well as perhaps religious beliefs and mythology.
Triangles
Small, simple triangles are found adorning certain pieces in the ceramic
sample. Because these did not always occur with other geometric designs, they were
them under the umbrella of abstract geometry. As is the case with the latter
category, possible meanings these designs might have had are elusive.
Crocodiles/serpents
Crocodiles and serpents are at times depicted similarly to one another in the
shown lacking a mandible, or having this mandible tucked in. The distinction is
perhaps problematic, however, when we consider the piece from the Yucu Dzaa
assemblage seen below (Fig. 5-28). The two figures seen in the piece are virtually
identical, with the exception that while one lacks a mandible, the other is seen with
open jaws. Thus, discerning whether these figures are indeed crocodiles, or possibly
serpents, becomes more difficult. I would argue that the figures are more apt to be
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crocodiles since they more closely resemble codical representations, and that
crocodile, meanwhile, was the first of the twenty day-signs of the ritual calendar and
may be associated with birth and renewal. For many Mesoamerican peoples,
including those of Late Postclassic central Mexico, the crocodile was associated with
the earth and the primordial ocean, and it was believed by many groups that the world
sat atop the back of a crocodile (Libura 2004:10, Seler 1990 v. 5: 273). Thus, the
crocodile may refer to ideas of primordial creation, as well as notions of renewal and
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Other birds
Relatively rarely, birds other than eagles were depicted on the Yucu Dzaa
ceramics. Of these, two exhibit solid blue crests of feathers on their heads, with circle
beads attached at the points (Fig. 5-17, left side). The blue head crests, may call to
mind quetzal birds, however, these images otherwise do not resemble depictions of
quetzals seen in the codices. The manner in which the crests are depicted is
Other birds possibly represented in the sample include red macaws and pheasants. As
coastal Oaxaca was home to a great diversity of birds and was likely a major producer
and exporter of exotic feathers in the Late Postclassic, it is perhaps surprising that
other birds, while present, are represented so infrequently relative to the eagle,
Floral staff
This is a quite ambiguous motif, seen in the red-on-white designs of the olla
shown in Figure 4-15, and more commonly in black-on-orange designs and in more
elongated fashion, as illustrated below (Fig. 5-29). This design is also seen in the
sample of polychromes analyzed by Sanchez (2005: Fig. 7.93). The central disk
perhaps calls to mind staffs of rulership seen in various Mixtec codices, however
the appearance of these objects is quite uniform throughout the different manuscripts,
and the motifs here differ from them substantially. The motifs discussed here appear
to be adorned with floral elements, but whether these images on the whole represent
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Fig. 5-29: Floral staff motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
These are rather mundane motifs and only known by fragmentary pieces. A
motif identified by Lind (1994: 95) and Sanchez (2005) as a Patolli board is
composed of similar elements, however, the work of these scholars indicates that this
motif is rather unique to the region of Cholula, and it is by no means apparent that the
5.2 Other Codical Motifs from the Yucu Dzaa Sample and the Tututepec Community
Museum
of the Yucu Dzaa polychromes, attention is first turned to several kinds of motifs that
are rare in the ceramic sample, but interesting for exhibiting representations more
overtly relatable to imagery seen in the codices. It is hoped that such a discussion
will help to better elucidate the range of representations that may potentially occur on
polychrome pottery.
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Skulls and crossed bones
These motifs are known only from the interior of one plate fragment
recovered from Residence A (Fig. 5-30). It is interesting to note that the comparative
study carried out by Lind (1994) indicates that these motifs are exceedingly rare in
Oaxaca polychromes, as opposed to those from Cholula. The skull images in the
piece resemble representations of the day sign death, and the deity Mictlantecuhtli
seen in the Borgia group codices. In the Mixtec manuscripts, skulls and crossed
bones are seen adorning the residence of the very powerful, and at times, dangerous
deity Lady 9 Grass. These motifs may then represent death and powerful and
dangerous forces. At the same time, Furst (1982) has argued that skulls may have
often served as symbols of fertility in the Mixtec codices as well, implying that they
may evoke both life and death; i.e. cyclicity. Of interest is that its presence of the
skull and crossed bones motif at Yucu Dzaa may be indicative of limited influence
from the Puebla region, or that the motifs distribution is wider than previously
thought.
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Fig. 5-30: Skull and crossed bones motif from the Yucu Dzaa sample
Celestial symbols
While stellar eyes are the only celestial symbol seen in the excavation sample,
polychrome pieces housed at the Tututepec Community Museum exhibit solar disks
(Fig. 5-31) and representations of the moon (Fig. 5-32) very similar to those seen in
the Mixtec codices. In particular, the motifs in Fig. 5-32 appear to form a complex
sky band, with rather unusual stellar eyes found next to the lunar disk on the left.
Due to the fragmentary nature of the pieces, how such motifs might articulate with
the rest of a design on a given vessel is not entirely clear. These examples, however,
suggest that polychromes at Yucu Dzaa were at times decorated with highly complex
and diverse celestial symbols akin to those found in the codices. Whether these
motifs composed simple sky bands or were elements of more complex scenes cannot
be inferred.
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Fig. 5-31: Solar disk motif from the Tututepec Community Museum
Fig. 5-32: Lunar disk motif from the Tututepec Community Museum
Depictions of palaces or temples are known from two pieces in the ceramic
sample, and several others are found in the collections of the Tututepec Community
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Museum. In contrast to the manner of representation typical of the codices, these
palaces are virtually always depicted in frontal view rather than in profile, with large
thatched roofs and brightly colored decorations adorning their facades. In two of
these pieces (Fig. 5-33 and 5-34) design elements are seen adorning the roofs: in the
first example what may be a jewel, in the second what appears to be a flower.
Because these symbols are rather general and widespread in the iconography, it is
unclear whether they served merely as ornamentation or if they were used to denote
the names of specific places, as is the case in the codices. John Pohl (2005) has
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Fig. 5-34: Palace motif from the Tututepec Community Museum
In Figure 5-34, from the Tututepec Community Museum, we find next to the
palace an image of a tree. This design greatly resembles the scene found on the
vessel from the Museum of Rufino Tamayo mentioned previously in this chapter.
see repetition of what may be an identical scene, presumably in different parts of the
Mixteca-Puebla region. Given this repetition, the scene more likely constitutes a
the same time, in the piece from Tututepec, to the right of the tree is found the
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calendrical sign for movement or earthquake, and adjacent to this is possibly a
clear, howeverSanchez (2005: 85) reports that movement symbols at times occur
on polychrome vessels without being related to calendrical dates or names, thus the
presence of the motif here does not necessarily imply such a phenomenon.
Trees similar to that found in the above piece were also seen in fragments
from a poorly preserved olla recovered from Residence B. In this case, the trees were
shown not with palaces, but with representations of hills that are similar to those
found in the codices. While representations of hills may be used in the manuscripts to
denote specific locations, in this piece they appear as isolated elements that repeat
over other fragments of the vessel. Trees are seen in the codices as sites of various
events of creation, but on this olla are also shown in isolation. Rather than forming
potential meanings are not clear. In any event, it is probable that sacred trees were
fragment of an olla from the Tututepec Community Museum (Fig. 5-35). Amidst
complex, yet poorly preserved imagery, we seen in this piece a depiction of a man
wearing a red xicolli seated inside of a hill. Several images of persons seated within
hills are found in the codex Nuttall, and a scene on page 71 of this document bears
particular resemblance to that seen here. Mary Elizabeth Smith (1973: 32-33) has
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argued that depictions of persons in the codices diving into the earth represent acts of
escape, or the taking of refuge. In the aforementioned scenes from the Nuttall, the
hills are depicted as being pierced by arrows, indicating that they have been
conquered (Fig. 5-36). Persons seated within the hills may therefore perhaps
represent rulers of polities who have hidden in the wake of events of conquest. It is
not clear whether the hill image in the polychrome piece refers to a particular place or
polity; however, the scene may refer at least generally to acts of warfare and
Fig. 5-35: Codex-like scene in olla fragment from the Tututepec Community
Museum
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Fig. 5-36: Person showed seated within conquered place glyph in the codex
Nuttall
It is hoped that the preceding discussion has served to greater elucidate the
Symbols with particularly clear connections with the codices are present, which may
have been employed to connote rather simple and general meanings, or in some cases
were potentially incorporated into rather complex scenes that could have
communicated more specific or narrative information. These types of imagery are for
the most part rare, however, and we turn our attention now to possible patterns seen
in the ceramic assemblage that may help us to better characterize the iconography at a
While the imagery discussed in this chapter is quite diverse and variable,
certain patterns of decoration and associations of motifs are apparent within the
iconography of the sample. After first briefly discussing general patterns of base and
rim decoration on the ceramics, patterns found in decoration of the vessel bodies will
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be described. Though recurrence of these patterns could not be quantified, they are
painted a simple orange, a pattern that appears to characterize the Pilitas type of
polychromes of the Mixteca Alta as well (Lind 1987: 16). However, at least three
cajetes from Yucu Dzaa exhibit rather complex designs painted on their bases. Two
of these (e.g. Fig. 4-13) show stellar eyes in the centers of the bases, surrounded by
feathers. This motif has also been observed by Sanchez (2005: 87), and she notes,
drawing from the work of Taube (1992), that it may represent mirrors in a manner
akin to the art of Teotihuacan. Feathered vision and mirrors are also discussed by
mirrors were not simply thought of as reflective surfaces by the 16th century Mixtec,
but allowed for things otherwise not visible to be seen. It is perhaps the case that
these motifs similarly evoked notions of enhanced vision, possibly achieved through
ritual practice.
complex image of what appears to be an earth monster (Fig. 5-37), the wide-open
jaws greatly resembling those attributed to this being by a number of codex scholars.
Its representation may connote relationships with the earth, perhaps in the form of
indebtedness and sacred covenants as discussed previously. More broadly, the motifs
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of stellar eyes and earth monsters at the bases of cajetes may have elicited ideas of
relations with the heavens and underworld. These base decorations are interesting in
that they are reported as being rare-to-non-existent in other parts of Oaxaca; interior
bases of bowls and plates being much more commonly decorated in the region of
Cholula (Lind 1994, McCafferty 2001). Like other aspects of the Yucu Dzaa
polychromes, base dcor by and large fits the known Oaxaca pattern, but possibly
Fig. 5-37: Cajete base with earth monster motif from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
The great majority of rims in the Yucu Dzaa polychromes are adorned with a
narrow orange stripe circling the entire rim, over which are found alternating
perpendicular red lines and small red circles (e.g. Figs. 5-1, 5-5, 5-11, 5-29). Reasons
for this are not clear, but one possibility is that these red marks were placed at regular
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intervals to demarcate the placement of motifs for the painter of the vessel. Red lines
served as guidelines to demarcate space for Mixtec peoples in the painting of codices,
as well as in architecture; the latter evidenced by the presence of red lines on floors
marking the placement of walls in the 16th century cathedral and the Casa de la
empirical research needs to be carried out in the future to determine whether this was
in fact the case for the ceramics, but it is interesting to note that vessels with very
repetitive designs inevitably tend to be found with this rim decoration, while those
with more complex and less spatially schematized designs often do not (for example,
The most complex imagery in the sampleless repetitive and formulaic than
typically found on ollas over a dark red background color, which lack the type of rim
decoration discussed above. Examples can be seen in Figures 5-17, 5-19, 5-27, 5-28,
5-33, 5-34, and 5-35 in which are found depictions of persons, palaces, and other
motifs that may have constituted parts of complex scenes. While the pieces resemble
one another in terms of this general pattern, the specific imagery varies starkly from
vessel to vessel, and each piece may have been relatively unique. These vessels
contrast greatly with the majority of the sample, the latter characterized by more
generalized and repetitive motifs. It is possible that the painting of these dark red
ollas was a more specialized practice, and designs may have perhaps been specified
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In any event, these ceramics clearly exhibit the most complex, ornate, and variable
imagery in the Yucu Dzaa polychromes, and may have contained more narrative
Accounting for at least five distinct vessels, pieces with alternating panels of
designs are seen above in Figures 5-21 and Figures 5-25, are found at both residences.
adjacent to panels containing relatively complex singular images in red and white.
These patterns of design are only known to occur on the exterior bodies of cajetes.
Again, meanings of the multicolored bands are unclear, and while the red-on-white
designs appear complex and variable, they are found as isolated motifs, and the
number of complete examples is too few to discern if there are trends in the specific
subjects depicted.
on-orange color scheme, containing motifs that include clouds, and the ambiguous
floral staffs. Examples can be seen in Figures 5-29 and 5-38. In her study,
pattern seen here may most closely resemble those assigned to the complex labeled
Signos en Oscuridad, or signs in darkness. While the particular motifs are quite
variable within this complex, Sanchez (2005: 189) interprets these vessels as
certain rituals. For the materials considered here, the design motifs are not well
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enough understood as yet to discern such trends in iconographic subject matter, but
considerable. At the same time, this design pattern may occur in self-contained bands
adjacent to quite different kinds of imagery that exhibit contrastingly bright color
schemes, as evidenced by the piece seen below (Fig. 5-39). Thus the black-on-orange
Fig. 5-38: Olla with black-on-orange color scheme from the Yucu Dzaa
assemblage
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Fig. 5-39: Olla with alternating color schemes from the Yucu Dzaa assemblage
Of the five most frequent design motifs observed in the ceramic sample, four
of them are narrow feathers, eagle heads, smoke volutes, and orange bars. Their high
frequencies are not coincidental as they most commonly are found together, and
compose by far the most dominant pattern in the assemblage. This suite of design
motifs is most commonly found on the interiors of cajetes, as seen in Figures 5-1 and
5-5, though occasionally may also be found on the upper portions of ollas, as in
Figure 5-39 above. When found on the interiors of cajetes, quite different patterns of
motifs may occur on the exteriors of the vessels, including repeating cloud images,
this variability in exterior design, the complex of interior motifs remains relatively
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As discussed in the section on individual motifs, eagle heads can primarily be
related to warfare, and indirectly to sacrifice. Volutes of smoke likely also connoted
sacrifice, and the combination of the two motifs here potentially reinforced this
relation. The sets of narrow feathers most likely served as symbols of lavish
adornment, attributing beauty and prestige to these acts of warfare and sacrifice. As
was also previously noted, the groups of narrow feathers may have also connoted a
notion of community identity, which would then be linked to these acts and ideals. In
considering this, it is interesting to bear in mind once again that the group of motifs
occurs predominantly on the interiors of cajetes. Aside from those who owned these
vessels, the set of interior motifs would not have been readily visible to persons at a
distance, but only as they consumed the vessels contents. While participating in a
feast or ritual, however, such motifs would have been those that the person came into
most intimate contact with, possibly connoting senses of identity bound with ideas of
5.4 Summary
motifs. Working with rather fragmentary materials, this can be a most difficult task,
but it is hoped several recurrent patterns and themes have been elucidated. Certain
motifs remain ambiguous, and inferring themes present in whole vessels while
working primarily from sherds precludes many of the nuanced distinctions made by
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focusing on the most common motifs and patterns in the sample, it is hoped that we
can glean greater understandings of ideology and identity at Late Postclassic Yucu
Dzaa.
The motifs that were last discussed in the previous section are easily the most
pervasive in the ceramic sample and likely best encapsulate the most salient themes
that we can infer from the imagery on the whole; particularly those themes of
sacrifice and warfare. Other common motifs connote these ideas as well, particularly
eagle feathers. While many other types of imagery could potentially occur on the
polychrome potteryas best evidenced by the dark red ollastheir frequencies are
Because of their high numbers and degree of uniformity, it is possible that such
vessels were produced in large quantities and were circulated or consumed amongst
broad segments of the population. Their imagery is thus apt to relate most closely to
notions of ideology and identity amongst common peoples at Yucu Dzaa. These
issues and their potential implications will be explored more fully in Chapter 6, as
prevalent themes expressed in the ceramic imagery are discussed in terms of their
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Chapter 6
widely throughout Late Postclassic Mexico. Indeed, many of the motifs that were
Symbol Set as defined by Boone and Smith (2003). However, while many of these
motifs and certain of the meanings and beliefs underlying them were widely shared
throughout the Late Postclassic, it would be erroneous to assume that they simply
(2003: 183) writes, in discussing the regional distribution of many of these images,
the area is better viewed as a network of nodes than as a pattern of outward flow
from a small number of centers. A number of scholars (Lind 1994, Pohl 2003,
Smith 2003) have demonstrated that within this broad iconographic complex, there
exists considerable regional variation in the specific subject matter emphasized. With
specific regard to Mixteca-Puebla polychrome ceramics, both Lind (1994) and Pohl
Hector Neff and his colleagues (1994) have further shown through material sourcing
loci. As such, while Mixteca-Puebla iconography was shared over a broad region,
manifestations are apt to reflect not only shared beliefs, but also local concerns with
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I have argued previously that polychrome ceramics at Yucu Dzaa were by and
distinctive features of the assemblage such as the use of blue paint. While both vessel
forms and their design motifs demonstrate substantial links with greater
of the Oaxaca coast would have shared their closest ethnic and linguistic tiesuse of
these materials and images could have been manipulated to resonate with local
concerns and sensibilities. Local manipulation of visual media has previously been
(2003), Pohl (2003), and Masson (2003). Masson (2003: 200) writes of the
Artists in the Yucatn, Quintana Roo, and Belize zones did not simply adopt foreign styles
and symbols wholesale. Rather, they selected key elements from a broad repertoire of
international possibilities and used these in creating paintings that depicted local and regional
themes for a local audience.
In similar fashion, Mixteca-Puebla symbols and icons at Yucu Dzaa are seen
here as having been subject to creative manipulations, through various selective uses
and combinations, which likely produced more localized meanings. Claude Levi-
Strauss (1966) has described this phenomenon as bricolage: while signs (such as
words in language) are used by persons who did not invent or make them, these users
(in Levi-Strauss terms bricoleurs), may still alter their meanings by employing them
concept, in writing that those whom he terms users or consumers of this economy
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cultural economy in order to adapt it to their own interests and their own rules. Due
to the labile and polysemous nature of icons as discussed in Chapter 2, the meanings
of these types of representations would have been particularly contingent upon the
contexts in which they were deployed. We are therefore less concerned with issues of
origins and authorship of the images painted on Yucu Dzaa polychromes, but rather
how their meanings were born out in daily practice. With this in mind, our attention
turns to the social contexts in which these ceramics were apt to have been acquired
Evidence indicates that the polychromes from Yucu Dzaa were for the most
part produced locally, and I have argued from this that meanings of their images are
liable to articulate with more localized notions of identity and ideology. Production,
however, by no means tells us the whole story. Of equal, if not greater importance is
how these items were consumed. The anecdote drawn from ethnohistoric data with
which this thesis began suggested that the polity of Yucu Dzaa facilitated large-scale
based markets, typically held every five days in accord with the Mixtec ritual
ethnohistoric documentation (Terraciano 2001: 248), yet both colonial records and
communities attest to the likelihood that this phenomenon was common and
widespread. Lind (1987), McCafferty (2001), and Brumfiel (2004) have all argued
polychrome ceramics were primarily acquired via markets in the regions of the
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Mixteca Alta, Cholula, and Valley of Mxico, respectively. Francisco Lpez de
Gmara (1964: 131), secretary to the 16th century Spanish conquistador Hernn
Corts, wrote of the Cholula market that, So many came to trade and barter that it
was a cause of astonishment. One of the most noteworthy things in their market was
The ethnohistoric data suggest that consumers had considerable choice in the
kinds of polychrome ceramics they purchased. Those who produced the vessels and
painted the images on them may have at times composed specific designs for specific
personsthis may have been the case for elites, and perhaps characterize certain of
the red ollas with highly complex imagery discussed in Chapter 5. By and large,
however, it is likely that polychrome vessels were not produced for specific clientele,
but sold in marketplaces in which they would have been available to anyone with the
means to purchase them. Ethnohistoric data indicate that Mixtec elites practically
monopolized certain luxury goods during the Late Postclassic and Early Colonial
periods (Terraciano 2001: 203), yet this is not apt to apply to polychrome pottery at
Yucu Dzaa, for it appears so frequently at commoner residences and throughout the
site survey on the whole. Furthermore, while production of these goods was
undoubtedly a specialized craft and elites may have had some control over it (Spores
1984: 83-84), there is little evidence to suggest that this was a rigidly attached form
of specialization (Costin 1991). In fact, given that INAA data suggest that
polychromes recovered from individual sites in Oaxaca, Cholula, and the Basin of
Mexico (Neff et al. 1994, Nichols 2004) were produced in numerous loci, the
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specialization been prevalent. Though production was highly skilled, it was most
likely relatively decentralized, and polychrome pottery at Yucu Dzaa was produced
for a broad segment of the populace. Given the lack of evidence for attached
that elites could have closely monitored and dictated the imagery painted on ceramics
Taking the above into account, I follow Brumfiel (2004: 243) in expecting
choice in selecting vessels decorated with those motifs that most closely resonated
with their worldviews and senses of identity. In fact, popular sensibilities may have
in part affected which motifs and themes were emphasized generally, as producers
were potentially compelled to design vessels such that they would have widespread
consider the social contexts in which consumers actually used polychrome pottery.
It was argued in Chapter 4 that the ceramics considered in this thesis were
most likely used in contexts of commoner domestic feasting, based primarily on two
lines of evidence: 1) depictions in the Mixtec codices, which suggest that polychrome
pottery was predominantly used in this fashion in the Late Postclassic Mixteca
generally, and 2) that at the Yucu Dzaa residences excavated by Levine, remains of
other domestic refuse such as plain pottery, spindle whorls, lithic debris, and animal
bone. As reported in Chapter 3, polychromes sherds from the two primary midden
deposits at Residences A and B accounted for 67.5% of all polychromes from these
146
residences. Outside of these middens, polychrome sherds were not found in dense
concentrations, nor were they found in contexts such as caches or burials (though
Late Postclassic mortuary practices in the region are very poorly known on the
whole). The specific types of vessel forms seen in these contexts, furthermore,
containing pulque and chocolate in scenes of feasting events such as elite meetings
and marriages.
There is ample reason to suspect that feasting events were not restricted only
to the elite, and likely occurred on the level of commoner households as well.
and fiestas, with which Spanish colonists and clergy members would have been most
familiar. Yet at the same time, 16th century documents also allude to ritual practices
in more intimate household settings to which the Spanish, in most cases, would not
normally have had access. Many Mixtec households during this time had their own
patron saints, images of which were often housed in separate small one-room
structures within the patio group, referred to as oratorios (Terraciano 2001: 309).
Similar structures are in fact still built and used in the town of Tututepec to this day.
In some colonial Mixtec communities, Catholic holidays such as All Saints Day
were devoted primarily to the honoring of household saints and ancestors (Terraciano
2001: 311). Household ritual in the Early Colonial period undoubtedly suggests, in
part, the persistence of prehispanic ritual practices and beliefs. In drawing from
similar ethnographic and ethnohistoric analogies, Lind (1979: 64) has inferred the
presence of household altars within Late Postclassic residences of the Mixteca Alta.
147
For Terraciano (2001: 315) some of the most compelling evidence for the persistence
of these practices comes from the continued use of the indigenous 260-day ritual
calendar throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Persons continued to be given
surnames according to their day of birth on the calendar, and some indigenous writers
related dates according to both the Christian and the indigenous system (Terraciano
2001: 315). Use of the calendar would have allowed for the reckoning of traditional
ceremonies and life cycle rituals, such as birthing and naming ceremonies, and the
Domestic rituals would have served as focal points for the construction of
corporate identities. This may especially be the case for the Late Postclassic Mixteca:
while ethnohistoric data and ethnographic analogy indicate that elites often sponsored
community-wide feasts and rituals, on the whole there is a marked decrease from the
Classic period in both the frequency and scale of civic-ceremonial architecture and
infrastructure for public religion and gatherings than in previous periods. Domestic
gatherings and rituals were thus especially important sites for the production of
ideology and identity. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic analogues from the Mixteca
(Terraciano 2001, Monaghan 1995) indicate that the consumption of food and drink
was an integral feature of these events. Polychrome serving vessels and the meanings
conveyed by their symbols and icons therefore played prominent roles as commoners
made sense of their worlds and fashioned identities in practice. Thus by examining in
detail the meanings polychrome imagery held and how those meanings were
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6.2 The Medium and the Message: Meaning in Pottery and Screen-fold Manuscripts
inferring the meanings that icons on the polychrome ceramics likely held for Mixtec
peoples at Yucu Dzaa. The codices offer an invaluable basis for comparison in
examining what these icons conveyed, but at the same time provide a useful contrast
polychrome vessels share many similar if not identical motifs, the meanings such
motifs elicited were potentially altered in several different ways: 1) due to qualities
and constraints of the respective media on which they were found, 2) how these
respective media, and 3) the social contexts in which these respective media
pottery vessels by way of an almost exclusive focus on the symbols and icons painted
on them. In this way, it could be said that the analysis has been focused
which the iconographic content was expressed. Such an approach may be argued to
signs, affect how meanings are disseminated, received, and interpreted (McLuhan
1964, Derrida 1978, Bolter 1991, Kress and Van Leeuwen 1996). In short, the
149
medium is not neutral or simply a container for meaning. For example, we can
imagine what is effectively the same story or narrative communicated through print,
radio, or television, and each respective medium would differentially affect whom the
therefore not only shaped by signs themselves, but how they are manifested
Taking such phenomena into account led influential media theorist Marshall
McLuhan (1964) to write the refrain, The medium is the message. For McLuhan
(1964: 24):
[I]t is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. The
content or uses of such media are as diverse as they are ineffectual in shaping the form of human
association. Indeed, it is only too typical that the content of any medium blinds us to the character of
the medium.
The medium is indeed of great import, and in this section I aim to elucidate how two
However, as I hope will become apparent, content had a greater bearing on this
In this thesis I argue that meanings in the Mixtec codices were born out of
relatively coherent narratives, while those elicited through polychrome pottery were
for the most part not structured in such a manner. As is likely obvious, the screen-
fold format of the codices lent itself quite well to the construction of narratives (Pohl
1994: 2). Unfolded end-to-end, these strips of deer skin or bark-paper could extend
for meters, painted with long sequences of actions and events, with their physical
150
would have been much less conducive to the depiction of narrative sequences. As
vessels to their readers would have been a considerably more difficult task. Given
as those found in the codices on individual ceramic vessels would furthermore have
been virtually impossible. But was it not possible to at least paint relatively
(2003: 204) has argued that this was in fact the case for several Mixtec polychrome
vessels known from various museum collections. These vessels show distinct
paralleling those in the codices. As has been suggested earlier, several of the dark red
ollas discussed in Chapter 5 might also be characterized in this way. Thus, the
from Yucu Dzaa do not contain explicitly narrative content. If not entirely a function
of the material constraints of their respective media, what accounted for the
elements added to the visual content of these manuscripts were instrumental in the
narratives. Images that constituted calendrical and personal names, dates, phonetic
qualifiers, and others, allowed for icons to be assigned proper names and arranged in
151
specific and coherent sequences. Techniques of anchorage enabled certain images to
be related to specific persons and places, while those of relay arranged these images
in space and time. As might now be obvious to the reader, virtually none of these
pictorial elements of anchorage and relay are present in the iconography of the Yucu
explicit techniques used to constrain the polysemous nature of icons. Instead, though
the icons often bear strong affinity with those found in the codices, they are employed
in a rather different manner. The motifs are often very general and repeat around the
of human figures and places, we do not find elements of anchorage that would allow
for these images to be assigned proper names. Due to the lack of anchorage and relay
referred to their meanings as connoted rather than denoted. Though these icons were
certainly not arbitrary signs and could not, in anarchic fashion, simply be interpreted
their codical counterparts, and hence could not form specific and overarching
narratives.
from the Mixtec codices and mythology in order to suggest their meanings. For
example, in discussing the meaning of eagle depictions, a scene from the codex
Selden and ethnohistoric data on Nahuatl creation myth were cited in relating these
images to warfare and sacrifice. The point here was not to suggest that the
11
The potential exceptions being two pieces with decorative elements incorporated into the roofs of
palace depictions, and one possible (though by no means clear) instance of an individual with a
calendrical name curated in the Tututepec Community Museum; as discussed in Chapter 5.
152
appearance of an eagle image would have elicited recollection of the entire narrative
that surrounded it, but rather connoted the more general ideas and cultural
sensibilities with which it was closely associated. While it was perhaps the case that
polychrome vessels were used in rituals that involved oration or the recitation of
creation stories and the like, the icons that have been discussedsuch as eagle heads,
clouds, stellar eyesare common and general such that they cannot be relegated only
understandings of social and sacred life that would have been much more immediate
and, perhaps, obvious, resonating with cultural sensibilities on a more basic level. As
such, polychrome imagery would have been a more inclusive medium insofar as it
connoted meanings that were more general and readily intelligible to a great number
of people.
media likely circulated. This question is particularly difficult with respect to the
codices, as so few of them survived the Spanish conquest. However, a quote from
colonial Friar Francisco de Burgoa, writing in the 17th century, potentially provides
[T]he historians inscribed with characters so abbreviated, that a single page expressed the
place, the site, province, year, month, and day with all the names of the gods, ceremonies, and
sacrifices, or victories that they celebrated, and recorded in this way by the sons of the
lordstheir priest had instructed them since infancy to illustrate the characters and memorize
the historiesI heard some elders explain that they were accustomed to fasten these
manuscripts along the length of the rooms of the lords for their aggrandizement and vanity,
they took pride in displaying them in their councils.
There are two points of particular interest here. The first is that if Burgoas
description is correct, the codices were likely kept by elites and nobles in their homes,
153
and thus unlikely to be viewed frequently by the general populace. It should be noted
that scholars have argued that there was a performative aspect to the codices: the
Mixtec term for a singer recorded in the 16th century is tutuyondaayaa, translated
literally as one who holds the song book (Pohl 1994: 13). The histories found in
the codices may thus have been sung, and performed or reenacted in front of an
audience. These issues have been considered in depth by scholars such as King
(1988) and Monaghan (1990), who note that the structures of the codices would
themselves have lent to a performative component. But who would have been
included in the audiences for such performances? As has already been noted, sites of
the Postclassic Mixteca are marked by a substantial decrease or absence of the kinds
of public ritual spaces in which large audiences would have congregated. Particularly
at a site as large as Yucu Dzaa, we have no indication that venues existed in which
large segments of the population could have gathered for such events. Taking this
into account, while also bearing in mind that elite personages are the primary subjects
stories took place amongst smaller groups of elites, and were perhaps figurative in
scribes or priests, who from a very early age were trained to memorize them and
represent them pictorially. Codical narratives were thus apt to have been rather
restricted and esoteric forms of knowledge, detailing very complex royal genealogies.
Even had non-elites been exposed to these dynastic histories, we may seriously
154
question the extent to which such narratives resonated with them. Though at times
we do see in the codices depictions of mythical events, such as the War from
Heaven or creation stories that a large segment of the populace may have been
familiar with, subject matter was on the whole quite exclusionary. The codices focus
almost solely on the actions of elites, and many common peoples were likely not
familiar with much of their content, nor were they likely trained in the reading of
the meanings found in the codices and those in polychrome pottery. Polychrome
icons, not being anchored to very specific readings, evoked more broadly understood
and culturally salient meanings. In Chapter 5, I argued that analysis of these images
indicates popular concern on the part of commoners at Yucu Dzaa with several
dominant themes, summarized in the table below (Table 6-1); predominantly those of
These themes recur in the Mixtec codices, yet they are incorporated into complex
narratives, tied to the actions of specific elite persons. In the pottery, meanwhile, they
155
are connoted much more simply and immediately by way of the associated icons
listed above.
codex style. This is by no means to deny the very overt connections in both
rendering style and subject matter between the two media. However, in adopting an
approach that also contrasts these two media, it is potentially misleading to refer to
the polychrome pottery as codex style for it risks implying that codical subject
matter was simply glossed on to the ceramics, and thus gives primacy to the
manuscripts. Because so few of the codices have survived, it is not possible to know
just how far back in time the tradition of manuscript painting extends in the Mixteca,
nor whether this art-form precedes that of polychrome ceramics. It may in fact be the
case that the codices represent a reworking of the polychrome iconographic tradition;
an appropriation of symbols and icons that held great appeal amongst Mixtec peoples
generally, refigured to more closely tie elites to specific visions of cosmological and
close links to one another, contained divergent meanings, and communicated these
ideologies, concerned with justifying the power of elites and ruling dynasties.
Polychrome ceramics, on the other hand, circulated much more widely amongst
Mixtec peoples, and elicited meanings to which a greater number of people would
have related. As such, they are liable to express more popular notions of ideology
156
stand to better elucidate the relationships and articulations between dominant and
popular ideological spheres. To better understand how these relationships were born
out in practice and how they related to broader socio-political developments, attention
now turns to the role of polychrome pottery in shaping the figured worlds of domestic
household deities and ancestors. Polychrome vessels are thus seen here as artifacts
in the sense put forward by Holland and her colleagues (1998). The vessels and their
imagery served to help frame and provide a sense of coherence to these gatherings of
corporate groups, and they were integrally tied to the rituals and offerings carried out
in order to maintain and reproduce both social and sacred relationships. The ceramic
iconography thus helps us to better elucidate the symbols, icons, and ideas around
which these groups came together, cohered, and identified, providing insights into
nested scales. Expressing ideals visually through the widely shared Mixteca-Puebla
closely with peoples of the Mixtec highlands, but also perhaps with more distant
157
this set of widely shared symbols and icons may have allowed Yucu Dzaa residents
appealing images from distant places in crafting expressions of identity. At the same
time, we cannot view use of the Mixteca-Puebla style as only producing notions of
affiliation or sameness. I argued at the outset of this chapter that this suite of
imagery was potentially used via practices of bricolage to craft and represent more
localized identities as well. Bearing this in mind, it is thus not surprising that we see
regional differences in the forms and imagery of polychrome vessels (Lind 1994), and
thus these artifacts could have been selectively consumed to better express local
ideals and identities. Unique aspects of the Yucu Dzaa assemblage, such as the use of
blue paint and the tecomate form, are likely indicative of this phenomenon. I have
further suggested that while xicalcoliuquis may have symbolized widely shared ideas
common in the Yucu Dzaa imagery potentially connote a more locally specific notion
Mixteca-Puebla symbols and icons could be used to evoke ideas and express identity
From the Yucu Dzaa ceramic assemblage we see that within the intimate
contexts of domestic ritual and feasting, themes of warfare and sacrifice were most
prevalent, and that these themes were closely tied to views of the structure of the
such ideas were integrated through combinations of icons, most notably the pattern of
eagle heads, smoke volutes and narrow feathers repeatedly found together. Such
158
combinations served to intimately link ideals of warfare and sacrifice: intrinsic
signifiers, this is a linkage that is also seen in the codices, for example, in the scene
from page 12 of the Selden noted in Chapter 5, in which the heart of a captured
enemy is seen being sacrificed to the sun deity. It thus appears that in both Yucu
Dzaa households, as well as in dominant ideologies, warfare was seen as a vital act of
sacrifice, which helped facilitate and maintain sacred relations with deities, the earth,
and the heavens. Furthermore the motifs connoting these ideas of warfare and
sacrifice are also typically found in the polychrome imagery adjacent to the sets of
narrow feathers, which have been argued here to have potentially connoted senses of
both prestige and localized identity. This being the case, we would then see the
relation between warfare and sacrifice as closely intertwined with icons of identity, as
a salient theme around which notions of identity were produced and reproduced
within the household. As was alluded to in the previous chapter, this suite of motifs
is most commonly found repeating on the interiors of cajetes recovered from the
repeatedly and intimately been confronted with these signs, which emphasized how
closely bound up ideas of warfare and sacrifice were with conceptions of social
identity.
I suggest that in the core of the city of Yucu Dzaa, in the figured worlds of
feasting and ritual that took place at commoner residences, ideals related to the
159
corporate selves. Polychrome icons, which connoted powerful and immediately
the Yucu Dzaa populace at large. Such icons represented points of shared
worldviews through which commoners were able to self-identify with one another,
forging popular ideologies. These themes that were so key to common conceptions of
corporate identity were also integral to dominant ideologies. This is evident in the
Mixtec codices, and ethnohistoric data give us every reason to expect that these
themes and ideals were vital to the construction of polity at Late Postclassic Yucu
Dzaa. Constituting the largest tribute-empire of any Mixtec polity, warfare and
tribute were likely more prevalent at Yucu Dzaa than anywhere else in the Mixteca.
It can then be seen that popular and dominant ideologies, though they were produced
by different segments of the population and were expressed through different means,
This presents a potential contrast with the case of the Late Postclassic Aztec
Empire. Brumfiel (1998: 8) writes that among commoners of the hinterland of the
Aztec capital, images such as those related to warfare were very low in frequency,
indicating that elite ideology held little sway in these regions. She therefore
waiting and hoping for deliverance from oppression (Brumfiel 1998: 11). In this
case, commoners are seen as complying with an exclusionary ideology that they did
not necessarily accept or embrace, and the potential for this compliance to change
into active resistance was ever-present. In contrast, at Yucu Dzaa, though highly
exclusionary ideologies likely did exist in the form of the elite codices, they
160
articulated in important ways with popular ideologies of sacrifice and warfare. This
suggests that commoners did not simply accept or comply with dominant ideologies,
but negotiated power relationships such that ideologies of the state spoke to their own
Dzaa cases just compared is that while Brumfiel (1998) examines lives of commoners
in the Aztec hinterland, the residences from Yucu Dzaa considered here, while
occupied by commoners, were located in the core of the capital. It is quite possible
that those living nearer to the center of the city were more invested in the projects of
the state than were others, particularly in comparison to those living in tributary
polities. Furthermore, survey data collected by Joyce and his colleagues (2004) has
indicated that the city of Yucu Dzaa may have been organized into distinct barrios or
worldviews. Thus accord between state and popular ideologies did not necessarily
characterize the site as a whole, much less the greater empire. What is apparent,
however, is that commoners were not in all cases required simply to blindly accept or
maintained. Rather than viewing non-elites as simply being along for the ride, we
must ascribe greater importance to the active roles of all members of society in the
We are thus prepared to offer at least a part of the answer to the question put
forth at the beginning of this thesishow were large numbers of common people
161
Yucu Dzaa? Warfare and sacrifice would have been critical to the conquest of
polities and the exacting of tribute by the Yucu Dzaa state, and ideals tied to these
acts were closely tied to salient themes of identity amongst commoners within the
politys center. The polychrome ceramic data indicate that commoners were apt to
have been considerably engaged with dominant ideologies or, inversely, that
dominant ideologies catered to popular concerns. In this way, the imperial actions of
the state were more likely to have been seen as important and appealing.
Concomitantly, commoners would have been more compelled to lend support to, and
daily life, as existence was predicated upon sacred covenantswas tied to warfare
not only via the prerogative of elites, but by commoners themselves, as they elected
to consume ceramics that linked these two themes and used them in domestic ritual
at Yucu Dzaa to go to war (Smith 1973: 86), we need not see this as entirely a
dominance, I argue here that the data suggest it was instead the outcome of negotiated
social practice. Elites were liable to have been required to frame dominant ideologies
such that they had widespread appeal, meanwhile commoners were able to
appropriate aspects of the states prestige in forging popular identities within the
162
6.4 Conclusion and Future Directions
seen as fragmented and multiple, I have framed the research questions most often in
is highly probable that Late Postclassic Yucu Dzaa was a multiethnic polity,
ideological relations within the empire were certainly much more complex than have
been represented in terms in which I have painted them here. Differences may have
existed along lines such as gender and barrio divisions as well. The data upon which
the analysis was based came from only two residences located in close proximity to
one another, in an area near the center of the capital. The persons that inhabited
residences A and B were more likely to have been ethnically Mixtec and,
concomitantly, commoners that were most invested in the actions of the state. In
other parts of the site, and certainly in the tributary polities within the region, we
should expect to find different ideologies and expressions of identity, and possibly
within the sites core, stand to reveal a multiplicity of ideologies and identities, and
shed greater light on the complexity and nuance of social relations within the empire.
well as salient themes in the content of such signification, I argue that while we can
see clear articulations between state and popular ideologies, we can also note
163
differences that reveal the dynamism of the relationship between the two. Often in
archaeological theory, relationships of power and ideology are framed only within the
and the multiplicity of ideology (e.g. Joyce et al. 2001, Brumfiel 1996, Hutson 2002),
I suggest that even in the absence of evidence of resistance, we may still view
writes of the Oaxaca Coast during the Formative through Early Postclassic periods,
Political domination was not a given, but was part of a dynamic, negotiated history.
When faced with evidence of ideological accord with state power on the part of
but interrogate in depth both how and why such accord came about. I argue that at
least for the segment of the population examined here, elite and commoner ideologies
were negotiated such that the ambitions of the state had popular appeal. In Late
Postclassic Oaxaca, the empire of Yucu Dzaa was an exceedingly unique political
entity, larger and more expansive than any of its regional contemporaries. It is
offered here that popular conceptions of ideology and identity played a considerable
explanation, however, and ongoing studies of other aspects of social life at Yucu
Dzaa, such as the politys political economy, stand to shed a great deal further light
on how this unique Postclassic Oaxacan empire came to be formed and maintained.
Polychrome pottery only reflects a small portion of the complex web of social
164
practices that took place at Yucu Dzaa, yet provides a certain unique access to the
small figured worlds out of which the greater polity was constructed.
165
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