Crema Ware and Elite Power at Monte Albán: Ceramic Production and Iconography in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico

Abstract

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

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