Postclassic and Early Colonial Mortuary Practices in the Nejapa Region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico

JASREP-00715; No of Pages 10 Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Postclassic and Early Colonial mortuary practices in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico

Stacie M. King ⁎, Ricardo Higelin Ponce de León

Department of Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington, 701 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. article info abstract

Article history: To date, we have documented or recovered the remains of over 15 individuals in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca. Received 21 July 2016 This paper summarizes these ﬁnds and takes a ﬁrst step in comparing the mortuary practices of Nejapa to Received in revised form 18 November 2016 those in other regions of Oaxaca. Eight individuals were found buried nearby one another at the site of Accepted 19 November 2016 Majaltepec, an early Colonial period town in the mountains surrounding Nejapa. Morphoscopic dental analyses Available online xxxx indicate the presence of at least 4 younger individuals between 15 and 21 years old, 3 infants, and 1 individual

Keywords: of undetermined age. Though poorly preserved, the burials provide us clear examples of Early Colonial indige- ﬂ Mortuary practices nous mortuary practices. Notably, residents of Majaltepec buried their dead below oors of houses with grave of- Oaxaca ferings, similar to practices in Prehispanic Oaxaca. The persistence of these practices alongside the presence of Nejapa Catholicism and Dominican clergy suggests that there were limits to Spanish oversight. Prehispanic burials in Postclassic Nejapa, by comparison, are uncommon in spite of extensive excavation. The lack of sub-ﬂoor burial in Nejapa Colonial period might signal a difference in identity between the Prehispanic residents of Nejapa and the residents of Majaltepec Residential burial in the late sixteenth century. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In addition, we have heard dozens of oral accounts from local residents testifying about having found human skeletal remains on their This paper reports on all of the human remains and mortuary archi- land. Sometimes these finds took place decades ago. Nearly all of these tecture found as part of the Nejapa Tavela Archaeological Project burials are now destroyed due to construction, agriculture, looting, or (Proyecto Arqueológico Nejapa Tavela or PANT) between 2009 and erosion. In a few of these cases, the bones were collected by the local 2013 (King, 2010; King et al., 2012; King et al., n.d.). Since inception, residents who found them, but most often they were simply discarded the primary goal of the PANT research has been to determine the impact after discovery. These witnesses also frequently report having found of conquest and colonialism along an important trade corridor grave offerings, some of which were either kept or sold to collectors. connecting the highland Valley of Oaxaca to the coastal Isthmus of Tehuantepec. To date, we have completed nearly 200 km2 of systematic 2. Background archaeological survey spanning valley floors, piedmont, and high mountain ridgetops, and have excavated 165 m2 at archaeological sites in five The Nejapa region is located in the Sierra Sur region of southeastern different municipalities (Fig. 1). The excavations include 1 × 1 and/or Oaxaca, Mexico, about at the midpoint between the Valley of Oaxaca 2 × 2 m test units at 13 sites, as well as horizontal excavations of resi- and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The large and fertile Nejapa valley, dential architecture in two valley floor sites. with its rich agricultural lands, is surrounded by high mountains, The human remains that we have located over the course of this pro- reaching over 2000 m above sea level. The area served as crossroads ject include simple burials of single or multiple individuals in three dif- for people who spoke different languages, including Chontal, Zapotec, ferent sites, two examples of infant burials in ceramic vessels, five and Mixe, and for merchants (including Nahuas and other indigenous possible tombs (none of which have been excavated), and various ex- peoples) who peddled goods such as obsidian, copper, and beads up amples of isolated human bones or teeth eroding out in sites located and down between the highlands and the coast over a thousand years. on survey or collected during test pit excavations (Table 1). Due to its strategic position along a major trade route, the region was heavily contested throughout its long history and was the focus of mil- itary expeditions at the hands of the Zapotecs, Aztecs, and Spanish (King, 2012). Archaeological research has revealed that the Nejapa re- ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.M. King), [email protected] (R. Higelin gion was most densely occupied during the Postclassic era between Ponce de León). CE 800 and 1521, when traffic and economic exchange between the

Fig. 1. Map of the Nejapa region, with PANT survey boundary marked. All sites and towns mentioned in the text are marked on the map. Modern towns are marked with a white star. highland empires and the lowland tropics reached its height, although house foundations, alongside mounded platform architecture and cere- human occupation is documented (based on ceramic cross-ties) as monial centers with temples and ballcourts. In addition, we have docu- early as the Middle Formative 800–500 BCE onward. Occupations dur- mented ritual activities outside of densely occupied sites at sacred ing the Late Formative (500 BCE–CE 250), Classic (CE 250–800), Post- landscape features such as caves, cliffs, waterfalls, and boulders. Such classic (CE 800–1521), and Colonial (CE 1521–1821) periods are all activities are evidenced by the presence of petroglyphs and painted confirmed by radiocarbon dates (King, 2010; King et al., 2012; King et rock art, makeshift altars, and ceramic vessel offerings (King, 2015). al., n.d.). People settled into dense communities located on the valley The skeletal remains and mortuary architecture that we have found in floor, on piedmont hills, and along the highest ridgetops. Such sites in- Nejapa were largely found in areas of dense human settlement, in resi- clude significant landscape modification in the form of terracing and dential settings.

2.1. Possible tombs

Table 1 Inventory of human remains found during the Nejapa/Tavela Archaeological Project This overview begins with a discussion of some of the possible (2009–2013). tombs that we have identified in the Nejapa region. We recognize at the outset that not all below ground constructed features or voids are Sites Number of individuals indicative of tombs; the Postclassic period hilltop site of El Sitial, for ex- Possible tombs ample, included a beautifully constructed and well conserved drain La Amontonada Not excavated measuring over 3 m in length that helped to empty water out of the Cerro de la Muralla Not excavated Cerro San Antonio Not excavated (possible drain?) playing court of a ballcourt. None of the possible tombs presented Nejapa Viejo 1 partially excavated (nothing inside) here has yet been explored through excavation, but a few of them hold promise for future research, even though their exposure likely Simple burials La Puerta 1 means that they have already been looted. Nejapa Viejo 3–4 One possible tomb is located at the site of La Amontonada, a ceremo- Majaltepec 5 burials; 8 individuals nial center and central administrative precinct of a large site with mul- fl Burials in pots tiple residential neighborhoods on the valley oor. Here, atop the Nejapa Viejo 2 largest temple platform at the site, which measures 40 × 40 m at its base and rises over 10 m high, we observed finely constructed multi- Isolated human remains Cueva del Ocote 1 (mandible and some long bones) coursed stone walls with cut stone facing making a right angle at the La Amontonada 2 (tooth and unidentified long bone fragment) base of a looter's pit, facing to the SW. We also observed fragments of Llano Las Casillas 2 (various long bone and skull fragments in two separate stucco indicating that the wall surface likely had been covered in plaster. locations) Though the association with the surface architecture is unclear, these Other burials might be the walls of a tomb façade that extends deeper into the Modern town of Oral accounts (observed bone) platform's core. Nejapa We also observed a finely constructed multi-coursed cut-stone wall, Chihuiro Oral accounts (observed bone) marking a possible tomb entrance, at the base of a looter's pit at the Late

Postclassic (CE 1200–1521) hilltop fortified site of Cerro de la Muralla. constructed by Valley Zapotecs during their conquest of the Isthmus, Excavations at La Muralla were focused on trying to determine when as is mentioned by Francisco de Burgoa in his account (de Burgoa, and by whom the site was built and whether the site was a 15th century 1934 [1674]). Zapotec fortress as ethnohistoric sources had suggested (King et al., At Cerro San Antonio we observed a large slab with a cut stone facing 2014). The possible tomb was therefore not the immediate focus of in- that appears to serve as a lintel, covering a neatly formed rectangular vestigation. The entrance is filled with sediment and debris now, but lo- possible tomb entrance about 50 cm wide. Only about 20 cm of the cals note that decades ago it had been empty and one could enter into it height of the entrance is exposed, and it is unknown (without excava- standing up. Indeed, the site registry paperwork submitted in 1999 by tion) how tall it is. The masonry in the outer wall is mortared with stuc- Victor Castañeda of the INAH-PROCEDE project contains a photo that co and faced on the exterior (E) side. This entrance is positioned below shows the possible tomb considerably more open than it appears the eastern face of a large flat-topped platform that appears to have today. Though debris has since filled the entrance and the façade itself served as a patio in the central ceremonial core of the Late Postclassic appears to have been removed, the side of the entrance is visible in hilltop site of Cerro San Antonio (Fig. 3). However, after our excavation the looter's pit and is well constructed with cut stones positioned hori- of the drain at El Sitial, we note that this opening might actually be a zontally, so that the longer side edges provide a faced surface (Fig. 2). drain. Though it does not drain directly into an arroyo like the drain at The stones are mortared with stucco and, where conserved, it is clear El Sitial, the feature opens toward on the exterior of the platform and re- that the walls were once covered with red-painted stucco. The opening sembles the El Sitial drain in both size and shape. extends at least 60 cm below the contemporary ground surface, but the A final possible tomb was a stuccoed adobe façade exposed in the base is not visible due the amount of sediment that has accumulated. large cut bank that sliced through the Terminal Formative-Classic peri- The possible tomb entrance is located below a terrace about five meters od (CE 50–850) political capital of Nejapa Viejo. The cut bank, caused by SE of the SE margin of the palace structure, with the doorway facing NW large-scale erosion from the nearby river, stands about 8 m high in some toward the palace. This is rather surprising, as we would have expected places and archaeological evidence can be seen in profile along the a tomb, if one existed, to have been located inside the seven patio/33 bank's northern face for about one kilometer. In one section, near roomed palace structure, perhaps extending underneath the rooms what we think was the central ceremonial precinct of the site, we rather than outside beneath an otherwise unremarkable terrace. Since cleaned the profile, photographed, and drew what appears to have the contents have already been looted, a comparison of the construction been a prepared rectangular chamber, possibly a tomb (Fig. 4). The ori- style with Valley Zapotec tombs might help to resolve remaining ques- entation of the doorway is 63° E of N. Though the contents had already tions about whether or not La Muralla and the possible tomb was been removed (people have been coming to this site for decades to col- lect artifacts), the prepared chamber is about 90 cm wide, 75 cm high and about 90 cm deep, too short to allow a body to be placed inside in extended position, but large enough to fit a bundled body. The upper margin lies roughly 6.6 m below the contemporary ground surface. The finished stuccoed adobe on the exterior rounds the corner to the inside on the W side of the opening, confirming that this was a prepared chamber and not a looter's pit. We did not expose all of the height of this possible tomb or burial chamber because we were restricted due to the fragility of the exposed cut. In two other cases, we observed large slabs of stone that appeared to cover underground spaces. At Postclassic site of Los Mogotes del Burro, a piedmont hilltop site overlooking the Rio Grande where it exits the Nejapa region, we observed a large, flat natural stone with a void underneath. We did not have sufficient time to explore it, but would like to re- turn to do so. Also, in Los Picachos, a high elevation Late Postclassic fortified site that includes over 70 residential terraces built up and over a narrow ridgeline and extensive defensive walls, we observed a similar space under an unworked large stone slab. We excavated in front of the space to determine whether or not it was an entrance to a possible tomb, and determined that the space was natural. We did, however, find an expedient (possibly unfired) ceramic incense burner in front of the space, presumably placed as an offering. Such offerings were common occurrences in the Nejapa region in places such as cave openings, rockshelters, and large boulders because mountains and landscape features were often viewed as thresholds of communication to the world of deities and ancestors (King, 2015). This suggests that people who had visited the site in the past viewed this opening as a sacred place in need of propitiation.

2.2. Simple burials

After completing 165 m2 of excavation, we have only uncovered 10 burials at three sites, nine of which appear to have been primary inter- ments of single individuals. Preservation conditions across the region are quite poor, and bone material in general is not in good condition due to sediment type. This problem is not new in Oaxaca. Caso and de la Rubín (1936) and Robles García and Molina Villegas (1998) have reported the same problem in Mitla, Márquez Morfín and González Licón Fig. 2. Photograph of the possible tomb entrance at Cerro de la Muralla. (2006) say the same of Monte Alban, and Lind and Urcid (2010) note

Fig. 3. Photograph of the possible tomb opening or drain in Cerro San Antonio. the same in the area of Lambityeco (all in the Valley of Oaxaca). In the as well as Rivero López (2009) for the Mixe area in Santo Domingo area of San Lorenzo and San Miguel Albarradas, Feinman and Nicholas Tlahuitoltepec. (1999) and Higelin Ponce de León (2012) have reported this situation, Our best preserved Postclassic period burial was excavated at the site of La Puerta, which was a fortified Postclassic period site overlooking the principal river in the valley, the Río Grande, as it exits the Nejapa region. Despite its seemingly defensive position on a hilltop with constructed stone defensive walls, the site appears to have been inhabited and lived in on a year-round basis. We identified the remains of numerous residential terraces, large quantities of ceramic vessel fragments, several metates, and a ballcourt. We selected one terrace among a series of terraces that follow the topography of the peak because we found ceramic fragments and a metate on the surface. The terrace is approximately 10 × 10 m in area. We excavated a 1 × 1 meter test pit in a flat area that looked like it could have had a stone foundation in situ. Ex- cavation uncovered a stucco floor approximately 21–24 cm below the modern ground surface. The floor was irregular and poorly conserved, with only a single episode of construction and no evidence of repairs or resurfacing. Approximately 50 cm below the stucco floor, we located the primary interment of a single individual, with a plain gray ware vessel upside down over the ribcage. The individual was buried in a flexed position, with knees held tight to the chest, suggesting that this individual may have been bundled with some sort of wrapping. The flexed body was placed into the grave lying on the left side, with his/her arms wrapped around their legs (Fig. 5). The body was oriented 268°, with the head to the east, and lay directly on top of bedrock, nestled around the eroding bedrock outcrop. Both the skeletal remains and the ceramic vessel placed in the grave were extremely fragmented, and no teeth were recovered. Unfortunate- ly, this meant that analysis of the body was limited. We know that the individual was an adult, but little else could be determined. A fine gray ware ceramic vessel bowl was placed on top of the individual's right side on the ribs, upside down. The body and the vessel appeared to have been flattened against the bedrock, due to compaction caused by fill episodes and by people walking on the terrace. The ceramic vessel is a plain, fine gray ware paste ceramic bowl (cajete semiesférico), burnished on the entire surface except for the exterior base (Fig. 6). Four other simple burials were observed at the site of Nejapa Viejo, visible in the profile of the river cut bank. Due to the precariousness of thecutbank,exceptforalongbonefragmentthatwewereabletocol- lect for future elemental analysis, the burials were not excavated. Any excavation would have further compromised the cut bank, and could Fig. 4. Possible tomb/burial chamber in cut bank at Nejapa Viejo. have led to a dangerous collapse of the profile. For this reason, the

Fig. 5. Plan drawing of the burial of a single individual at La Puerta. The individual was placed in the ground in a flexed positon, on the left side as if bundled, with a ceramic vessel offering upside down over the ribcage. remains were drawn in profile, photographed, and studied in place. seasons, and burials were found in Operations 3, 7 and 8 of 2009 and Three of these appeared to be adult skeletons. Middens, stucco floors, Operation 1 of 2011 (King, 2010; King et al., 2012). The burial visible stone walls, and an oven feature were also visible. Four large sections in profile in Operation 1 of 2011 might be the same burial identified be- of the cut bank were cleaned and drawn over the course of two field tween Operations 3 and 8 in 2009. Unfortunately due to the significant

Fig. 6. Undecorated, burnished gray ware paste ceramic bowl placed as an offering with the burial at La Puerta. Scale is in centimeters.

Fig. 7. Plan drawing of the burials at Majaltepec.

Table 2 et al., 2012), there is a general lack of enamel hypoplasia in these indi- Inventory of burials in Majaltepec, with relevant age and sex estimation. viduals, which could suggest that Majaltepec residents did not experi- Burial Individual Age (years) and sex ence nutritional stress or food shortages during childhood that cause enamel hypoplasia. 1 1 15 to 21, possibly female 2 1 ca. 21 2 b15 3.2. Grave goods found with the Majaltepec burials 3 9 to10 b 4 15 We also examined the offerings that were included with these 31 ? 41 b5 burials. In our excavations, we collected 448 glass and jet beads (this 51 ? total includes complete beads and bead fragments) that appear to 5 total 8 total have been placed with the deceased as burial offerings (King and Konwest, n.d.; King et al., 2012; King et al., n.d.). A majority of the beads were found in two clusters, which might represent pieces of jew- likely of indigenous ancestry (with shovel shaped incisors, but not the elry such as necklaces, bracelets, or rosaries. One cluster consisted of Carabelli's cusp). Further, the dental evidence allowed Higelin to identi- larger and more intricate beads mixed with smaller, simpler beads. fy two individuals up to 15 years of age, one around the age at 21, and The other group consisted of only small, simple beads. Among these one between these ranges, all oriented west to east. In addition, we beads, we found fragments of a copper clasp, four gilded beads still have identified at least one infant/child burial among them (Burial 4). strung together, and several beads that had pieces of cotton thread con- What is difficult to resolve is why the area seems to have been used served in their perforations, indicating that they may have been strung for individuals of relatively younger ages and why there are infants together. Due the poor preservation conditions for bone, no human represent among them. We wonder if it is possible that this area was remains were directly associated with the bead clusters. However, teeth served for women who died in childbirth. More excavation and molec- fragments 20 cm to the west, eroded bone fragments 35 cm to the ular ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis might help to determine if and how southwest and cranial material associated with Burial 3 in the far SE cor- these individuals were related to one another. ner of Unit 2 are positioned nearby. The beads in the clusters, therefore, We also need to better understand how it came to be that young could be grave offerings for Burial 3. The arrangement of the beads in adults and infants were buried together. Burying children and adults the ground suggests that they were most likely piled next to an interred alongside one another in the same burial is relatively uncommon in body, rather than worn as jewelry. A ceramic spindle whorl found just to the Prehispanic valley of Oaxaca (Urcid, 2010; Winter, 2011), in the Si- the south of the beads likely represents another offering associated with erra Norte between Mixe (Ortiz Díaz, 2002) and Zapotec territories this same individual. (Higelin Ponce de León, 2012), in the Mixteca (Blomster, 2011), and in Additional beads were found loose in burial fill associated with other the coast (King, 2006, 2011b). However, this was a common practice individuals and in the fill below the structure floor and above the in the early Colonial (16th century) cemetery of the Pueblo Viejo de burials. We believe that the loose beads likely were dislocated from Teposcolula (also referred to as Teposcolula Yucundaa) in the Mixteca their original positions due to the mixing associated with more recent Alta, where in the old atrium of the first Catholic church, archaeologists internments. Each identifiable burial only had a few beads in the nearby found the skeletal remains of young adults and children together, and fill. It is unclear whether these beads were placed in the graves loose or the majority of the young individuals were women (Spores and as part of jewelry. We also suspect that some of the beads may have Robles García, 2007a, 2007b). been sewn into clothing as was common in indigenous dress Though the burial pattern initially made us suspect that this might (Anawalt, 1981; Deagan, 2002). The only exceptions are the four have been used as a cemetery or perhaps had been used for a period beads found in direct association with Burial 4, which were recovered of time as Majaltepec's rural chapel or church atrium, we interpret below teeth and cranial fragments, and thus might have formed part this building as a likely elite residence based on construction materials of a single jewelry item. The small size of the burial stain and the age es- (walls of patterned light and dark adobe), the presence of artifact debris, timates from the teeth suggest that this individual was less than five and because there is a far better candidate for a contemporaneous years of age. church complex further to the south in the area called “Siete Cuartos”. We compared the beads found at Majaltepec to those found in mor- If our conclusion is correct and this was a residence, then this means tuary contexts at St. Catherine's Island, Georgia (Blair et al., 2009)(see that the Majaltepec burials were placed below a house floor, which is King and Konwest, n.d. for a detailed description of the beads). The a common burial practice across many areas of Oaxaca in the Postclassic Spanish mission at St. Catherine's Island operated from CE 1605–1680. and earlier (King, 2011b; Lind and Urcid, 2010; Martínez López et al., A total of 356 out of 448 (79.5%) of the Majaltepec beads match types 2014; Martínez López et al., 1996). It is not common, however, for the identified in the Blair et al. (2009) typology developed for St. Catherine's Colonial period, which is a topic that we will address below in Section Island. An additional 37 beads are possible matches to this same typol- 3.2. ogy. Only 55 beads of Majaltepec have no clear equivalent at St. Morphoscopic analysis of the teeth also indicates a relatively light Catherine's Island. The similarities between the Majaltepec beads and degree of wear as compared to other Postclassic populations in other re- those of St. Catherine's Island suggest that the source of both collections gions of Mesoamerica where moderate or severe wear in infants and is the same: the Spanish galleon trade. Most of the beads were imported adults is more common (Márquez Morfín and González Licón, 2006). from Europe, and among the types present, most appear to have been Clearly, this could be due to the younger age of the buried individuals, produced in Spain and Italy. but it is curious that in Preclassic and Classic contexts in Oaxaca even Further, we found ten fragments of metal in the fill surrounding younger individuals at times experience moderate to heavy tooth Burial 2, which included small bits of cut-square wrought nails and wear (Hodges, 1987; Márquez Morfín and González Licón, 2006), seven broken pieces of what was once a single metal machete or knife whereas studies done in Teposcolula Yucundaa for the transitional Post- blade. We suspect that the blade may have been deposited as a burial of- classic/Colonial time period indicate that there is little dental wear in in- fering, and was later disturbed by subsequent burial events and corro- dividuals under 30 years of age (Spores and Robles García, 2007a). sion. The nails might have been associated with a hafting for the This similarity could be due to young age, but it could also be that the blade, which was likely made out a now decomposed organic material foods they ate were generally soft or were not commonly prepared such as bone or wood. A radiocarbon date from burial fill and the specif- using a metate. Further, as was found in Postclassic/early Colonial ic glass bead types date these contexts to between CE 1560 and 1630. Teposcolula Yucundaa (Spores and Robles García, 2007a; Warinner This shows that someone in Majaltepec had access to metal even though

Please cite this article as: King, S.M., Higelin Ponce de León, R., Postclassic and Early Colonial mortuary practices in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.035 8 S.M. King, R. Higelin Ponce de León / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx indigenous ownership of metal blades was forbidden without crown these areas, we excavated outside and inside houses, both on top of permission (Anawalt, 1980; Rodríguez-Alegría, 2008:39). and below occupation surfaces. If subfloor burial had been a common Dominican doctrines forbid the deposition of offerings in burial con- practice, we should have found burials. These are precisely the kinds texts, other than rosaries (Blair et al., 2009; Deagan, 2002). Other Early of places where we would have expected to find numerous burials. Colonial cemeteries that have been excavated in Oaxaca demonstrate Though we do have one example of a Postclassic period subfloor burial compliance with such rules. For example, in the Early Colonial commu- on a small residential terrace at La Puerta, it does not appear to have nity of Teposcolula Yucundaa in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, the been a common practice based on our excavations to date. The under- indigenous deceased were buried without offerings, which marks a representation of burials below floors and in residential contexts indi- sharp divergence from Prehispanic practices (Spores and Robles cates that bodies were placed elsewhere, perhaps in cemeteries on the García, 2007a; Warinner et al., 2012). By contrast, the individuals buried outskirts of sites, or in specific loci such as caves. The lack of burials at Majaltepec were buried with beads in a variety of manners, including could also perhaps represent a difference in burial practices between as complete pieces of jewelry, beads worn on body in clothing or jewel- Nejapa and other regions of Oaxaca. It also could signal an as yet uniden- ry, and perhaps as loose beads placed in graves. The presence of grave tifiable difference in the identity or ethnic composition of the offerings in the form of beads, a metal knife, and a spindle whorl Prehispanic population in the Nejapa region. shows that indigenous people of Majaltepec were using newly introduced items as burial offerings, in spite of, or in defiance of, Dominican 4. Burials in pots policy that forbid such use. The use of beads and metal in burials differs from the ways that stone beads and stone cutting tools had been used in In 2011, when we visited the site of Nejapa Viejo, we observed half of Prehispanic contexts in Nejapa (where they were routinely discarded in a large jar and upside down bowl in profile that we suspected might be a household trash), but the practice of burying offering alongside the de- funerary jar with its cover. The jar was located almost 2 m below the ceased is in line with Prehispanic burial traditions, when offerings of ce- contemporary ground surface and about 4 m above the slope debris ramic vessels were common (King and Konwest, n.d.; King et al., 2012). below (Fig. 8). Due to the danger and precariousness of the bank, we As discussed in Section 2.2, the burial excavated at Postclassic La Puerta were unable to recover all of the vessel fragments and we were unable included a ceramic vessel offering. As King and Konwest (n.d.) argue, to draw a detailed stratigraphic profile. The jar contained fragments of the contexts in which the beads and the metal are found at Majaltepec child's bones clumped together with earth, though unfortunately, the show that their meanings had been reworked from utilitarian goods bones had already been severely affected by weathering and erosion. to ritually important and valuable items (Pugh, 2009). Indigenous resi- In another area of the profile we observed two large apaxtles (large vol- dents of Majaltepec opted to use newly introduced items in ways that ume cooking/storage pots) that had recently fallen out of the cut bank. were once reserved for ceramic vessels. The meaning of beads, in partic- We could see the void in the profile from which one of these had recent- ular, contrasts sharply with earlier (Postclassic) patterns, when stone ly fallen, and one of the apaxtles still had a clump of earth and the skel- beads were produced for export outside Nejapa, indicating that they etal remains of a child adhered on the interior of the vessel, along with a were valued as sacred imported consumer items rather than exportable miniature jar, which was probably placed within the apaxtle as part of market goods. the burial offering. The bones were excavated further in the lab, but Dominican friars from the church in Nexapa visited Majaltepec on a were not completely cleaned and still await further analysis. somewhat regular basis to provide religious services, based on Early Co- Infant or child burials in jars, including the use of overturned ceramic lonial legal documents (King, 2011a). The distance and arduous trip to bowls as covers, has a long history in Oaxaca, and is noted for example Majaltepec was mentioned as one of the problems in support of a heavi- as a traditional method for burying umbilical cords in 20th century ly contested congregación (resettlement) in 1604. We also know from Mitla and possibly Late Classic Lambityeco (Lind and Urcid, 2010:277) archival documents that in 1576, “los naturales” (Indians) of and a common burial method for infants in Monte Albán (Martínez Maxaltepec, along with those of Nexapa and “Tlaxuchaguaya” (probably López et al., 1996) in the Valley of Oaxaca. Tlacochahuaya in the Valley of Oaxaca), were granted the right to have horses and mules to use in carrying goods. Likewise, in 1591, a local In- 5. Isolated finds dian noble Bernardino Vasquez, described as “cacique gobernador de Maxaltepec de los Mixes” (governor cacique of Majaltepec of the We should also note that we observed several cases of isolated Mixes), requested permission to possess a horse, saddle, and irons. He human remains while on survey, eroding out of cut banks and slopes. had already requested a parcel of land for raising sheep and goats, In one case, we found a large fragment of a disarticulated well preserved prior to this. This suggests that by 1591 at least one community member adult mandible in a cave in Guichina, and recorded it in place as part of in Majaltepec was seeking permission to use and own Spanish goods, the archaeological survey of the area. including metal tools. Though such items were normally prohibited Two probable burials were found at the site of Llano las Casillas, a based on proscribed Spanish sumptuary laws (Anawalt, 1980), we can valley floor site that sprawls over a few square kilometers and contains see that Majaltepec's elite might have been able to subvert such restric- ceramic debris associated with both the Terminal Formative and Late tions through legal channels. Postclassic. Though at one time, many mounds may have existed at Ethnohistorical and archaeological data show that Majaltepec's in- the site, due to intense agricultural production of the area, most have teractions with immigrant Spaniards were frequent. Majaltepec's resi- been flattened and destroyed. We found eroding human remains in dents sought to establish and maintain successful economic two different areas of this site. The first remains were found eroding enterprises even within the unjust and unfair economic system im- out of the base of a slope of a natural hill that had some simple stone posed upon them. As King (2012) and King and Konwest (n.d.) argue foundations constructed on top along with a metate fragment. Though elsewhere, indigenous residents of Nejapa seemed to be aware of the hill is natural, it is located nearby other artificial mounds and when and in what ways to engage with foreign merchants and mi- could have easily been modified to support a temple. The bones were grants. Some local indigenous people benefitted economically by estab- eroding out near the base alongside a road cut, possibly those of a lishing relationships with these outsiders, connecting themselves to lower arm (radius and ulna). The second set of isolated human remains new networks of long-distance exchange, but they remained self-suffi- was found in an earthen cut bank of an active irrigation canal. We ob- cient in terms of basic everyday needs. served that someone had excavated into the cut bank, leaving behind At the same time, the relative lack of burials in Postclassic residential several bits of well conserved, but loose and out of place human bone. contexts in valley floor sites, where we completed extensive horizontal Owing to the recent fusion of the vertebral epiphyses and the narrow excavations in residential contexts perhaps tells a different story. In public angle, the senior author tentatively described these remains as

Fig. 8. Photograph of the ceramic vessel jar with an upside down bowl lid found in the cut bank at Nejapa Viejo. The vessel contained the remains of an infant. Scale is in centimeters. belonging to a young adult male. The landowner reported that he found 7. Conclusion a stone bead and two chirmoleras (also known as molcajetes or grater bowls) alongside the burial, which were likely burial offerings. Overall, we have only partially excavated 9–10 burials, which con- In addition, we have found a possible human long bone fragment in tain 12–13 individuals. For an archaeological project in Oaxaca that fill in a 1 × 1 meter test pit excavation at the Postclassic site of La completed 165 m2 of excavation, this number is incredibly small. As Amontonada. This bone does not pertain to an in situ burial, but is an such, it remains difficult to talk about patterns and make any compari- isolated find. sons to other regions and other sites. Nonetheless, the small number of burials may perhaps mark a difference in burial practices between 6. Other burials the Nejapa region and other parts of Oaxaca in general. In spite of our extensive horizontal excavations in Postclassic residential contexts, In two cases, we were informed by local residents about accidental Prehispanic burials in Nejapa, by comparison, are uncommon. Com- archaeological finds of human skeletons. First, a resident of Nejapa re- pared to other locations in Oaxaca, where burial in residential contexts covered human remains when undertaking new construction in his is common, the lack of a similar pattern of residential burial here is note- house compound. Given INAH rules regarding such matters, we made worthy. Does this represent an absence of subfloor residential burial the decision that this was beyond the scope of our project and was practices in the Prehispanic era in Nejapa? If so, how do we then not something that we were authorized to do. We noted that the make sense of the subfloor residential burial in Majaltepec, when the bones were extremely well preserved (adult). The resident said that Spanish were present? The lack of subfloor residential burial in he found several gray ware ceramic vessels – already broken – before Prehispanic contexts might signal a difference in identity between the he encountered the human skeletal material. Given that the find oc- Postclassic period residents of Nejapa valley and people elsewhere. It curred within the town of Nejapa, the integrity of the site as a whole also might suggest that residents of Majaltepec had different traditions has already been severely compromised due to development and than Prehispanic residents of the region. If we were going to apply Colo- construction. nial period ethno-linguistic designations to these differences, one could Second, several residents of Chihuiro informed us about finding perhaps argue that the burial evidence from the valley floor sites and burials on their properties. First, the owner of an isolated propiedad the mountain site of Majaltepec might represent residents of two dis- pequeña (parcel of private property) reported that he had found several tinct ethnicities (possibly Zapotec and Mixe). The different burial pat- graves on his property some years prior to our survey. He collected the terns evident in Chihuiro may represent an altogether different human skeletal material – still extremely well preserved – and stored tradition, perhaps connected to indigenous occupants further south them at his ranch. The landowner called the graves “sepulturas,” and west. But as of now, such identifications remain entirely which consisted of rectangular burial pits with a large cut stones laid speculative. over the top. Another resident told us about finding two large jars that What is clear is that residents of Majaltepec buried their dead below had human crania inside. He later showed the survey crew two small floors of buildings with grave offerings, similar to Prehispanic practices mounds on his family's land. In the cuts on the sides of the partially in other parts of Oaxaca. This is only marginally similar to practices ev- destroyed mounds, we observed a fragment of a femur and radius. An- ident in Prehispanic contexts in Nejapa, where grave offerings were cer- other resident reported that he had found human crania set on a plate or tainly present, but subfloor residential burial is not (yet) well vessel with the body laid out next to crania. represented. The persistence of subfloor residential burial in one area The descriptions of these burials are noteworthy as they represent of the Nejapa region after the arrival of the Spanish alongside the con- significant departures from everything else we have heretofore seen tinued use of burial offerings suggests that, in spite of Dominican pres- in the Nejapa region. Perhaps as one moves to the SW in this southern ence and obligatory Catholicism, there were limits to Spanish area of the Nejapa region, we enter an area with distinct burial tradi- oversight. Unlike early Colonial Yucundaa in the Mixteca Alta, the tions. Clearly this is something that we will need to explore further in young adults and children of Early Colonial Majaltepec were buried ac- a future project. cording to Prehispanic rather than Catholic traditions. The use of newly

Please cite this article as: King, S.M., Higelin Ponce de León, R., Postclassic and Early Colonial mortuary practices in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.035 10 S.M. King, R. Higelin Ponce de León / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx acquired glass beads from Europe and metal blades as grave offerings King, S.M., 2011a. Rediscovering Majaltepec (Maxaltepeque), Oaxaca: the challenges of bridging archaeology, ethnohistory, and oral history. Paper Presented at the Annual signals a shift in value and meaning of particular kinds of consumer ob- Meeting of the American Society of Ethnohistory, Pasadena, CA, Oct 20. jects (beads, cutting tools) (King and Konwest, n.d.). Beads and cutting King, S.M., 2011b. Remembering one and all: Early Postclassic residential burial in coastal tools that were before discarded in trash, were now being used as burial Oaxaca, Mexico. In: Adams, R.L., King, S.M. (Eds.), Residential Burial: A Multiregional Exploration. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 20, offerings, indicating both a shift in access to particular kinds of goods pp. 44–58. and a changing notion of value and meaning associated with the trans- King, S.M., 2012. Hidden transcripts, contested landscapes, and long-term indigenous his- formed social landscape of the Early Colonial period. It also demon- tory in Oaxaca, Mexico. In: Oland, M., Hart, S.M., Frink, L. (Eds.), Decolonizing Indig- strates that Catholic religious dogma did not penetrate or prohibit enous Histories: Exploring Prehistoric/Colonial Transitions in Archaeology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 230–263. residents on Majaltepec from burying their dead according to commu- King, S.M., 2015. Settlement survey, landscape transformations, and the meaning of unoc- nity standards that they themselves controlled. cupied land in Postclassic Nejapa, Oaxaca. In: Buchanan, M.E., Skousen, J. (Eds.), Trac- ing the Relational: The Archaeology of Worlds, Spirits, and Temporalities. University of Utah Press, Utah. Acknowledgments King, S.M. and E. Konwest, n.d. New materials – new technologies? Postclassic and Early Colonial technological transitions in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca, Mexico. In: We would like to thank the Consejo de Arqueología of the Instituto Alexander R.T., (Ed.), Technology and Tradition in Mesoamerica After the Spanish In- fi vasion, n.d., University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Nacional de Antropología e Historia for their support of all of the eld King, S.M., Konwest, E., Badillo, A.E., 2012. Informe Final: Proyecto Arqueológico Nejapa/ seasons of the Nejapa Tavela Archaeological Project. In addition, we Tavela, Temporada II, 2011 Final report submitted to the Consejo de Arqueología thank the Centro INAH Oaxaca, and the officials and citizens of many and the Centro INAH Oaxaca of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. King,S.M.,Konwest,E.,Badillo,A.E.,Workinger,A.,HigelinPoncedeLeón,R.,Stoll municipalities and communities that have worked alongside us, includ- M.M., n.d. Informe Final: Proyecto Arqueológico Nejapa/Tavela, Temporada III, ing Santa Ana Tavela, Nejapa de Madero, San Juan Lajarcia, San Bartolo 2013. Final report submitted to the Consejo de Arqueología and the Centro Yautepec, San Carlos Yautepec, San Isidro Chihuiro, and San Francisco INAH Oaxaca of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. fi King, S.M., Workinger, A., Konwest, E., Badillo, A.E., Enríquez, J.J., 2014. Un cuento de dos Guichina. The eldwork was generously supported by grants from the fortalezas en la región de Nejapa. Cuadernos del Sur 19 (36), 21–41. Indiana University Office of the Vice Provost for Research's New Frontier Lind, M., Urcid, J., 2010. The lords of Lambityeco: Political evolution in the Valley of Oaxa- in the Arts and Humanities and the National Science Foundation (BCS- ca during the Xoo phase. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. 1015392). In addition, we would like to thank the participants in the Márquez Morfín, L., González Licón, E., 2006. Salud, nutrición y desigualdad social en Monte Albán durante el Cásico. In: Márquez Morfín, L., Hernández Espinoza, P. original Bioarchaeology of Oaxaca SAA session, organized by the co-au- (Eds.), Salud y Sociedad en el México Prehispánico y Colonial. INAH-SEP-PROMEP, thor of this paper, and to Guy Hepp for taking on the task helping the co- México. author of this paper to bring this report to publication. Last, we would Martínez López, C., Winter, M., Juárez, P.A., 1996. Entierros humanos del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992–1994. 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